Citizen's Environmental Quality Committee

Feb. 5, 2023 Citizens Environmental Quality Committee Winona, Minnesota 55987 Dear Committee Members: The next meeting of the Citizens Environmental Quality Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, Feb. 8th, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. in the Misato Room at City Hall. 1. Call to Order 2. Review of Jan. Meeting Minutes 3. Prairie Planting Proposal (15 minutes) 4. Community Solar Update (5 minutes) 5. Community Garden Updates (10 minutes) 6. Bluffland, Natural State Area, and Shoreland Code Amendment Fines and Enforcement (15 minutes) 7. CEQC Priority Topics (15 minutes) 8. Other Business 9. Adjournment Sincerely, John Howard Natural Resources Sustainability Coordinator CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES DATE: Thursday Jan. 4, 2024 TIME: Scheduled for 4:30 pm in the City Hall Misato Room PRESENT: Sadie Neuman, Paul Schmitt, Dan Hall, and David Ruff GUESTS: STAFF: John Howard 1. Call to Order: Call to order at 4:32 PM by Sadie Neuman 2. Review and Approval of Dec. 2023 Meeting Minutes: Motion by Dan, second by Paul. Approved unanimously. 3. Bluffland, Natural State Area, and Shoreland Code Amendment: John described the recent approval of the code amendments. The shoreland piece still requires formal DNR sign off, so it is not yet on the books. The most contentious aspect was the permit application fee, which was set at $10. Dan was curious about the rationale for lowering the cost? John said the crux of the argument for a lower fee was to incentivize people to do the work, and respect private property. The argument against the lower fee is that it trivializes the permit. Sadie asked about the application and what that would look like. John said it would be similar to the current land disturbance permit. Sadie felt the permit would require a decent amount of staff time since it requires site visits. Sadie hopes work will abide by permit conditions. John relayed that this was a Council discussion point too, and John will have more info on how fines or penalties could be enacted for non-compliance at the Feb. meeting. David discussed how the penalties might be a more effective feature in controlling malfeasance than a higher permit fee. John said applicants will need to show the ability to differentiate between native and non-native species to receive a permit. Sadie asked how many properties are affected by the change? John is not sure about a total number, but easily hundreds of properties. It covers most of the bluff areas, with natural state areas in most of the newer bluff development areas. John explained there is an urban and standard shoreland area, with the regulation seemingly only applying to the standard shoreland zone. 4. Clean Water Act Petition: John provided information on the state response to an EPA Clean water act petition about nitrates as it is rare the EPA gets involved in matters in our area. The petition doesn’t impact the City much because few residents have private wells, but reducing nitrates should help long term in protecting our drinking water aquifers. Dan asked if similar actions had occurred elsewhere? John is not aware of Clean Water Act responses for nitrates, but the EPA has used this authority for other places like Flint, MI. The standard for nitrates may be lowering, so even more wells might exceed the standard. David said the science behind the new standard is compelling. John believes this nitrate work will be a major focus of water funding for the next decade.  Dan asked if any cities have nitrate levels above the standard in their public supply? David said there are, and some have resolved it by mixing water from multiple wells. David elaborated that cities tend to dig deeper wells than individual homeowners, so are more likely to avoid nitrate issues. Sadie said the MDH has good data on where contamination is occurring, although this is not always public. Sadie asked about outreach through WinLac channels, which John is not sure of. 5. EPA Rural Environmental Public Health Needs Prize Competition: Paul likes the idea of a hack a thon for outreach but wonders if it meets the competition criteria since it sounds like the activities already need to have occurred. Sadie reached out to the EPA for clarification on whether the activities can be a proposal. General consensus is that the activities needs to have already occurred to qualify. Paul asked about other activities that might fit? We Are Water from a couple years ago might fit, but not very specific outcomes. The watershed game was brought up. Sadie has classroom editions that she is happy to share. Paul will see if the game fits with Cotter class. 6. CEQC Goal Setting: The CEQC goals are a few years old, and came out during the initiative to have the CEQC be a standalone commission. Sadie asked if the group would like to track what is achieved or do asset mapping. Dan asked about benchmarks. Sadie asked about Greenstep City reporting, and John replied that is hasn’t been very active. Sadie asked when the goals were developed. John said the goals were developed in 2018, and the copies included are the one year follow up. The goals include Documenting actions and progress, Energy efficiency, Low carbon transportation. Sadie asked about whether there is an active Transportation Committee, and to John’s knowledge there is not one. After the Complete Streets plan was approved, there was a group promoting active transportation, but John does not believe the group is still active. David likes that the CEQC set goals, however, a challenge is being actionable. The CEQC’s structure may not fit well with the SMART goal framework. The CEQC’s role is more discussion and advisory. A better structure may be identifying priorities and opportunities, and helping amplify resident issues. Sadie likes this idea, and believes that the CEQC’s role is to advise the Planning Commission. Although the CEQC has not been consulted by the Planning Commission on topics. John asked the City Planners about the CEQC chair being appointed to the Planning Commission, and they are looking into the situation. Dan recounted some of the history about his Planning Commission appointment and the CEQC seeking to be a commission. Paul suggested that the CEQC consider how they can best serve the community rather than having specific goals as presently. David suggested having an annual discussion to review. Paul recommends that members come to the next meeting with priorities for discussion. Members are welcome to send John items for the agenda. 7. Other Business: Sadie noted the City is hiring a few positions. John said the City is looking to hire a deputy city clerk and transit coordinator, as well as an engineering manager. All positions are open until filled. Sadie said the clerk and transit coordinator positions were encouraged by the comprehensive plan steering committee.  Sadie said the energy performance contracting company will be putting forward a proposal. John expects this in February. The CEQC discussed the possibility of reviewing joint letters and goals via an online sharing platform. John offered to consult the City Attorney on this. Feb. 8th will be the next meeting. 8. Adjournment: Adjournment motion by Dan, second by Paul. Unanimous, adjourn at 5:49 pm. Notes prepared by John Howard.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 3. Prairie Planting Proposal PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: Feb. 8, 24 Anne Conway will discuss an idea to add native prairie plants to the City’s disc golf course. Requested action: Provide input on the proposal.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 4. Community Solar Update PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: Feb. 8, 24 The Public Utilities Commission will be holding a hearing on Feb. 15th regarding the bill credit rate for community solar gardens. Comments received by the commission overwhelmingly opposed the changes Xcel proposed. Dozens of public entities and many individuals provided comments, as did energy NGOs. Winona’s story was featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune Requested action: None, provided for information.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 5. Community Garden Update PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: Feb. 8, 24 Hiawatha Valley Mental Health on Sarnia St. constructed 30 raised bed plots, which will open to the public on May. 1. The garden mimics the East Rec. gardens in design and format. Site details are online here: https://www.hvmhc.org/community-garden/ The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has opened a round of AGRI grants to further urban farming, including community gardens. This is the same program that the City prepared an application for last year, but did not submit to avoid competing with Hiawatha Valley Mental Health. The RFP, minus the eligibility and contract details, is included as an attachment. Requested action: With the addition of 30 new raised beds, should the City still pursue the AGRI grant?  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 6. Bluffland, Natural State Area, and Shoreland Code Amendment Fines and Enforcement PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: Feb. 8, 24 With the new City regulations allowing a streamlined process for non-native species removal in bluff areas, the City Council asked for staff to propose measures to reduce the potential for bad actors to abuse the new system. Stated concerns are that people will not apply for permits when they should, or get a permit and not abide by the terms of the permit (removing more than allowed, working in different areas). Current zoning rules allow a daily fine of up to $100 for non-compliance. Penalties and corrective measures specific to this permit could also be enacted into City code. Requested action: Discuss how enforcement should be conducted, and penalties to apply for non-compliance.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 7. Priority Topics PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: Feb. 8, 24 At the January meeting, the CEQC briefly reviewed the existing SMART style goals for the CEQC that predate the pandemic. After discussion, it seemed having annual priorities might be a more useful planning objective. CEQC members were encouraged to brainstorm what they would like to focus on in 2024 for discussion at the next meeting. Requested action: Provide ideas and input on priorities for CEQC.