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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 12/16/2009 !i City of Glendale GLENIDt Council Sustainability Committee Minutes November 17, 2009 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Council Chambers Conference Room B-2 Meeting Attendees Council Sustainability Committee Members Present were Councilmember/Chairperson David Goulet (Ocotillo District), and Councilmember Yvonne Knaack (Barrel District). City Staff Members Ken Reedy, Deborah Mazoyer, Pam Wertz, Roger Bailey, Rebecca Benna, Larry Broyles, Jon Froke, Stuart Kent, Doug Kukino, Jo Miller, Bob Manginell, and Marilyn Clark. I. Approval of Minutes Chairperson Goulet made a motion to approve the minutes from the October 20, 2009 meeting as presented. Councilmember Knaack seconded the motion, and the minutes were approved. II. Revised Mission Statement As an action item from the Sustainability meeting held on October 20, 2009, Stuart Kent was asked to modify the language in the proposed Mission Statement. The revised statement was provided to the Committee prior to the meeting for review. The committee adopted the mission statement as written. Mission Statement: The Sustainability Committee of the Glendale City Council will research, conduct outreach, discuss, analyze, and recommend a unifying course of action entailing three core areas of Environmental Responsibility, Social Responsibility, and Economic Responsibility. Goals and strategies will be developed encompassing these areas to allow businesses, residents, city programs and facilities, and other interested partners the opportunity to participate in making sustainability a community program. Ill. Education and Public Awareness Plan Jo Miller, from Environmental Resources, chairperson for the sub-committee on Education and Public Awareness presented this item. Ms. Miller started the presentation by identifying some of the key goals of Public Awareness, Public Education, and Outreach. She stressed the importance of telling the story of how the Council Sustainability Committee Minutes November 17, 2009 Page 2 City of Glendale is leading by example. One of the primary goals of Public Awareness was meeting the ever-growing public demand for green information for both residents and businesses with an emphasis on enhancing the quality of life for Glendale residents. Another approach towards keeping Public Awareness in the forefront would be to communicate sustainability elements (the balance of economic, environmental, and community concerns) when making decisions. Ms. Miller also presented two long-term goals for Public Education and Outreach. The first goal was to provide information and assistance to the public to enable them to make informed decisions with respect to air quality, water, energy, heat island effects, the use of natural assets, and the reduction of environmental footprints. The second long-term goal was to enhance the livability for Glendale residents, which would instill confidence within our community. The presentation suggested ways for developing these goals to strengthen the city's efforts for sustainability. Ms. Miller stated that the City of Glendale already offers a variety of services, education programs, and events to help Glendale residents and business owners practice a green lifestyle. Some of the existing sustainability-related programs for Public Awareness and Public Education and Outreach the city has in place were highlighted throughout the presentation. The Green web page serves as a one-stop shop with shortcuts to many departments and programs throughout the city. Ms. Miller stated that the Glendale's Green Web Site has been on line for one year. In addition to being a tool for information for news and events, and city resources, the site provides a variety of quick links for residents and businesses. To date 4,395 people have visited the web site, with Glendale's Green House being the most popular, with up to 2,757 hits. Another avenue the city uses is through the Clean & Green Newsletter, which has doubled the requests for water conservation information. As part of the presentation, Ms. Miller gave the committee a brief on-line tour of the city's web site, which showed the ease in which one could navigate through the site. The site includes online videos covering many topics, links to other websites offering information on sustainability, as well as local rebates and state and federal government incentives. The city's involvement in providing public events such as the Green Festival, where more than 800 people attended in 2009; the Teacher's Fair, hosted by Environmental Resources, which had more than 185 teachers in attendance, and involved participation from 11 environmental education programs were a few of the examples given for opportunities to contact a wider public audience. Other successful public events within the city included the Walk & Bike Your Child to School Day, which is held each year in October; the Bike Rodeos, which are offered twice a year; and the Cell Phone Recycling Campaign, which is scheduled annually in November. Council Sustainability Committee Minutes November 17, 2009 Page 3 Ms. Miller also mentioned that the city has been successful in using Glendale's Cable 11 as a vehicle for getting information to the public through programs such as Glendale Today, which aired in the spring of 2009. The program featured the Green Web site and the Glendale Green Festival hosted by Councilmember Knack. The program "Going Green in Glendale" aired in 2008-09, featured interviews with city experts on transportation, fleet maintenance, recycling, and water conservation. She also stated that Cable 11 produced a program about Glendale's partnership with Habitat for Humanity to build the first platinum level LEED home in the state of Arizona. This program received national recognition at the International Green Build conference. In addition to those programs, Ms. Miller stated that the SRP and APS Energy Show is now in the works. In 2009, the city increased their community education efforts by offering homeowner workshops on Solar Energy, Organic Vegetable Gardening, Energy Audits, Composting, Natural Products for the home, Water Harvesting for the Landscape, Setting Your Water Timer, Low- Water Use Landscape Plants, "Smart" Irrigation Timers, and The Earth-Friendly Back Yard. In 2010, the list of workshops would include Green Remodels, Solar Hot Water 101, Solar PV 101, and Home Energy Efficiency. The Water conservation Landscape Series provides more than 12 workshops per year, while Glendale University offers advanced classes on water resources and conservation. In an effort to blend knowledge with action, community programs were developed to provide information on weatherization for low-income housing projects. The city has also provided an on-site water budgeting service, as well as consultations for HOA's, schools, and businesses. Ms. Miller stated the city is also reaching the younger generation with their Youth Education programs. There are recycling presentations, a transportation Pace program, xeriscape garden guided field trips, a water watchers program designed for elementary schools, and the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant Program (EECBG) which provides for 60 classroom visits over a period of three years. The presentation included a list of twelve regional sustainability related programs and partnerships with links to their websites. The most recent regional partnership is ASU's Sustainable Cities Network. The committee was presented with a list of city comparisons on Sustainability Public Awareness, General Information, and Sustainability Education. The information was gathered from seven major city websites, which included Glendale, Chandler, Mesa, Peoria, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe. Ms. Miller mentioned that the most common city comparison trends were that all cities have an abundance of information on compliance-related environmental programs such as solid waste, transportation, storm water, air quality, and water conservation. Cities are developing more Council Sustainability Committee Minutes November 17, 2009 Page 4 policy initiatives that engage the public, and are developing ways to "share their green/sustainability story" with residents and the business community. Ms. Miller offered the committee several ideas for enhancing public input opportunities and for determining the level of public interest in sustainability. One suggestion was to survey people who are already seeking green information, while another would be to utilize direct mail opportunities and continue to provide the existing events to direct people to web site surveys. Forums could also be designed to engage specific audiences. An example of this would be the use of business forums on green buildings, residential focus groups, and the like. Ms. Miller stated that the next step in accomplishing these goals would be to continue to share information between departments and to work towards integrating those efforts into a consistent message that "Tells our Story." Other steps included developing a city sustainability power point presentation, continuing to working with regional programs, maintaining the city's sustainability practices inventory, and providing updates to the green web site. Ms. Miller ended with a few additional thoughts for the committee to consider when contemplating future developments of outreach programs. One consideration is the use of the EECBG grant that will provide funding for a staff person, and, when possible, integrate new programs into existing programs in order to leverage resources, next would be continuing to collaborate regionally on sustainability initiatives, and lastly, monitoring and re-evaluating economic trends and interests in the business community. The presentation was well received, and the committee thanked Ms. Miller for her time. The following suggestions were offered by Chairperson Goulet and Councilmember Knaack with regard to the topic of education and public awareness: • City's Green Web-site: Post locations of housing developments with green components so interested citizens could see what they look like. Staff suggested using ASU Interns to complete this project. • Councilmember E-Newsletters: Include sustainability information in e-newsletters. • Channel 11: Play more programs on energy savings and sustainability topics. • Connection: Include articles on Sustainability topics. • Glendale Libraries: Highlight/promote resource materials on sustainability topics. • GU Graduate level: Offer advance course on sustainability topics. • Outside Experts: Have outside experts make presentations to city departments and Council Sustainability Committee. Council Sustainability Committee Minutes November 17, 2009 Page 5 Follow up items/questions were made by Chairperson Goulet. Staff will conduct initial research and report back to the sub-committee at future meeting. 1. Remodeling Report — "What we offer or what people can do that want to make modifications to their home (existing or new), including Historic Homes and ways to make modifications to doors, windows, etc., without impacting the historic designation." 2. Straw-Bale House — "If someone wanted to build alternative structures like this could they do it and what would it take to get it approved through city process?" 3. Community Garden— "How did they do it and could it be done here?" ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:40 a.m. NEXT MEETING: December 15, 2009 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Council Chambers Conference Room B-2 TOPIC: Comprehensive Energy Conservation Plan Respectfully Submitted, Marilyn L. Clar , ecording Secretary