Green Space Advisory Commission

City of WEBSTER GROVES 4 E. LOCKWOOD AVE. | WEBSTER GROVES | MISSOURI | 63119 314.963.5300 | WEBSTERGROVES.ORG WEBSTER GROVES GREEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Date: September 12, 2022 Location: City Hall Called to Order: 5:00 PM Adjourned: 5:54 PM Next Meeting Date: October 3rd 2022, 5:00 PM. Conference Room, City Hall. Name Present Absent Carrie Coyne, Chair X (Via Zoom) Ginger Garrett X Lynnda Green X Bill Hoss X Laura Jordan X Joe Oelke X Jerry Pinkner X (Via Zoom) Corin Pursell X Annie Russell X (Via Zoom) Emily Hixson Shepherd, X Council Liaison Yvonne Steingruby, Staff X Liaison I. Call to Order II. Roll Call III. Minutes of August Meeting were Approved. IV. Visitor Comments : None. V. Old Business a. Secretary Schedule: 1. Corin Pursell– Sep/Oct 2. Jerry Pinkner – Nov/Jan 3. Joe Oelke – Feb/Mar 4. Bill Hoss – Apr/May 5. Ginger Garrett – Jun/Jul 6. Joe Oelke – Aug/Dec 7. Lynnda Greene – Oct/Nov 8. Laura Jordan – Jan/Feb b. Green Our City Initiative Update , from Carrie Coyne, supported by Joe and Yvonne. This Saturday, September 17th, will be the first tree planting with this initiative. Logistics are currently being managed by Carrie and Joe in cooperation with Parks and Public  Works, and everything in is place to have mulch and trees delivered by Kirkwood Gardens to the city by Thursday for distribution to the appropriate locales by Saturday. Teams have been planned (Yvonne and Tessa Wasserman, Joe and Laura + family members, Corin and Ginger, Carrie and her husband Steve). Each is expected to plant 3-4 trees. Carrie will confirm with an email by Thursday and also do a final confirmation with the landowners that they are expecting us and that utilities have been marked. Lynnda may assist in planting or may provide photographic documentation. Yvonne will provide shovels and such tools. We will meet at 9 AM on the Glendale side of the Rec Center parking lot, near the dumpster. c. Pollinator Program Update , Yvonne. Pollinator beds at Ivory Crockett Park, Deweys Pizza, and City Hall have been fully funded now. An additional bed at Straubs is currently delayed awaiting approval of structural soils. At Make a Difference Day (October 22nd), these locations will be prepped by volunteers. The same day a Stream Team cleanup will occur at Deer Creek, seeking 25-30 volunteers. All events will be posted at Greenkeepers. Jerry is uncertain we will have sufficient volunteers for the many tasks but Yvonne expects that we will be based on last year’s rates. d. Team Float , Carrie. The provider is no longer able to do the 12th of October so this may need to be rescheduled. Oct 19th is available but many interested personnel are unavailable then. Carrie will check on availability of other dates. e. Dark Skies : Lynnda is seeking to establish a Dark Skies speaker event in January and wishes to collaborate with the Sustainability Commission. Jamie Hasemeier’s (Chair of Sustainability) number is provided and Lynnda will reach out to her. More updates in the future. Lynnda will also act as a liaison to Sustainability for future cooperative event planning, perhaps associated with the Stormwater subcommittee (Carrie and Corin). Lynnda adds that a recent Herb Society event went very well with Jenny Fagan as a speaker and gathered a great deal of interest. f. Upcoming Events : i. Sept 17, Tree Planting ii. Oct 22, Make a Difference Day iii. Nov 12 Team Float (Rescheduling) iv. Dark Skies in January v. Potential Stormwater events in February / early spring VI. New Business a. Stormwater Subcommittee, Corin: A subcommittee has been formed with Sustainability and the first meeting was held August 12th. The goal is to collaborate, with the specific target of supporting the city in developing and carrying out their stormwater management plan and relevant long-term greening and sustainability development plans, as well as promoting good practices by citizens that can aid in reducing the impact of stormwater. This is thought to be particularly important after recent flooding events. Metropolitan Sewer District has made a valiant attempt to deal with the problems but they are becoming increasingly challenging and the city is already anticipating taking steps to remedy them; how can we offer guidance or support for this? To pursue this intelligently we have arranged a meeting with experts David Wilson and Stacy Arnold on September 29th, 2022, at 5:00 PM at City Hall. This meeting will be posted and open to the public for transparency. Members of the Council, the Mayor, and members of both Commissions are invited to participate. VII. Council Liaison Update , Emily: Pam Bliss provided Emily with a concise summary of the previous Stormwater meeting. Emily notified us that MSD would be speaking to Council on Oct 4th and there would be additional appearances by MSD personnel coming after that. It may be beneficial to attend, and members of Green Space and Sustainability likely should be on hand for the future MSD face to face. Scott from Parks will also talk that day about mowing  practices which may also be relevant to us. The Charter Review Advisory Board will also be addressed, which may also be relevant to us. VIII. City Liaison Update , Yvonne: Already covered events and new plantings, but also the Bird Sanctuary is going to be expanded next week at Blackburn, converted two acres of grass (previously the City’s responsibility to mow) into forest, with 101 new trees expected in a joint Boy Scouts / Girl Scouts planting event. IX. Next Meeting Date October 3 , 2022 @ 5: 00 pm. X. Adjournment, 5:54 PM. Individuals who require an accommodation (sign language, interpreter, listening devices, etc.) to participate in the meeting should contact the City Clerk at 314-963-5318 (fax number 314-963-7561) or Relay Missouri at 1-800-735-2966 (TDD) at least two working days prior to the meeting.