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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2009-03-16 City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes March 16, 2009 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Jean Baumann called the Sustainability Advisory Board meeting of March 16, 2009 to order at approximately 6:30 p.m. in the Santiam Room of the West End Building, 4101 Kruse Way, Lake Oswego, Oregon. Members present: Chair Jean Baumann, Vice Chair Dorothy Atwood, Craig “Matt” Briggs, Bruce Brown (alternate), Craig Diamond, Ron Gronowski, Lisa Murphy, Patrick Rowe, Jacob Shimkus Amin Wahab and Grant Watkinson. Jeff DeWitt was not present. Staff present: Susan Millhauser, Sustainability Planner. MINUTES Mr. Gronowski moved to approve the Minutes of November 17, 2008 after a correction and the Minutes of December 8, 2008. Mr. Wahab seconded the motion and it passed by unanimous vote of those members present. ANNOUNCEMENTS Ms. Atwood distributed copies of song lyrics, “Earth Deserves Better,” that had been composed by children. PUBLIC COMMENT (None) REGULAR BUSINESS Review Agenda Chair Baumann removed the Clean Streams report from the agenda (see below) SAB Liaisons – Meeting Updates Mr. Gronowski and Mr. Watkinson reported they had met with the 50+ Advisory Board (City Councilor Kristin Johnson had also been present) and found those board members very willing to help. That board had suggested emphasizing shopping locally; an intra-city transportation system; locating businesses within walking distance of residential areas; and modifying building codes and zoning. They planned to submit detailed comments regarding each component of the Comprehensive Plan to the City Council. They suggested the SAB fashion sustainability-related value statements to be connected with the draft city vision statement. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of March 16, 2009 Page 1 of 5 City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of March 16, 2009 Page 2 of 5 They wanted to know what incentives the city would offer for water conservation. They reported that the Adult Community Center (ACC) had benefited from 16,000 hours worked by volunteers in 2008. SAB members assumed a large part of those hours would have been delivering Meals on Wheels, and that might be a good place to study the feasibility of car- sharing. Ms. Millhauser reported the city had conducted a feasibility study but had not been successful getting grant money for a car sharing pilot project. The liaisons agreed to find out what incentives the city’s water conservation staff planned to offer and forward that information to the 50+ Advisory Board. Ms. Millhauser reported he was currently fashioning a toilet rebate program. SAB members generally agreed that it was good to encourage city boards to encourage the City Council to take sustainability related action. When asked, Ms. Millhauser offered to research what other water providers served areas outside the city, but inside the Urban Services Boundary. Mr. Gronowski suggested an improvement to one of the SAB presentation slides. Ms. Murphy and Ms. Atwood reported they had made the SAB presentation to the Library Board. They said the group had seemed shocked by the presentation, especially the “13 planets” slide. Some felt there was nothing they could do, but some suggested involving kids by given them specific actions to accomplish like changing light bulbs. That board had observed that the library itself was “sustainable” use of books and community gathering space. After the SAB liaisons had advised the library board that their “Lake Oswego Reads” program had inspired SAM, they talked about how to make aspects of their activities and events more “sustainable.” They talked about focusing at least one Lake Oswego Reads event next year on sustainability and invited the SAB liaisons to make their presentation at a joint Library Board/ neighborhood associations meeting. A member of the Kruse Way Rotary club who had heard an SAB presentation had invited them to make a presentation at an upcoming Rotary meeting. Chair Baumann said that she, Mr. Diamond, Ms. Papaefthimiou and Ms. Millhauser would “tweak” the standard “boards and commissions” presentation into a version to be presented to business organizations, such as the two local Rotary clubs. Mr. Wahab reported that he not been successful so far connecting with the chair of the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB), so he planned to attend a TAB meeting to introduce himself and ask TAB for time on their agenda at a future meeting. He also reported that he had been attending the Earth Leadership Institute’s “Agents of Change” meetings and found there were many teachers and parents of school children there too. Report: Sustainability Action Month (SAM) Planning Ms. Atwood reported the SAM planning committee had been meeting regularly and thanked the members for their efforts. She related that the first meeting of the SAM advisory group had included City Councilor, Kristin Johnson, and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce (Doug Fish), the school district, the Lake Corporation; and Friends of Tryon Creek (Stephanie Wagner). Former City Councilor Gay Graham had agreed to serve as the At Large member. Although no one from the downtown business associations had attended, those groups had both assured her they wanted to participate. She said SAM event planners had suggested using an interactive suggestion board for people to use to post their ideas and comments, and sending City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of March 16, 2009 Page 3 of 5 out emailed “eblasts” prior to and during the month to alert people about SAM events and activities. She said Mr. Fish had advised that an interactive suggestion board would offer general feedback, but a more formal survey would be necessary to establish the baseline attitude of the community. The advisory group was to meet one more time in April. Meanwhile, they would each ask their organization how they wanted to partner with SAB. One way would be to forward eblasts they received from SAB to their members. Partner organizations could also be a source of business sponsorships. Ms. Atwood suggested e-blasts be fashioned for target categories: business organizations, nonprofit organizations, and schools. She asked for a volunteer to compose them and take ownership of ensuring they got to the right people, who would then broadcast them to their organization membership. Chair Baumann was to connect with the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Rowe was to connect with Rotary Clubs. Ms. Atwood and Mr. Shimkus were to connect with the school district. City staff were to send the eblasts to neighborhood association representatives and connect with nearby cities and county staff. Ms. Graham had emailed Chair Baumann an extensive list of many local groups to connect with. The group discussed how to promote SAM. The local newspaper had offered to publish two articles prior to and after SAM. SAB would ask the newspaper to also regularly list SAM events in the calendar in each edition. Posters designed with the help of Friends of Tryon Creek would be distributed. Likely locations would be the Chamber, City buildings, water districts, Clackamas County and nearby cities. Members were to suggest other places to post them at the next meeting. An insert was to be included in each water bill and the Library would hand the inserts out at the circulation desk. Mr. Briggs would be the featured author at the Library’s May 20th Authors Series. His film was to be shown on May 15th. Bill Bradbury was to speak on May 2nd. Ms. Atwood agreed to be the general lead (“overall point person”) for SAM and noted that she was looking for SAB lead volunteers for each event. She asked for volunteers to arrange for a table at the May 9th Lake Run. A SAB representative was needed to introduce each of the speakers during SAM. Chair Baumann had organized a Thursday Morning Business Forum series, which would be held each week in May. Ms. Millhauser offered to help with logistics for the Thursday forums. Ms. Atwood asked for a volunteer to take the lead for the movie nights. Mr. Shimkus had found a location to show them at the Whole Life Center on Upper Drive. The plan was to host three movie nights. Popcorn and lemonade had already been donated. Mr. Briggs was to show his film on May 15th. The lead would select two more movies to show and get permission to show them. The board agreed the movies should be more family-oriented than business-oriented. When no one volunteered to take the lead, Ms. Atwood suggested only having one, heavily promoted, movie night. Mr. Briggs was to take the lead at the May 15th Farmers Market. Ms. Murphy was the lead for all Library events. Mr. Rowe was to make an announcement and distribute handouts at the joint Rotary Club meeting at the end of March. Chair Baumann suggested members arrange to put an announcement in their church bulletins. Ms. Millhauser was to work with the Hello LO! staff and compose an article to be published in the April edition. Chair Baumann thanked Ms. Atwood and her planning team. Chair Baumann announced that the PGE Renewable Power Team had offered to conduct a renewable energy signup challenge in Lake Oswego in May if city officials made a related City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of March 16, 2009 Page 4 of 5 proclamation. The PGE team would go door-to-door to contact residents and they would put SAM promotional material in their information package. Mr. Briggs and Ms. Atwood expressed concern that participating in such a challenge during SAM might muddy the message. They also worried that door-to-door solicitation might put off some residents from participating in SAM activities. SAM planning team members suggested that PGE could table at the SAM Expo, allowing for people to learn about and sign up there for renewable power. Report: Clean Streams Plan This discussion was removed from the agenda because there was no update yet available. Guest Presentation: Whistler BC Update by Duke Castle Chair Baumann introduced Duke Castle, a Lake Oswego resident, and affiliate with The Natural Step Network. She noted that Duke’s presentation was something SAB members should keep in the back of their minds as they start to think about developing a community sustainability plan. Mr. Castle presented an overview of how the municipality of Whistler, B.C. had used The Natural Step as a framework for their community planning efforts starting in 2001. He shared information about Whistler 2020 Vision process and how the community developed priorities and strategies. Mr. Castle noted that Whistler had done an excellent job involving community partners and stakeholders in the process, resulting in about 50 partners who have signed agreements detailing how they are involved in the process, what actions they were taking the lead on, and committing to an annual check-in on plan progress. He noted that they had started with a 2020 oversight team that included staff from the municipality, and that the goal was to transition this oversight to a non-profit Whistler Center for Sustainability. Mr. Castle noted other communities that have integrated The Natural Step framework into their community sustainability planning efforts, including Canmore, B.C., several communities in Wisconsin and New Jersey, and Corvallis, OR. He concluded his presentation with his impressions of what successful community efforts had done: • Engaged leaders before larger community effort; • Provided support over time with lots of activities; • Effectively communicated the interlocking nature of ecology, society, and economy; • Developed a long-term plan; and • Put in place systems to manage over time. Discussion followed, with Mr. Diamond opining that this was not going to happen overnight, and that it had taken Whistler several years to get where they are now. Chair Baumann observed that the city is struggling with the need for a community vision. Mr. Castle noted that a community vision is vital and that a community cannot measure progress if there is no commonly agreed upon vision for the future. He shared that Whistler was able to look toward their vision when faced with making decisions about a major natural gas proposal. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of March 16, 2009 Page 5 of 5 NEW BUSINESS Ms. Millhauser noted there was a stack of sustainability brochures for liaison presentations. Mr. Rowe shared that House Bill 2626 was before the state legislature and would allow for low interest loans for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to be tacked on to utility bills. ADJOURNMENT The next meeting was scheduled for April 20, 2009. There being no further business Chair Baumann adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Millhauser, Sustainability Planner L:\Boards & Commissions\SAB\Minutes\2009\SAB2009 03-16 DRAFT.doc