Sustainability Commission

Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes April 17th, 2024 Attendees: Nethanya Fonseka, Ryan Fox, Mark Graf, Nathan Inks, Riley Maher, Ava Miller, Alexis Richards, Matthew Smith, Michael Tabbert. Absent: Sheryl Burns, Victoria Carlino, Naketa Jones, Jonathan Matthews (all excused per RF). Speakers may be referred to by initials. Speech attributed to speakers is paraphrased unless quoted. City Council, Department of Public Works, Green For Life, Sterling Heights, and Sterling Heights Sustainability Commission may be abbreviated as CC, DPW, GFL, SH, and SHSC, respectively. Call to Order – 6:02pm Pledge of Allegiance Roll Call – Mark Graf, Nathan Inks, Riley Maher, Matthew Smith, Michael Tabbert Absent: Sheryl Burns, Victoria Carlino, Naketa Jones, Jonathan Matthews Also in Attendance – Alexis Richards, Planner II Ryan Fox, Planner I Ava Miller, Planning Intern Nethanya Fonseka Approval of Agenda Motion: Tabbert Support: Smith Ayes: Graf, Inks, Maher, Smith, Tabbert Considerations Approval of Minutes from 03/20/24 Motion: Tabbert Support: Inks Ayes: Graf, Inks, Maher, Smith, Tabbert CORRESPONDENCE Facebook message sent to Mr. Smith inquiring about organizing a clean-up day for local parks. The messenger said they would be able to get church volunteers from Trinity Lutheran to assist with any clean-up. They are asking for guidance on how and where they would set up an event like this – a good recommendation was Nelson Park. Ms. Richards presented the idea that the Commission set up a monthly clean-up now that the warmer months are coming. Mr. Fox said that the resident can contact him for further assistance. COMMITTEE REPORTS R^3 Committee No report. Green Energy Committee Ms. Richards informed the Commission that the Solar Panel ordinance has been reviewed and commented on by attorneys. The comments have yet to be parsed, but Ms. Richards and Mr. Fox will review and report out to the Commission on any major changes. Green Energy Committee will also meet to review prior to a final Commission vote. Stormwater and Wetlands Committee Mr. Smith presented information from the report. Mr. Graf stated that vernal pool SHNCRP-01 could be a good candidate for education materials being placed. Next steps for this would be to contact Parks and Rec to set up placards with info (maybe QR codes) to guide people to the pool and to look into MI Vernal Pools Partnership for pre-designed signs and graphics. Clinton River Watershed Council asked if the Commission would like to set up a River Day Event; the Commission agreed to skip this year but will have an event in 2025. Ms. Richards suggested the Commission creates an events calendar to help plan things like this. Biodiversity Committee No report. Trees Committee Mr. Inks presented information from the report. For the Arbor Day Event, 15 tree plantings will occur: five Black Gum trees, five Red Chokeberry trees, and five Yellow Wood trees. Mr. Inks will take the lead on the scavenger hunt. Ms. Richards confirmed that rain barrels will be present at the event, but she will confirm how many will be given away and to whom. Ms. Fonseka has kindly agreed to bring her trifold to the event for educational purposes. The idea was discussed to have iPads for people to take the Master Plan survey at the event as opposed to using paper. City Council is currently developing the budget for the next year. Mr. Inks sent in comments about how the city needs to consider increasing funding for tree plantings. The budget will be voted on in May, so please send in comments prior to then. MI Healthy Climate Mr. Graf instituted a new segment for every meeting – “The Grafic of the Month” – where he will be presenting an interesting graph that illustrates current effects on Michigan’s climate. From this ‘grafic’, the idea was posed to add tick safety literature around our parks to raise awareness which Mr. Fox will reach out to Parks & Rec about. Mr. Graf also informed us that the last month was Earth's warmest March in NOAA's 175-year global climate record, marking 10 straight months of global record-setting temperatures and counting. Global surface temperature for March was 2.43°F (1.35°C) above average. He also informed us that the Daily CO2 average was measured at 425 ppm, which is bad. OLD BUSINESS Sustainability Self-Assessment Review: Section 4 Mr. Fox displayed the spreadsheet reviewed by Dr. Parcell and the SHSC went through it point-by-point. The assessment is now complete. The score the city received was 65% Yes + Yes but Improve. The Commission will review this again in June. Top 15 Action Items Review (SCOAR) The Commission decided to skip conversation on this item. MI Green Communities 2024 Application In this meeting, the Commission completed tabs H, W, M, and CE. The application is now complete. The city scored 117, which qualifies us for gold. ICLEI GHG Update We have all the data we need except for DTE’s data. Ms. Richards has reached out numerous times since January with little help from DTE. Matthew Phillips at DTE is the current contact, and he said they will try to have data by April 30th, but Ms. Richards says to expect delays beyond that date. The DTE contact that Mr. Maher provided retired, so she is no longer able to assist. Ms. Richards also presented our municipality’s/community’s CO2 emission metrics on the ICLEI website. NEW BUSINESS Mulch Volcanoes (Mound & County) If you see a volcano on Mound Rd, take a picture and let Ms. Richards know the location. She has a contact with Innovate Mound Road that can assist with clearing them. Treekeeper Canopy Ms. Richards sent the link for the Commission to try out. If possible, please try it out and send Ms. Richards any questions or concerns by 4/18. The Commission agreed that the UI is not very intuitive and are hoping that a training video or document can be sent to help out. Mr. Inks wants to stress that the companies that plant trees for the city are logging the plantings correctly into Treekeeper. Ms. Richards also informed the Commission that, based on the Tree Equity Score website, planting 15,000 trees would improve our canopy by 1%. Mr. Inks would like to look into ordinance that dictates spacing of tree plantings by intersection. Current rules say plantings must occur 25 feet away from intersection, but Mr. Fox will look into specifics and report back. Old Cart/Can Disposal It has been confirmed that new Priority cans can be stored on the side/rear of property. The current issue is that Priority said they would recycle only the GFL cans, and all other cans would be thrown away. The Commission agreed that is counterintuitive to a sustainable future and would like Priority to explain why they will not be recycling cans that are able to be recycled. Mr. Graf will review the RFP to see if there is language that will make Priority recycle all cans. The disposal of the cans will commence on May 13th, so please ask questions prior to this date. Community Relations will be asked to clearly communicate that disposal will occur May 13-25. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION: None Motion to adjourn at 9:37pm: Motion: Tabbert Support: Inks Ayes: Graf, Inks, Maher, Matthews, Smith