Sustainable BC Committee

City of Battle Creek Sustainable BC Committee 10 N. Division Street. Room 302A Battle Creek, MI Monday, March 26, 2018 1:00 p.m. Members Present: Comm. Flores, Comm. Baldwin, Comm. Sofia (arrived at 1:13 p.m.), Susan Anderson, Sarah Kelly, Kathy Antaya (arrived at 1:05 p.m.), Andy Helmboldt (arrived at 1:03 p.m.), and Kurt Tribbett. Members Absent: Michael Myszka, Comm. Simmons, Tiffany Welsh, Lindsey Johnson, and Erin Augustine. Others: Eric Feldt, Planning; Elizabeth (Liz) Paul, Environmental Program Coordinator; Jacob Schacht, Asst. to City Manager; Rich Beardslee, Wastewater Superintendent; Carl Fedders, City Engineer/Assistant DPW Director; Rich Werner, Transit Manager; and Michelle Coats, Clerk’s Office. Guests: Rebecca Hersha Call to Order: Comm. Flores called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m., noting a quorum was not present. Comm. Baldwin present via phone. Mr. Helmboldt arrived at 1:03 p.m. Introductions: Comm. Flores welcomed Elizabeth Paul to the meeting. She is the new Environmental Program Coordinator. Ms. Paul and the committee members introduced themselves. Ms. Antaya arrived at 1:05 p.m. Approval of Minutes: A motion made by Helmboldt, supported by Antaya to approve the minutes from February 26, 2018. All yes, none opposed. Minutes approved. Additions or Deletions to the Agenda: Comm. Flores added under New Business – Election of New Chairperson Ms. Anderson suggested addition of possible endorsement of Oil & Water Don’t Mix. If insufficient time at this meeting, it will be added to next month’s agenda. Comm. Baldwin suggested putting it on a parking lot on the agenda. Special Presentations: Pilot Project for Solids Handling at Wastewater Treatment Plant: Mr. Tribbett introduced a pilot project that the WWTP is considering to mix solid waste with wood chips, paper mulch, or food waste to create a compost mix. They are working with the company Sustainable Generation. Carl Fedders, City Engineer/Assistant DPW Director, presented the solids handling project. The presentation will be emailed to committee members. Mr. Fedders explained the current process for handling bio-solids and the search for a long-term sustainable solution. Sustainable Generation proposed heat construction composting. In this process the bio-solids are mixed with another waste stream, covered, aerated, and allowed to decompose into a Class A fertilizer. They are looking at a six-month demonstration, preparing three batches of compost. This demo proposal will be going forward to City Commission. Comm. Sofia arrived at 1:13 p.m. Potential waste streams to test for possible use in this process are green waste from compost center, paper pulp from the paper mills, and food waste from the Casino. The appropriate source waste to use will be dependent on meeting certain ratios that fit with the ratios of our bio-solids to achieve the necessary carbon/nitrogen ratios. Mr. Beardslee explained the unique signature of the City’s bio-solids with 30% coming from industrial uses and 70% from residential uses. The demo take place in the former drying building. We already have domes with electricity and a leachate collection system in place to use. The demo will provide sensors for temperature monitoring. We need to achieve certain temperatures over 1 particular time durations to show the DEQ that pathogens are being killed making it a Class A fertilizer. During the demo, each batch will proceed through the process to completion before starting the next batch. In actual use, this will be a continuous process. Evaluation of the demo will include cost, equipment, personnel needs, and capital investment necessary. Another significant consideration is to have no increase to WWTP odor. They plan to start the demo in July and it involves multiple departments of DPW. Transit Master Plan: Rich Werner, Transit Manager, provided an update on the transit master plan. The City secured a MDOT grant to cover the cost of a transit master plan to take a comprehensive look at the system and to evaluate whether it is meeting the needs of the community. Foursquare Integrated Planning is the consultant for this plan. They held public input meetings, met with transit staff, reviewed staffing levels, studied the budget, and evaluated the current routes. They developed two new route scenarios. To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed routes, the operations supervisor and transit manager are currently driving them; next, the buses will run the routes to test timing and feasibility of the current hub/spoke system. Foursquare is proposing an expanded route and the addition of a completely new route, but those will include budget/staffing considerations. A formal recommendation will be made to the City Commission after the route plan is solidified. A public hearing process will occur if routes are changing and a determination made as to how to implement the changes (likely a staged implementation). Mr. Werner indicated they received good input at the public meetings as well as good response to the survey. Comm. Flores noted the transit service scenarios survey is now available online. The link to that survey will be sent to the committee. Ms. Anderson inquired if these are new routes to different places. Mr. Werner clarified that most of the routes already exist in the community, but there is one brand new route proposed which goes more into the township. We receive a federal urbanized transit grant that funds our mass transit system, so we do provide some limited route service to the townships. Member Updates/Reports: City Energy Efficiency Activities: Kurt Tribbett distributed an update report from Donohue on the WWTP Secondary Treatment System upgrades. The project is on time and at the midpoint with about nine more months to completion. Mr. Beardslee stated that the first phase should be ready for start-up soon. They anticipate a 40% reduction in electrical spending for the secondary process, which is the core of WWTP operations. Mr. Tribbett explained that the water plant project is in purchasing and will be out for bids soon. This project will reconfigure yard piping, moving water from the plant to the water transmission mains more efficiently. Because of the pump study, we are adding high service pump #6 with this project (a variable speed pump that can be ramped up as needed instead of running at one speed). The project should begin in approximately one month. Environmental Program Update: Liz Paul shared updates:  Currently focusing on the children’s water festival and still needs five more presenters.  Continuing to look for a place for the Police Department green roof. Planning Updates: Eric Feldt provided updates on planning activities:  New medical marihuana ordinance provides an incentive for developers retrofitting or building a new green roof.  Working towards creating a draft of two new mixed zoning districts. One is a neighborhood mixed-use district that would allow single/two/three family on a single property or a small commercial entity (such as a small salon, a small neighborhood grocery store). The other mixed-use district is in the downtown and more robust. Most of downtown is zoned commercial or industrial; neither of which allow any permitted residential uses. This mixed-use district will allow adding upper-floor residential uses. Old Business: 2  Review Draft Sustainability Plan: Mr. Feldt provided updates on the progress. The draft uploaded to Google docs received some comments. He, Tiffany, and Liz then made additional changes based on comments received. They are continuing to make edits to this revised draft. There are highlighted areas that do need more work and input from the committee The next step is discussing the draft with division and department heads/managers. Tiffany, Liz, and Planning will have conversations with other departments to familiarize them with the plan and incorporate additional feedback, and then bring it back to the Committee for another round of review. The committee discussed the possibility of a committee member attending the one-on-one meetings with city staff in order to bring the committee’s perspective. The committee also discussed possible ways of working through the yellow highlighted areas of the draft (such as the introduction and background) in a more effective and efficient manner. Comm. Baldwin recommended allowing two to three months for the review process to progress through all the departments. Comm. Flores asked for members who are willing to dive into the highlighted areas of the draft. Sue Anderson and Susan Baldwin offered to focus on those sections. City Commission Updates Comm. Flores provided updates  They recently approved a partnership with KCC who applied for a State grant to extend the Linear Park and redesign the corner of North Ave. and Roosevelt where the new building is under construction. The City incurs no cost, but the partnership was necessary for KCC to apply for the grant.  At the last meeting, Mr. Fedders shared construction season updates. The Capital Ave. NE road dieting will happen this year. New Business: Election of a New Chairperson: Comm. Flores desires to step down from the role of chairperson. Mr. Helmboldt expressed interest and willingness to serve in this capacity. Motion by Ms. Antaya, support by Comm. Sofia to nominate Mr. Helmboldt as Chairperson. All yes, none opposed. Motion carried. Member Comment/Announcements:  Sarah Kelly provided a Recylerama update. She meets with City departments on March 29 to finalize traffic plans and vehicle usage. The media blast is underway. She distributed fliers to the committee and will email it to everyone. Public Comment: None. Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Sustainable BC Committee will be April 23, 2018, 1:00-2:30 p.m. at City Hall, Conference Room 302B. Adjournment: Comm. Flores adjourned the meeting at 2:32 p.m. 3