Citizen's Environmental Quality Committee

CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES DATE: Thursday Oct. 1, 2020 TIME: Scheduled for 4:30 pm (Virtual Zoom Meeting) PRESENT: Dan Hall, Lynette Power, Nicole Ciulla, and Julie Fassbender GUESTS: Caylan Larson STAFF: John Howard, Kelsie Travers (GreenCorps) 1. Call to Order: Call to order at 4:36 PM. 2. Review and Approval of Sept. 2020 Meeting Minutes: Motion by Julie, second by Niki, approval unanimous. 3. Boulevard Planting Policy: Dan recapped that boulevards were briefly discussed at the Sept. meeting. Since then, John sent out Madison’s brochure as another example. John noted there is a resident on the Zoom call who has a boulevard planting who is willing to speak about his experience. Dan asked about Gopher State One confirmation, and if such a thing exists. John said there is a form notifying of a completed utility review. Dan asked about the vegetable growing prohibition and its reasoning. John did not know why vegetable growing is prohibited in the boulevard. Dan invited the guest resident, Caylan, to share on his experience: So far, comments are 99% positive. His garden was built by Gabe Ericksen of LandSpirit design using Prairie Moon Nursery local plants. After the first year, Caylan moved to lower height species including low grow grasses after initially having some that reached 5‐6 feet. Occasional taller plants can be weed whacked if needed. Caylan and his family decided to create a boulevard garden for beautification, reduce the mowing area, and for bringing in native insects. Dan asked about any tips. They are still working out how to best to manage debris and biomass. No mow grass area still requires a lot of weeding. Julie asked about whether Caylan had any suggestion for changing the code. Caylan has not reviewed the code in great detail, but nothing stands out to him as needing revision. Julie asked about the Hamilton St. resident who asked for a CEQC review. John shared the resident’s concerns about enforcement, and how the resident felt the City staff should use more judgement in whether the plantings present a problem. Dan likes the graphic from Madison, seems to make the height requirements to be very clear. Kelsie says she may be able to help.  Dan asked about specifics of enforcements. Could inspectors be called for other issues and cite on boulevard? John says this happens. Lynette believes the Winona code should include alleyway and even driveways in the height rules. Lynette noted concern over some problematic trees, and asked if residents need City approval before planting a boulevard tree. John said yes, there is a section of code outlining acceptable trees and the approval process. Lynette discussed a hackberry or similar with slippery fruit near MidTown Foods. Lynette is impressed by Madison’s info graphic, including driveway sight lines. Niki summarized that it seems the CEQC supports vegetable addition to ordinance. Lynette thinks boulevard gardens would get oils and salts from the road, so may not be the best for food. Niki clarified that boulevards should not replace the community garden space in her opinion, but boulevard use would be up to the homeowner if they wanted to have more planting space. Julie makes a motion: request to update the code to remove the vegetable growing prohibition, and include drive way and alley in rules. John to return with ordinance language for CEQC to review. John asked about planter structures and fencing in the boulevard, and any CEQC thoughts on the current prohibitions. Julie asked why these are prohibited, and what the downside is of having them? Lynette sees runoff as being an issue. Dan sees access to boulevard may cause restriction on planter boxes – curious about the City’s opinion. John will come back with other staff views on the structure and fence prohibition. Lynette says more distance is needed to alley set back. Dan noted alleys can be difficult to see around, and Lynette mentioned tall fences being an issue too. Lynette asked if hedges and such are prohibited by the City in the boulevard. Yes, replied John. Meeting quorum lost at 5:28 pm. Notes prepared by John Howard.