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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2010-10-18 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes October 18, 2010 CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL Co-chair Bruce Brown called the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) meeting of October 18, 2010, to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Main Fire Station, 300 B Avenue, Lake Oswego, Oregon. Members present: Co-chair Grant Watkinson, Co-chair Bruce Brown, Dorothy Atwood, Matt Briggs, Daniel Gottlieb, Vidya Kale, and Gregory Monahan Members excused/absent: Sarah Asby, Gary Bachofner Council Liaison: Sally Moncrieff Staff present: Susan Millhauser, Sustainability Coordinator; David Donaldson, Assistant City Manager; Alex Deley, Sustainability Outreach Specialist/AmeriCorps Guests: Ray Phelps and Craig Holmes, Allied Waste ANNOUNCEMENTS The City was to host an Emergency Preparedness Forum on November 10th and a prescription drug take-back event on November 13th. The Rail-Volution conference was occurring in Portland that week. Watkinson recommended reading the October 18th Wall Street Journal article, “Turning Consumers Green.” Briggs anticipated that in two months he would not be using any fossil fuel burning devices house and that he would hold an open house during Earth Week 2011. His animated short film about acidification of oceans had been nominated for an award. The Council had scheduled time to consider a plastic bag ban. PUBLIC COMMENT (None) REGULAR BUSINESS Allied Commercial Food Waste Collection Program Ray Phelps and Craig Holmes, Allied Waste, circulated a list of potential food waste collection customers; a copy of Allied’s request to the City Council to allow a 4% rate reduction for collection of food waste; and a progress report on solid waste reduction. Allied was ready to begin collecting food waste in Lake Oswego in November. They would divert a truck that already ran north on I-5 to pick up at restaurants and grocery stores along Boones Ferry Road. Gubanc's Restaurant had agreed to be the first business to participate in the program. The City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of October 18, 2010 Page 2 of 4 Allied Waste representatives planned to help each potential participant find room for the containers and educate their employees. A decal would identify them as food waste program participants. During the questioning period, the Allied Waste representatives reported that they had found that Gubanc’s could compost the majority of its garbage. They were looking for space for the collection container that would not require them to sacrifice parking space. Contamination would be addressed by educating customers’ employees and by screening during pickup and at the compost facility. The initial program would not involve fast food restaurants because they would have to rely on customers to reduce the amount of contamination. Allied Waste would begin soliciting prospective customers if not enough responded to the initial outreach announcement. They confirmed that they planned to solicit School District participation. They reported they had assured the Lake Grove Business Association that participation in the program was voluntary, not mandatory. When the group discussed grocers, some reported that Tucci’s and New Seasons already had their own food waste composting programs. Coffee grounds from Starbucks and food waste from the old Wizer’s store in Lake Grove had been collected with yard debris for a few years. [The compost facility blended food waste with yard debris.] Allied was also already collecting food waste from the Adult Community Center as well. Comprehensive Plan Citizens’ Advisory Committee Update Atwood reported the City had hosted two lively community visioning workshops and was compiling the feedback it got. The Comprehensive Plan update staff would use the feedback to fashion a few scenarios for the community to discuss at charrettes in November and December. SAB members who had attended the visioning workshops reported that attendees had discussed the ideas of converting closed school sites to walkable neighborhood business/government service centers; holding regular Farmers’ Markets in Mountain Park and other neighborhoods; providing more than one recycling site; and creating safer, walkable, routes to schools. They had heard conflicting opinions about density. Atwood encouraged the group to stay engaged in the process. Monahan, Millhauser and Duke Castle were creating a “train the trainer” program to engage and educate community members in support of the Comprehensive Plan update. School District Sustainability Fund Donaldson reported that 230 tickets to the Sustainable Dinner had been sold for $100 each and 170 tickets had been given to sponsors and other people who helped. The City had had to reduce ticket prices from $150 to $100 each. Expenses had been greater than expected. He did not yet have the staff’s accounting of net proceeds. He would report that at the next SAB meeting. Sales of raffle tickets had raised about $2,000. The City had collected $60,000 in sponsorships for the entire Centennial Celebration event. Donaldson reported hearing that some of the restaurants and other participants wanted to do it again next year, but for some other beneficiary than the School District, because the District had other funding opportunities and had not actively promoted the event. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of October 18, 2010 Page 3 of 4 Sustainability Action Month Planning The group recalled that the strategy of partnering with other organizations had worked well last year. They anticipated they would hold the electric vehicle show and the bike ride again in 2011 and partner with the Chamber of Commerce and the Library again. Briggs indicated he was thinking about arranging a tour of green homes. Atwood suggested featuring one restaurant’s sustainable practices each week. Last year the AmeriCorps worker had set up a calendar and outreach system that the new AmeriCorps worker, Alex Deley, could continue. Brown suggested setting up a meeting in November to kickoff planning for Sustainability action Month. Board/Commission Chairs Meeting with the Mayor Monahan had represented the SAB Co-chairs at this meeting of the Mayor and the chairs of all City boards and commissions. The Mayor asked them to submit their respective goals and budget recommendations. He asked them to keep an eye on the Council agenda and send representatives to Council meetings so the Council could call on them for advice. Monahan reported that he and the HRAB representative had asked the City to adopt deconstruction code. The Mayor had asked him to send him a copy of a model deconstruction code. Monahan advised the SAB liaisons to other boards to work closely with them. TAB was going to fashion recommendations regarding transportation issues; the NRAB wanted the City to address invasive species; and the Parks and Recreation Department was engaged in a major parks master planning program. The next meeting with the Mayor was scheduled on December 11th. Donaldson invited an SAB representative to sit with the staff when they discussed issues like the plastic bag ban with the Council. Millhauser announced that the parks planner was going to assemble a parks planning focus group composed of board and commission members. Councilor Moncrieff and Watkinson recommended SAB members read Councilor Roger Hennigan’s email regarding the Streetcar. Millhauser planned to email it to the board members. Goal Setting Millhauser distributed her October 15, 2010 Staff Memorandum, “Progress on Goals.” The Board examined it and then discussed whether their next approach to goal setting should be to recommend specific goals to weave into each Comprehensive Plan update topic category, or recommend using a filter of sustainability-related questions as a basic City decision-making tool. Councilor Moncrieff was very interested in having a sustainability rating tool the staff, advisory boards, and the Council could use to evaluate proposals. The staff had published a brochure to explain the framework. Monahan volunteered to help Millhauser continue to work on a matrix/rating tool. Briggs suggested having a simplified version for the general public as well as a detailed version. The Board asked the staff to schedule a separate work session for goal-setting before the next regular board meeting. Millhauser planned to arrange for a meeting room on Wednesday, November 3rd. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of October 18, 2010 Page 4 of 4 Board Liaisons This discussion was postponed until the next regularly scheduled meeting on November 11, 2010. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business Co-chair Brown adjourned the meeting at 8:36 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Millhauser Sustainability Coordinator L:\Boards & Commissions\SAB\Minutes\2010\LO SAB2010 10-18 APPROVED.doc