Citizen's Environmental Quality Committee

April 29, 2024 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, May 2nd, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. 1. Call to Order 2. Approval of April Minutes 3. Earth and Arbor Day Events (5 minutes) 4. Prairie Island Park Habitat Management Plan (5 minutes) 5. Air Quality Monitoring (5 minutes) 6. Community Garden Update (10 minutes) 7. CEQC Priority Topics (30 minutes) 8. Other Business 9. Adjournment Sincerely, John Howard Natural Resources Sustainability Coordinator CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES DATE: Thursday April 4, 2024 TIME: Scheduled for 4:30 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers PRESENT: David Ruff, Paul Schmitt, and Dan Hall GUESTS: Dan Wilson STAFF: John Howard and Abby Wickboldt (AmeriCorps) 1. Call to Order: Call to order at 4:33 PM by Paul. 2. Review and Approval of Mar. 2024 Meeting Minutes: Motion by Dan, second by David. Approved unanimously without edits. 3. Engage Winona Housing Presentation: Dan Wilson of Engage Winona presented a summary of the Winona County Housing study and an Engage Winona summary report. Winona lacks about 720 units of housing, especially for those making $30,000 or less a year. Dan W. highlighted that the report does not support the claim reiterated by many people that there is insufficient land for more housing. Dan described the concept of housing burden (30% or more of income towards housing), and how this is prominent among seniors. Fortunately, City staff get good marks from developers in helping more housing be built. A natural form of more affordable housing is older homes, and some of these are becoming available when seniors move into senior living. Dan discussed the idea of a housing trust fund, and how downtown Winona is a focus area. Minneapolis is a good example of a city working hard to add more housing. Density is a focus of the Winona Comprehensive Plan update. Dan H. asked about how to get past the neighborhood opposition to projects and have affordable housing. Dan H. also noted that duplex and multi-plexes are selling for over $300,000, so not very affordable. Dan W. said a City housing trust fund and increasing all options helps. Especially focusing on local developers can increase the range of projects. Dan W. also said streamlined permitting and zoning make it easier to build. David raised the environmental connection between density and walkability. This leads to lower vehicle miles each day. David expects combining economic viability and environmental considerations will help with NIMBYism. David asked Dan W. about the feasibility of incorporating energy and environmental impacts with new housing. Dan W. said it is possible, and pointed to a recent net-zero Northfield housing project. However, requiring these standards may lead to fewer units. Discussion moved to parking requirements, and the self-filtering if parking isn’t there. Dan H. asked about the commuters to Winona, and Dan W. replied it was nearly 13,000. This is likely tied to the fact that Winona is an economic hub. Abby discussed how there are many City commissions that require residency, but City staff do not need to live within the City. Paul asked how CEQC can participate in helping with housing considerations. Dan W. suggests the CEQC could weigh in on zoning considerations.  Dan H. asked about Port Authority involvement in housing. Dan W. said it is a focus, and noted HBC Wizards building sale and money contributed to Chris Sanchez project. The housing trust fund could come from the Port. Paul and the CEQC thanked Dan W. for presenting. Dan H. asked the target audience for the report. Dan W. said it is for the overall community. 4. Urban Forestry Report: Abby presented her analysis of Urban Forestry within the City. There are three main sections: publicly owned trees, overall tree canopy, and tree equity. Abby provided details on the i-Tree program. Winona boulevard tree figures were shared: 11,294 public trees, tree cover 1.3%. Dan asked for clarification on tree cover, as it seems implausible. Abby explained that it does seem low, but the analysis backs it up. The three most common trees are Norway maple, silver maple and green ash. This is not good since the Norway is aging out, the silver maples cause infrastructure problems and the ash are dying from emerald ash borer. Replacing all boulevard trees would cost about $13.8 million. Many quantifications about tree benefits were explained. Abby obtained this data by collecting 500 data points in each zone. Abby compared Winona’s tree canopy to Minneapolis, which is more extensive than Winona’s, yet highly developed. Dan shared a personal example of a neighbor who had too many trees in their yard. Abby discussed the need for long term tree planting, as longevity greatly adds to tree value. Dan asked about how the City gets the right trees for the boulevards. Trees are selected based on various recommendations including MnDOT’s vegetation guide, iTree, and forester experience. Abby feels the City needs to take a holistic view on trees and incorporate their benefits into decision making. Dan shared about his white spruce that were removed, and how that has led to passive solar on his front porch in the winter. The higher sun in the summer doesn’t make the porch too hot. David said this adds to the argument for deciduous (leafy) trees instead of conifers. Abby reiterated the importance of tree placement to be successful. Dan asked how many more trees are needed to get the tree equity scores up in areas. Abby described how the 300 trees being planted a year are inadequate to even maintain the current canopy level. Abby suggests adding a yard planting option to encourage more tree planting. Paul asked about presenting to the City Council, and if she would be open to feedback. John said the presentation would likely be the first Council meeting in May. Paul has some written suggestions. Dan felt the City Council might push back on the cost saving numbers. The CEQC suggests highlighting the positive human impact of trees. Abby agrees that the numbers seem huge, but want to make it clear that trees have value. Dan suggested Minneapolis might not be a good comparison. Focusing on college towns like Northfield, Mankato, and other regional cities like Austin or Red Wing would be more comparable. Dan believes the rental market is an important consideration, and possible barrier. Paul talked about how focusing on the ability of Minneapolis being a highly urban place yet well forested is a strong comparison. David feels focusing on the coming wave of tree losses will be very impactful. It seems the deficit in trees will be getting  worse – in essence, we don’t have enough trees and the ones we have may not live that much longer. That is a crisis within the overall tree story. David asked about the City’s tree longevity and how that compares to other cities. Abby asked the city forester a similar question when she started, and heard that tree longevity is on average 45 years, and max of 65. We don’t know how this compares to other cities. However, a well placed tree can live 300 years. David wonders about tree management, especially in power line areas. Dan recommends having a key points/take aways section in the report. This will help decision makers understand the important conclusions and see the trees as more than decoration. 5. Prairie Planting in Disc Golf Course Update: Paul described the last item on the agenda is a letter of support for the Willows disc golf course prairie plantings. John said this letter would go to Jamie, Silas and Anne for their use. Motion by David and second by Dan to approve the letter, all in favor. 6. Other Business: John said the Comp. plan is having a public hearing before the planning commission at their next meeting. Dan confirmed this would be at 4:30 pm. 7. Adjournment: Adjournment motion by David, second by Dan. Unanimous, adjourn at 5:59 pm. Notes prepared by John Howard.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 3. Earth and Arbor Day Events PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: May 2, 2024 Last week was Earth week with Earth Day on 4/22 and Arbor Day on 4/26. A celebration of Earth Day will be this Saturday, May 4th from 10-1 pm at Levee Park. (Flyer attached). The City will be at the event with a table. Abby led an arbor day tree giveaway where 125 trees were distributed to the community. Requested action: Provided for reference.  Earth Day 2024 Find Out More! Presented by: Local Community Booths !  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 4. Prairie Island Park Habitat Management Plan PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: May 2, 2024 The Minnesota Land Trust is funding the creation of a habitat management plan for Prairie Island Park. Work should begin in May on the project, and wrap up by the end of the summer. Requested action: How does the CEQC wish to participate in the Prairie Island Park Habitat Management plan process?  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 5. Air Quality Monitoring PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: May 2, 2024 Following the CEQC comments on the MPCA’s Air Monitoring Pilot, the MPCA reached out to gauge whether the City or other community groups would like to take the lead on air quality monitoring. At this stage, the City does not have funding to implement air quality monitoring, nor is aware of grants to implement a system. Requested action: Motion or statement from the CEQC to guide staff action.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 6. Community Garden Update PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: May 2, 2024 Staff will update on the community garden concept and grant proposals. The City was unable to prepare an application to the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture program in March. Staff would like to further refine the details of the garden so the City is ready when funding becomes available. Requested action: Discuss next steps for community garden development.  CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM: 7. CEQC Priority Topics PREPARED BY: John Howard DATE: May 2, 2024 Last discussed in Feb., CEQC members were encouraged to brainstorm what they would like to set as committee priorities. Requested action: Provide ideas and input on priorities for CEQC.