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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2009-01-22 City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes January 22, 2009 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Jean Baumann called the Sustainability Advisory Board meeting of January 22, 2009 to order at approximately 6:30 p.m. in the Santiam Room of the West End Building, 4101 Kruse Way, Lake Oswego, Oregon. [PLEASE NOTE IT WAS NOT CLEAR FROM RECORDING WHO WAS THERE] Members present: Chair Jean Baumann, Vice Chair Dorothy Atwood, Craig “Matt” Biggs, Bruce Chris Brown (alternate), Craig Diamond, Ron Gronowski, Lisa Murphy, Patrick Rowe, Amin Wahab, Grant Watkinson, Jacob Shimkus and Jeff DeWitt. Staff present: Jonna Papaefthimiou, Staff Liaison/Natural Resource Planner; and Susan Millhauser, Sustainability Planner. MINUTES (None) ANNOUNCEMENTS One of the members distributed “Say No to Pesticides” buttons her mother used to pass out. This was in memory of her mother, who recently passed away. Ms. Millhauser circulated a package of information she had received that day at a climate change workshop. Chair Baumann announced that she had been invited to speak about SAB activities at a chamber gathering to be hosted by the City Council the next day. She said she had agreed to a City Council request to sign a “buy local” letter on behalf of the SAB. The letter was to be published in the local newspaper. Ms. Millhauser announced that this year’s Street of Dreams would be at a site off Pilkington Road, where the homes were to be smaller, “Earth Advantage,” structures. Ms. Millhauser announced she had some complementary tickets to distribute to the Oregon Facilities and Sustainable Building Expo on January 28/29th. PUBLIC COMMENT (None) REGULAR BUSINESS Review Agenda Chair Baumann added discussions of a recycling program and the water conservation vote to the agenda. 2009 City Council Goals (SAB recommended) City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of January 22, 2009 Page 1 of 4 City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of January 22, 2009 Page 2 of 4 Chair Baumann reported that she and the chairs of all city boards and commissions had talked about their activities at a January 12th City Council roundtable. She said they all seemed to be open to meeting with the SAB liaisons. Ms. Millhauser advised the goals and meeting schedules of all of them were posted on the city website. SAB Liaisons for City Boards & Commissions o Revise volunteer list Chair Baumann asked Mr. Rowe to be the lead SAB liaison to the Planning Commission. She explained that was because the Planning Commission was revising the Community Development Code and he could suggest how to incorporate sustainable practices into the Code. Ms. Atwood related that Mr. Diamond had joined her subcommittee. o Review draft presentation and materials Chair Baumann presented the first draft of the presentation that liaisons would take to other city boards and commissions and asked members for their first impressions. She anticipated that the subcommittee who had drafted it would incorporate those suggestions into the next draft and email it to the members for additional comments. She suggested the presentation be shortened to fit into a 15-minute time-slot that would leave another ten minutes for brainstorming with each board and commission. Members suggested ways it could be condensed. It was suggested the liaisons could go into each meeting with specific suggestions about how that body’s goals could be related to sustainability in order to kick off the brainstorming session. The liaisons would invite the other body to help the SAB with Climate Change Action Month. Chair Baumann announced the draft presentation would be finalized at the board’s February meeting and the members would be given a full packet of information so the liaisons could be ready to make their presentations. Chair Baumann was to send out a revised matrix showing the current liaison assignments. Report: Climate Change Action Month Plan Development Ms. Atwood presented a draft list of ideas for activities and partners for “Climate Change Action Month” (May 2009) and asked for feedback. She suggested simplifying the name of the event to “Sustainable Lake Oswego.” Chair Baumann cautioned the members to wait until the current City Council formally adopted city goals (that would incorporate SAB goals) at their next meeting before contacting potential partners about the event. Ms. Atwood saw the focus of the event as building awareness about sustainability during a multi-event month that would emphasize water and energy conservation by enlisting the help of audit partners, such as Energy Trust of Oregon, PGE and Northwest Natural Gas. Other partners, such as schools, the chamber, water districts and other civic organizations could sponsor outreach activities and offer a venue in which to present Al Gore’s film. The audit partners might also help the city measure overall progress in reducing water and energy consumption. They could help individual households by showing them what they could do to reduce consumption and where they could find their own usage history. The members hoped baseline measurements and tracking information regarding the city’s aggregate use could be made available on the website. The Library had already agreed to create a display around environmental books and there was City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of January 22, 2009 Page 3 of 4 an environmental book discussion group that could lead discussions of them. Chair Baumann encouraged the group to keep the first annual event simple and not conduct contests. Ms. Millhauser reported the Farmers Market started its annual schedule too late in May to be a good kickoff event. She suggested holding a kickoff event at one high school and having the finale at the other high school. Members anticipated that audit partners would be able to schedule audits during the two months following the main event. Ms. Papaefthimiou reported energy providers had indicated to her that day that they could handle 1,000 audit signups, but they wanted more details about the event. A member emphasized that it was important to post explanations of why people should care about reducing water consumption and sign up for an audit. That would be because their water rates were about to go up and because handling municipal water took a significant amount of energy. Someone else suggested planning a media strategy of a themed series of ads instead of constantly repeating the announcement of the event. Members suggested creating a universal signup form with an audit checklist and then forwarding a list of signers to the appropriate audit partner(s). They suggested that people could sign up for an initial audit, then sign a pledge to commit to following the auditors’ advice and reducing consumption by a specific percentage. They hoped a way could be found to track the pledges and progress on the website. Informal vote: Ms. Atwood asked for a “thumbs up” indication from members that they were generally in agreement with the basic framework and direction she described. Chair Baumann observed the consensus was they were. Informal vote: Mr. Diamond suggested calling the event “Sustainability Action Month.” Chair Baumann asked all in favor to raise their hands and observed they all agreed. After that, some people suggested modifying it to “Sustainable Lake Oswego Action Month (SLOAM)” and “Lake Oswego Sustainable Action Month (LOSAM),” and Chair Baumann suggested the board could consider those suggestions later. Members then suggested potential partners, and Ms. Atwood agreed to compile the list and email it to members so they could add to it. At this meeting suggested partners included the “Drive less - Save more” regional travel options group (to provide information at the Farmers Market); and the Bicycle Alliance; Palisades Market; New Seasons Market; all the water districts; non-governmental organizations, such a Friends of Tryon Creek; the Lake Corporation, local civic clubs and schools; business associations; the country club; churches; neighborhood associations; LONAC; and a Kruse Way property management company. Chair Baumann asked the members to be prepared to refine their plans and clarify what their key messages were to be at their February meeting. Styrofoam Roundup – 2009 event results and plans for 3rd annual event in 2010 Ms. Millhauser reported that a 60-foot truck trailer had been filled with Styrofoam at the recent Styrofoam Roundup and participants had indicated they wanted to participate again next year. She had observed lots of wine bottle packing foam. She explained Total Reclaim (one of two foam-recycling businesses in the region) took the foam to press it into little pellets to be resold to other companies to make items. Chair Baumann said a local newspaper reporter had been there to gather information for an article. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of January 22, 2009 Page 4 of 4 Recycling Program Ms. Millhauser reported that Metro was requiring all subordinate jurisdictions to adopt an ordinance requiring businesses to recycle. She said the city had met with Allied Waste to fashion a related recycling strategy and the City Council was to meet and study the matter the following Tuesday. The City Council had asked the SAB for their recommendation. One of several compliance options was for the city to allow Clackamas County to do the enforcement. Another option was to adopt code fashioned after Metro’s draft model ordinance. Ms. Millhauser explained that businesses were currently billed according to the size of their dumpster. One of the members held that it was better to increase recycling by increasing the tipping fee than add regulations. Others observed a business that recycled enough they did not need to use all of their existing dumpster could save money by replacing it with a smaller dumpster. Ms. Millhauser explained the ordinance was Metro’s way to touch the 14% of businesses that were not recycling, especially large national chains. Board members explained they could support the idea, but they did not have enough specific knowledge to recommend a specific option. Mr. Watkinson moved to support the business recycling requirements program. Mr. Rowe seconded the motion and discussion followed. He agreed to amend his motion to support City Council adoption of a business recycling requirements program. Mr. Rowe seconded the amendment. The motion passed 6:0. Water Conservation Vote Chair Baumann announced the City Council had voted 5:2 to replace all the toilets and urinals in city-owned structures with low flow toilets at a cost of $122,000. The dissonant Councilors had not wanted to spend the money in buildings the city might replace or sell. Ms. Millhauser reported some toilets would be retrofitted instead of replaced. She said it was likely the project would be accomplished by June of this year. Chair Baumann advised that the estimated payback period of 27 years would be shorter after the city raised water rates this summer. She said the action would bring the facilities up to state standards and send the message that the city was willing to do what it wanted its citizens to do. She encouraged members who were so inclined to write letters to the editor. She suggested they attend City Council meetings to learn about other issues the Council was considering that the SAB might want to weigh in on. ADJOURNMENT The next meeting was scheduled for February 19, 2009. There being no further business Chair Baumann adjourned the meeting at approximately 8:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jonna Papaefthimiou Associate Planner L\sab\minutes\draft January 22, 2009.doc