Here is the formatted transcript with speaker names identified based on the provided context and the dialogue within the meeting. **Note:** As the original text did not include specific timestamps, I have used placeholders in the format requested. *** **[00:00:00] Chair Miller:** I'd like to call to order the Monday September 18th 2023 meeting of the Oakdale Environmental Management Commission and if we can all stand and pledge allegiance allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands under God indivisible with liberty thank you and next we'll have a roll call commissioner gerding? **[00:00:25] Commissioner Gerding:** Here. **[00:00:26] Chair Miller:** Commissioner Wilson? **[00:00:27] Commissioner Wilson:** Here. **[00:00:28] Chair Miller:** Commissioner Chang? **[00:00:29] Commissioner Chang:** Here. **[00:00:30] Chair Miller:** And we have a new commissioner with us this evening and we'd like to welcome Chang to our commission thank you and if you'd like to maybe just take a minute and tell us just a little bit about you how long you've lived in Oakdale Etc. **[00:00:45] Commissioner Chang:** Yeah um I'm actually originally from California saying uh I can't say that I was born in Thailand in refugee camp and then you know I came over to the United States and California and then you know my parents moved us up here to Minnesota so you know I've been used to live in Arden Hills but I've been in Oakdale since November of 2020. so that's when I moved in um found a really nice place up in uh Northern Oakdale and it took me forever you know I had to search through like 40 houses but I find it was like this is the one you know because I was always trying to find something unique plus I was closer to my parents so I was like you know this is a really great place I'll uh put in an offer see what see what they said you know at first they said no but then they came back a day later and said yes and I was like okay awesome so that's how I ended up in Oakdale but you know I really like it you know it's walkable you know there's Parks everywhere easily within distance of just walking right you don't have to get in your car and go anywhere to actually like have fun I mean yes. **[00:01:45] Chair Miller:** Great well welcome to the commission thank you thank you for volunteering to be part of this commission. **[00:01:50] Commissioner Chang:** Yeah glad. **[00:01:52] Chair Miller:** All right so the um the next item on our agenda is approval of our minutes from our July 17th 2023 meeting and thank you Hannah for putting together such thorough meeting minutes from our last meeting very helpful and are there I guess I'd open up to see if there are any uh changes or additions uh or anything to the amendments to the meeting minutes. **[00:02:15] Commissioner Wilson:** I have one change on page seven the consultant that age friendly Oakdale hired is b-i-k-b-i-k-o Biko and Associates it's just spelled differently that's all. **[00:02:25] Chair Miller:** Okay and are there any other changes? Hearing none I would look for a motion to approve the meeting minutes with that change on page seven. **[00:02:35] Commissioner Gerding:** It's all moved. **[00:02:37] Chair Miller:** You have a second? **[00:02:38] Commissioner Wilson:** Second. **[00:02:39] Chair Miller:** All in favor of approving the July 17 2023 meeting minutes say aye. **[00:02:42] Commissioners:** Aye. **[00:02:43] Chair Miller:** Opposed? Meeting minutes are approved. All right now we're into uh reviewing our old business and we have a few items uh where we're we'll be getting updates. The first item on the agenda uh as far as old business is our Washington County Recycling Grant update and this um Grant is something that we've been getting for quite a few years and uh again in 2023 we've received recycling Grant and have identified a number of projects as part of that Grant to help promote recycling in the city of Oakdale and uh Hannah Dunn is our community development specialist and will provide an update on those projects. **[00:03:20] Hannah Dunn:** Thank you yes thank you um so this first item on the agenda is an update for the Commissioners regarding the Washington County Recycling Grant um as part of the 2023 Grant application Oakdale identified four projects for use of the funds. The first project was education promoting residential and Commercial recycling through simple high-level education. City staff has used platforms such as Facebook and the printed and online Oakdale update newsletter to promote promote resources such as where residents can recycle plastic bags in Oakdale and as well as how to dispose of leaves in the fall. Additionally City staff has attended a farmer's market every month you know this is a good opportunity to educate residents about compost and other recycling initiatives. Then the second project is promoting composting as a means of waste reduction. City staff has attended multiple community events such as Summerfest and the farmers market. Since the beginning of June staff has handed out 80 compost starter kits so doing very well. The third project is decreasing Reliance on single-use Plastics. Reusable bags were created in support of this project staff received the bags in late August and handed them out at the September 6th Farmers Market. Continued promotion of the bags will occur throughout the rest of the year. Then lastly the fourth project is hosting a city-wide cleanup event but due to staff turnover and how big of a lift it is Staff talked with Washington County about amending this project instead of hosting the event in the fall of 2023 we'll just spend the remainder of the Year researching and laying the groundwork for a potential future cleanup event. Then because this cleanup event is not occurring staff decided to add a fifth project this will consist of expanding recycling Oakdale Parks. So currently the Oakdale Discovery Center and nature preserve is the only location with outdoor recycling in Oakdale. Staff from the Chamber of commerce's waste-wise program is in the process of conducting an assessment of parks and current waste infrastructure then they will then provide recommendations which Community Development and Public public work staff will use to accomplish the goal of increasing recycling um so that's a quick update about the grant to any of the Commissioners have any questions about the four original projects and then this new edition? **[00:05:45] Commissioner Gerding:** Any questions? No. **[00:05:46] Commissioner Chang:** No. **[00:05:47] Chair Miller:** No I have no questions I think it's good that we're added the additional projects uh project and I know we have in the past looked at the um those recycling bins the ones that are have markings on them and for different types of recycling and so um yeah it's good to move that forward so with no questions I think we'll move on to the next item thank you for that update which is uh Great Plains Institute EV smart program update and this is a program that we started in with Great Plains Institute in February of this year and there are several levels of certification that we can achieve in this program and we are moving to achieve the bronze level at this point uh and again I'll turn it over to uh Hannah Dunn for a update on this. **[00:06:30] Hannah Dunn:** Thank you just to reiterate what chair Miller said this program is a voluntary program that allows cities to achieve three levels of certification so bronze silver and gold you can achieve these certifications by creating EV friendly policies and completing certain actions these actions are divided into six EV Readiness categories they are planning regulation utility engagement education and incentives government operations and shared Mobility additionally Great Plains Institute hosts a monthly webinar with staff from participating cities so this cohort is a good opportunity to share resources ideas and advice. Before Oakdale joined the program the city had already accomplished a number of EV friendly actions which are listed out in the memo and then since joining the city has accomplished one more EV ready action which is uh creating a an electric vehicle Supply equipment permitting checklist. This checklist will help homeowners developers and contractors to understand the required permits submittals and steps for installing EV charging infrastructure in Oakdale. The checklist can be found on the city's website the link was provided in the the PDF copy of the packet sent out via email then with the completion of the checklist the city is one step closer to achieving bronze certification. The only thing left to cut fully accomplish LeBron certification is implementing an action that counts for Equity points So Great Plains Institute has kind of interwoven equity through all of these all the categories and actions so that cities are taking Equitable measures so we just still need five more points. Staff is still has yet to identify what that next action will be to accomplish this but we will be looking into what you know makes the most sense I know is maybe an easier lift to to achieve the bronze certification. **[00:08:25] Chair Miller:** One question um I had as you went through this uh the EV charging station checklist does that apply to residential? **[00:08:35] Hannah Dunn:** So charging stations if you're going um if you're just doing like a level one charging that does not require an electrical permit once you get Beyond I'm forgetting the voltages but um once you get to that more of that level two charging that's when electrical permit is needed. **[00:08:50] Chair Miller:** Okay great well I'm looking forward to advancing in this program Great Plains Institute is a great uh organization non-profit to work with and have really good staff so I know they'll help help us as well and uh I I'm happy that we have that program going and that we're nearly to the bronze level at this point. Any questions for Hannah on this? **[00:09:10] Commissioner Gerding:** Just one um you mentioned the the equity piece the lens to all of this can you is it a way for us to like better understand what that looks like across these there's six categories? **[00:09:20] Hannah Dunn:** Yeah yeah yeah so I can give maybe uh one example I'm not sure which category this would fall under probably either planning or regulation but uh you know thinking ahead to there's all these multi-family residences and people who live in apartments that don't have access to EV charging infrastructure so what can cities do for their ordinances and other regulations that you know will allow EV charging infrastructure in the right-of-way so that it's more accessible to people who don't have a garage or a you know a single family home to charge in so that's kind of an example of an equity piece thinking how how can we make it more accessible to different people. **[00:10:05] Commissioner Gerding:** Yeah no that's that's great I love hearing that lens because you're talking about both the physical spaces and the access and each of them you could go Myriad of different ways to ensure that you're not doing harm or things like that so thank you. **[00:10:20] Hannah Dunn:** Yep perfect. **[00:10:21] Chair Miller:** Any other questions on this? **[00:10:22] Commissioner Chang:** Uh no um I have a question yes is there any is there an estimated timeline about when we'll get the bronze certification? **[00:10:30] Hannah Dunn:** So this was kind of um I believe uh pilot cohort because they I think Great Plains Institute wants to expand this to a Nationwide program so they've been kind of doing cohorts to work out some of those details so I believe in April of next year of 2024 that's when the program will end I think it was just a one-year program and at that time if we've achieved bronze and Beyond that's when we would uh receive those certifications so this is not an instantaneous thing it's not like we achieve bronze and then we get some sort of certificate so I believe in April of next year's when we would receive bronze and if we you know take more steps and Achieve silver or gold then we would receive all those certifications at that time in April. **[00:11:15] Commissioner Chang:** Well that's great to hear especially since oh you know city of Oakdale is involved in the pilot project you know it shows a lot of leadership. **[00:11:22] Chair Miller:** Absolutely. **[00:11:23] Commissioner Gerding:** Do you happen to know if the this pilot that'll end in April is that likely to go as a permanent program under GPI? **[00:11:30] Hannah Dunn:** That I'm not too sure of um I think it all depends on funding whether there would be these Minnesota cohorts again because I believe there was another cohort before us they also had the charging up program which was a different thing but kind of related so we've been having a few different cohorts to to build up to a Nationwide program but I believe the Nationwide and other cohorts all depends on funding so fortunately don't have a concrete answer at this point. **[00:11:55] Commissioner Gerding:** It's okay I'm not sure they do either. **[00:11:57] Chair Miller:** Yeah right when it's dependent on getting funding it's these programs can or may or may not go on but yeah well I hope they they do get funding and this can continue and help other cities and uh becoming EV smart um great so our our next item is the bike bicycle and pedestrian Plan update and uh Environmental Management commission is the lead commission for developing a bike in pedestrian system in Oakdale and uh and has been reviewing plans with uh tool design the the consultant and uh and with City staff and um this is progressing nicely and again Hannah if you would provide further update. **[00:12:40] Hannah Dunn:** Yes the bicycle and pedestrian plan is very close to being completed the memo in the packet provided a detailed list of actions that have been taken during the entire you know multi-year process but since the July meeting the graphic designer at tool design completed a first draft of the plan with graphic design elements staff reviewed the draft and provided feedback so it's the balls are now in there Court just to um Implement that feedback and then once tool design revises the plan and provides the city with the revised draft it will be posted to the city website for public comment and then after that public comment period ends it will the plan will once again be revised based on on the feedback from the public and then it'll go to city council for formal adoption so um I believe in the next week or two we'll get that revised plan and then we'll go up on the website so that would be an opportunity for the commission to again kind of see the the whole plan with all that graphic design and provide feedback thank you. **[00:13:45] Chair Miller:** All right that's wonderful that we're at that point where it's in the final draft hopefully and that it's will be proved and um you know uploaded on the website and after getting public comment that the city can city council can formally adopt it so um nice to see that progress and that it's um it is very important this uh bicycle and pedestrian plan to promote uh well both uh bicycle and pedestrian methods having ways to get to mass transit systems especially with the helmo station going in and also to provide for further recreational and health healthy opportunities for people to get out and bike and walk within the city and do to do that safely as we know that was one of the well the top concern about using bicycle and pedestrian Pathways is safety and so hopefully we'll be able to address that with this new plan and people will be out there biking and walking more and uh as I mentioned having multiple assets in uh in using this system so uh any questions or comments from other commissioners? **[00:14:55] Commissioner Wilson:** Thank you no okay. **[00:14:56] Chair Miller:** Yeah I think we've reviewed this uh quite a bit so we'll move on um now we get into new business and uh this will be our main topic this evening is our 2024 draft Environmental Management commission work plan. We've been putting work plans together every year for many years we're starting a little bit earlier than normal and that uh the timeline for getting a plan to the city council has been moved up and normally we finish our discussions in November and for the city council approval sometime in the New Year generally around February but we're moving that up so that we can get the plan approved this year by the city council so tonight's meeting hopefully we'll come out of this we have a a draft 2024 work plan the city staff has put together and so we have that to to start with as a first first draft and uh hopefully we'll have you know some comments and some uh additions and things for that that plan this evening and I want to thank you Anna for putting this together and for also attaching our 2023 work plan as well as uh uh our comprehensive plan and the resiliency chapter that we've been using to develop our work plan the last few years now and uh also the the green step cities 29 best practices that we've been working on since the beginning of the green steps program and I I can't recall when that started exactly but it's well over 10 years ago and uh so those are helpful tools that we've been using annually to put together our work plan and uh and so this is always a a fun thing for me I I like planning and uh and also I think that since this has become a regular um process for us I think we're pretty uh Adept at moving through this process and uh and with a new commissioner hopefully you'll uh just jump right in on this too with any comments you might have and um yeah Hannah do you have any other comments as we get into the the work plan? **[00:17:10] Hannah Dunn:** Uh just that you know I know in previous years the October and November meetings were were the times that you discussed the work plan in depth um like you mentioned the city council has expect expressed interest in all of the commissions having work plans um and that their intentions at this point are to informally discuss the work plans at a year-end appreciation dinner this hasn't been scheduled yet so I just wanted to make sure that we were on top of it so that when that is scheduled we have something to talk with them about so that's why we're discussing it a month two months earlier than previous years and then in regards to the 2024 draft plan you'll notice that there are some of the same priorities from the 2023 plan they've been carried over such as actions to support the EV ready Community study there are also the ongoing items like the Washington County Recycling Grant and water quality and Energy Efficiency education resources and then again we'll be reporting our green step cities metrics for 2023 that reporting period happens in the spring of 2024. Additionally there's some more some newer items such as analyzing you know we've been looking into Fleet electrification but maybe more intensely looking at opportunities to actually you know purchase or just you know collect information so that we're ready to purchase if we if that's something um that the city and the city council are interested in doing additionally monitoring excel's um budgets and public utility commissions filings to know if and when they'll expand some of those EV charging infrastructure programs that they previously had like the evsi program and the public charging program those are currently shut down because they did not receive the the go ahead to continue those programs so those are not open to us at this moment but being on top of it for when they do open up will be beneficial because I'm sure those will fill up quite quickly and then lastly the Parks and Recreation Commission will be the lead commission for a park system Plan update but the EMC will be able to plug in at various times so that was a new item for the 2024 draft plan um then at this time I'll open it up to the Commissioners provide feedback. **[00:19:40] Chair Miller:** Well I have uh want them to start the discussion on the plan and uh in the first section in the EV ready Community study priority action implementation um I was wondering if we should also add um another item around the the Great Plains Institute EV smart program in achieving that bronze level of certification uh it's because it sounds like that's going to move into 2024 so should you know we'll be working on it this year but um into next year yep so maybe we can go through this section by main action and so are there any other EV ready Community study priority actions uh any comments or additions to that section about a carryover from the 2023 in this first section are we still chapter eight goal one? I've already lost my place. **[00:20:40] Commissioner Gerding:** Yes thank you um was it what was the um the barrier for the um the sponsor coordinate promote a local ride was it capacity was it marketing like what why we weren't able to hold one this year? **[00:20:55] Hannah Dunn:** um I think the timing of the staff turnover from Shannon leaving and me taking over and just getting settled in um based on what I've heard from other cities who have put on ride and drives you really have to start planning in almost February and April to lock down EVS for the ride ride and drive um dealers you know if it's kind of a little hard to lock them down and sometimes they aren't able to actually bring in Evie and they they sometimes don't know until the week of so just in order to not rush something together and then have it kind of fail because we don't have any actual EVS to drive or ride in um we decided to not pursue that more this year that will definitely be something that in the early kind of late winter early spring we'll have to uh really start diving into the planning details of that we did attempt to find EVS for Touch a Truck to have EV owners come and just talk about their EVS but um weren't able to find anyone especially in the September months that's when a lot of people host their ride and drives because it's you know National Electric Vehicle month and their National Electric Vehicle week is in September so there's just a lot of EV events going on in that month so that was probably the biggest reasons just the timing of turnover and um finding available people. **[00:22:20] Commissioner Gerding:** Okay thank you. **[00:22:21] Chair Miller:** Well I think this section um looks good to me with that one addition and yeah I think some of these um due to the not having a staff person for a few months we had to put on some things on the back burner and and that happens so but I and I on that particular item of the ride and drive um maybe to look also for an opportunity to do it with other neighboring cities like Woodbury or Maplewood and have a combined event um I know there was a an event I think in Bloomington um at some point and uh that I mean if there are other Twin Cities events but I I think that we'd get more Oakdale residents out to a local event either in the city or in a neighboring City we'll get more people interested um I mean the hardcore people that are ready to buy and just going you know they might go across the city to Bloomington or something but uh to get more interest going I think a local would be best. **[00:23:25] Commissioner Gerding:** I do like the I'll Echo that sure I do like the idea of a combined Cross City Event just for um staff capacity and bandwidth and also you know there's as we all probably are hearing either on radio or whatever your media stream is these days there's this whole Market of used car like EV but they're specifically used cars and they're not at your normal Tesla rivian dealer there it's a separate separate market so that could also be a way to get more true owner feedback for from a ride and drive perspective is to make sure that it's not we're not only targeting people that can afford to buy new but we're also targeting people that want to get into the market and really don't want to buy new so that could be another way to do that to bridge with that city-wide effort. **[00:24:20] Chair Miller:** Yeah all right well if there are no further comments or questions on that uh first section let's go to the promote Energy Efficiency renewable energy and residential and Commercial properties. **[00:24:35] Commissioner Wilson:** Well at one time we had talked about having kind of an environmental Affair or some kind of environmental Gathering and I don't see any specific reference to that other than a lot of these items could be combined for informational and promotional purposes if we had one Gathering instead of three. **[00:24:55] Chair Miller:** Yeah yeah and I guess at this point uh commissioner Wilson I um I I think that's something we should pursue in 2024 is doing that to address a number of these areas and um as commissioner gerding and I have talked about that having a really a concerted effort this year to communicate with residents and the environmental affair would be a good way to do that um and and on a number of these items so the more the better Communications we can have to engage residents in these issues like Energy Efficiency and personally I think Energy Efficiency is really a critical one at this point in time and really would help residents if they realize that there is there are resources out there to help them and some of them are no cost to them like you know a bill clinic or a solar power hour to get introduced to solar and so I think that yeah there's a lot we can do to engage and that's kind of an overall theme I think for our work plan is is community engagement so and we have the Discovery Center which is usually an excellent venue for that yes. **[00:26:05] Commissioner Wilson:** Yes yeah. **[00:26:06] Chair Miller:** In this section the solar power hour uh we have hosted it in the past at City Hall here but the Discovery Center might be a good place for that too um if uh and hopefully um this year they did not have a Twin Cities solar Pro program by the Midwest renewable energy Association because of lack of resources on their end I think they lost some people and as well and they um we're not unable to do as many cities this year so uh hopefully next year they'll have more resources and we should probably contact them early about that and uh yeah so I think that that's a good venue for doing those sorts of things. Any comments about this item on Energy Efficiency? All right let's move to the next one which is also on well connecting low-income residents to weatherization Energy Efficiency resources which also Builds on the from the last one and I like the items here that are listed and one idea that I had too that could maybe help in this area is to promote specifically promote energy Audits and there are um I think there are some no cost energy audits available but um I think believe Excel charges in most cases for an energy audit and this might be something if we could offer for low-income residents either free audits or to pay you know give a fifty percent rebate on if they have an Excel audit you know so that would be like fifty dollars that we would contribute to the audit. I think we have been conservative about spending our City's money and by this commissions but uh I think this would be well worth it to uh with you know Energy prices continuing to go up and uh you know these things having a great impact on Energy Efficiency in fact they're the most cost effective method of you know reducing greenhouse gases reducing energy costs and consumption so um yeah I think that is something we could add to this item if we you know think that there will be money in the budget for next year to cover this I don't we'd have to project about how many homes and um that would entail but you know we do 100 homes that's only five thousand dollars so it's not big money I wouldn't think for the city so um and we could put a cap on the number of homes. What happens in um apartment buildings and you know places where it's multi-family but can you get an energy audit there you think? I don't know the answer to that question personally but I think looking at multi-family buildings would be a good thing to promote as well and looking at Energy Efficiency and working with building owners. **[00:29:10] Commissioner Wilson:** Yeah that would be something good to add here because uh probably in depending on the of course multi-family depending on the the building but there are low low income residents in some of the buildings. **[00:29:20] Commissioner Gerding:** I think if the adding to that I think of the Cub Clinic opportunity got out to people that maybe didn't maybe people that rented or whatever situation they were in that assessment through a club Clinic could make the case if they needed a full audit to help bridge to bridge that piece so there's probably multiple chair Miller's points there's probably multiple ways to come at this one I would think but generally thematic wise I agree it should be all about educating and simplifying and demystifying all these programs to our community because they're out there it's just it's tough to make sense out of a lot of them. **[00:30:05] Chair Miller:** Yeah so I think if we can again with improved Communications engagement of residents weekend let them know of these opportunities and uh yeah I think that that's gonna really help move the needle on on this one and to get more engagement on Energy Efficiency so good I think we have some get additional ideas there about how we can do that and any other comments on that section? **[00:30:30] Commissioner Chang:** No. **[00:30:31] Chair Miller:** All right let's go to increase access to solar and we have research Soul Smart Bronze level designation is that a new program? **[00:30:40] Hannah Dunn:** Nope and this was on the 2023 work plan and it's probably something I can very well complete before the end of 2023 so there's a chance that maybe we could remove this um I just kind of move it up my priority list to to research that so no it's basically like green step cities for solar um I'm not sure when it started but it was on the 2023 work plan and I think it's been around for a little bit. **[00:31:05] Commissioner Wilson:** Can we go to soulsmart.com to learn what it is? **[00:31:10] Hannah Dunn:** Yes I'm not sure what the website is but yes if you Google Soul smart it should take you to a page that kind of would probably be very similar-ish to Green step cities where it breaks down the different certifications and levels and solar ready actions that cities can take. **[00:31:25] Commissioner Wilson:** And is it a national program? **[00:31:30] Hannah Dunn:** I believe so but I'm not yes okay it is. **[00:31:32] Chair Miller:** Yeah I think um let's run out of Colorado and I forget it might be the national renewable energy lab there I remember that sounds right unrel yeah yeah so I think um with that designation and I think also you know with um the action above that we talked about in hosting solar Twin Cities Power Hour and and that to it um yeah that we can make more of a and also promoting other programs on solar like the Excel programs and that too um which just made me think about with increasing access to solar besides that designation um maybe we could do something about informing people about Community solar there are still Community solar options I believe I know I'm part of one in uh Community solar in Washington County and um there may be other opportunities out there it can be an adjoining counties as well so it can be in Dakota or Ramsey County. **[00:32:45] Commissioner Wilson:** Yeah so that may be something we could take a a look at if we could add maybe another item about um promoting Community solar it's people who cannot afford the you know on-site solar that they can sign up for Community solar and still get some rebate on their their energy bill on their electricity bill. **[00:33:05] Chair Miller:** All right so now we're into waste and uh I guess I'll point out that we have a really a three main areas that we've been working on for years one to do with energy Energy Efficiency renewable energy and then second one is waste promoting waste recycling waste reduction and so we have our item that we've had on there for quite a few years now is uh leveraging funds from Washington County Recycling Grant and we talked about the project we have for this year and to develop projects next year to continue to be part of that program and I see that as a very cost-effective way to address reducing waste and increasing recycling in in the city. Any other ideas on that one that we might want to pursue as far as actions? **[00:33:55] Commissioner Wilson:** Multi-family included in that again? **[00:34:00] Chair Miller:** Yeah I think we could call it out somewhere call that out specific projects to be determined in q1 2024 and good note that we want to make sure to include multi-family this year or next year. All right I think we can move along to our other area that uh we have and that is water conservation and also maintaining the quality of the water here in Oakdale and uh you know we've had adopt drain for a while and continue with that one item on here that's listed that would again be good for environmental Affair is the promoting grant opportunities for water water quality improvements um and maybe we could even get one or two of The Watershed districts that are in Oakdale that come out for a fair so I know that's getting down into more specific actions but uh good uh I think be brainstorming a little bit about how we can actually do some of these things and I do like um going hand in hand with that is to understand the Baseline health of oakdale's local water bodies that would be helpful. **[00:35:15] Commissioner Wilson:** Yeah because I know residents have brought to me um some issues like with Armstrong lake that is right along Highway 10. um near Skyview school there and it's for the last few years has really been overgrown with uh uh various you know weeds in the in the lake and uh and I have talked to the South Washington County watershed District which that lake is in about that and they had a project to come out and actually work on that Wetland that is to the east of that Lake east and south and uh unfortunately then covid hit the year 2020 that they had people lined up to do that work and I think they had money to do it too and a project manager and so it didn't happen in 2020 or 2021 and they've had problems getting funding and also with just staff to run a project like that so um now I think there are needs within Oakdale um you know especially the lakes that we look at there are Wetland areas too that have ponds and in that but I think especially if we could look at the the Lakes uh as a first go around next year and getting monitoring and data and that would be great and I think some of the some of the lakes that um we call Lakes maybe are not qualified as Lakes due to their acreage but are fairly big you know um we could include those as well. **[00:36:50] Commissioner Wilson:** I really like that list the second dot that says provide education about and resources for water infiltration reuse practices including and then there's a nice long list of all kinds of different things that fall into that category like rain Gardens which people are more familiar with but green parking lots permeable pavement anyway there's a really helpful list there I'm wondering whether there could be a way of introducing one or two or three of those into either the city hall Garden area or the Discovery Center Nature Center or Garden area so we could actually point to it and say this is what a green roof looks like that's a big deal this is what a tree trench tree box look like or something like that the Discovery Center does a good good job with native plants so we have plenty of examples there but even if we had one place where we could go and look at a couple of them that might be an incentive. **[00:37:45] Chair Miller:** Yeah I believe we do have rain Gardens down at Tanner's Lake in the just behind the ball field there between the ball field and the beach that we helped install eight eight to ten years ago I think so that would be one thing we could point to and um and of course we have on the city website how to do rain Gardens that informations out there so I think it's some of this education we can promote the resources we have and um maybe promote some of the rain Gardens we have around the city. **[00:38:20] Commissioner Wilson:** between rain garden and that big open sort of wetland over by HyVee it's bigger than a rain Garden I think but it's really pretty now and it has you know it's a sunken area and it has all kinds of wildflowers around it but I don't know it might be just a rainwater catchment or something like that um but it might be nice to know different terminology what is a rain Garden what isn't a rain Garden um I know over in Willowbrook now they're you know providing some holes or depressions and I'm not exactly sure what all that means either. **[00:38:50] Chair Miller:** Well some um there is a difference the catchments are more uh holding ponds for rain water okay before a drain goes into a wetland and then we have a lot of those in Oakdale and uh so I yeah and then a rain Garden is really a garden that drains and takes up the water rather than it going onto the street or okay going into a storm sewer so I think that is defined in our our rain Garden um material we have that resource what is a rain Garden but I think there are other things like pervious pavers that uh you know for use it could be used for driveways and that it's a little difficult and Minnesota for driveways got a snow blower or something that a little tricky using it on pavers but uh not quite as easy here I think the more we can point an education to things we already have in place it helps. Any other comments on this section? **[00:39:55] Commissioner Chang:** No. **[00:39:56] Chair Miller:** All right so uh relative to the green step cities program um that we're continuing to take our metrics uh annually and in looking at the the green step cities program and the information you provided we've done a pretty good job on addressing best practices in that program and that a lot of these are almost all green and that we've completed um and I think the important thing is that we focus on priority items for our city and so I think we're really have covered the priority areas I think in our our work plan and we want to continue to be part of the green step cities program and so we want to continue to make improvements on our metrics and I think with what we have already planned we're going to be helping our metrics so uh yeah I think as long as we're continuing to update the metrics on that that's all we need to do for now you know and some of the things we're doing may affect I think one or two of those areas but I don't think it's important that we address projects that just get more of the 29 best practices I think we're doing the things that we need to do so um the other area is to assist Parks and Recreation Commission in planning efforts uh their cities going to be going through an update of the parks master plan and I think having our commission involved with that in some way uh in the planning efforts for that would be would be good and that they're really you know the environmental aspects of our Parks we want to be promoting the right things there and some of these things like looking at opportunities as we did in Tanner's Lake Park for you know water rain Gardens and things like that or native plants and other things that uh our Parks more environmentally sound. So I think that is it for the draft work plan uh any questions or comments in General on either that last item or other items throughout the plan you may have come up in the discussions? **[00:42:05] Commissioner Gerding:** All right well this is just the start we have some things to revise and um and we have a month to think about them and come back in October and uh hopefully we can pretty much finalize the plan at that point at least have it ready for uh city council review and that and uh I think we're in good shape with this looks via productive 2024 for our commission so getting back to our agenda um we also have now our it's a new business site on Community Development updates and this is very important as uh you know the community it develops we want to make sure that uh we're developing in a sustainable Manner and uh so we I think it's important for our commission to to be aware of those and I'm going to turn it over to you Hannah once again. **[00:42:55] Hannah Dunn:** Thank you there we go I'm still in an effort to keep the Environmental Management commission informed about development activities in Oakdale City staff has prepared a brief presentation uh the first update is about Willowbrook and open space as part of the master planned unit development agreement for the Willowbrook Willow Brook neighborhood the city is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of open space. The 2023-2027 Oakdale Capital Improvement plan includes three phases of open space restoration. Phase one which is 7.7 acres and outlots G B and C is designated as a 2023 Park project. There will be a diagram of these outlets on the next slide. In the summer of 2023 City staff solicited proposals from firms that specialize in Prairie restoration and received two for phase one. Staff internally reviewed the proposals and recommended selection of RES Great Lakes. City council approved the contract at their September 12 2023 meeting. RES Great Lakes will first create design plans for staff and prepare the sites this fall and then hopefully in the spring of 2024 the seating and planting will commence. The firm will then be responsible for Hands-On maintenance of the Prairies until the end of 2027. So this it might be hard to see um but this is the Willowbrook neighborhood and Outlet G is this one right here where the Commons park will be and then out Lot B is this so it's this one sits between um a few houses and then this is the last Outlet where um Prairie restoration will occur in phase one then there will be other Open Spaces out in the other parts of Willowbrook in the years to come so we just wanted to give you an update about that since that will hopefully we'll have a site visit with the ecologists and other team members from RES in the coming weeks and then they'll really get the project rolling so you know there might not be much change in this fall yet you know where the year is winding down um and they're just gonna be getting some of that prep done but you know next spring things will start moving along and then in a few years we'll hopefully have very nice prairies in that neighborhood. **[00:45:15] Commissioner Wilson:** What about a park The Commons park? **[00:45:20] Hannah Dunn:** Yeah yep so that's um Commons park is this going to be all of this section and the construction will begin next spring for that so there will be some coordination between the park s people and the Prairie people in that in that section of Willowbrook there's gonna be a lot going on Prairie then the gray part it's kind of around the wetlands and there's a storm water pond so it's going to be kind of just okay Wetland buffer prairies um yeah most of that green space right there will end up being the park so it'll be um playground and other Park amenities. **[00:45:55] Commissioner Chang:** How many acres or what's the square footage again? I think you might have said it. **[00:46:00] Hannah Dunn:** 7.7 Acres great yep thank you. Okay any other questions about Willowbrook? Okay um so Tanner's Lake Redevelopment um the city of Oakdale Economic Development Authority received special legislative approval approval to form a tax increment financing or TIF district in 2008. The city Economic Development Authority then purchased the former blacky's restaurant site on the North side which was this site and then in 2014 the city Economic Development Authority purchased the parcel to the South um which was the former set of Toby's bar. Various Redevelopment proposals have occurred in the last 15 years however these proposals did not work out due to a multitude of factors therefore in the fall of 2022 City staff revived efforts to pursue Redevelopment of the properties. Three developers submitted initial proposals the one later withdrew. These proposals were presented to the city council at their June 27 2023 Workshop meeting and it was recommended and approved to heavy and exclusive rights agreement with the with a preferred developer who was um they submitted proposal B which included an apartment building 2600 square feet of retail space Town Homes a public Pavilion concessions potentially a public boat dock and boat rentals so uh staff recommended selection of this proposal and city council members were supportive so the exclusive rights agreement is the first step in the development process it allows the developer to complete some due diligence prior to entering into a formal development agreement so on the next slide it's hard to see the packet might be a little bit better but you can kind of get a sense for um the town homes will be down here and then the apartments will be up towards that more north side of the uh the Lots so still more to come on this it's in the very beginning development phases but I wanted to give you an update about about that site because currently it's just a big you know it was a concrete parking lot and a Gold Line Construction company is using it for staging while they're working on the Gold Line so um but there are plans to redevelop that in the future. **[00:48:25] Chair Miller:** Yeah I occasionally get questions about what's happening with that it's uh been quite a few years now and it's been sitting there and so nice to know that there are plans there. **[00:48:35] Hannah Dunn:** Okay moving on uh Shoreland ordinance which will have um close implications with that Tanner's Lake Redevelopment site um Land Development on the shores of Minnesota's lakes and rivers is Guided by Minnesota State Statute the Shoreland rules establish minimum standards per to protect habitat and water quality and preserve property values in order to uphold these standards local governments are required to have Shoreland ordinances the Department of Natural Resources ensures that local Shoreland ordinances comply with the state shoreline to rules they also provide technical oversight and assistance. The city of Oakdale did not previously have a Shoreland ordinance therefore staff began drafting one in the spring of 2023 adopting this ordinance will bring oakdale's Shoreland areas into compliance with the state additionally it will enable future development particularly at the city-owned Tanners Lake Properties. City staff has been working closely with the DNR throughout the summer. The next steps are formal submittal of the ordinance for DNR review and then city council approval. Any questions on this development? **[00:49:50] Commissioner Wilson:** I don't I assume Shoreland has to refer to a lake and not a wetland right? **[00:49:55] Hannah Dunn:** Yep so it will just be for I believe the Three Lakes in Oakdale so the ordinance will specifically call those out and okay next I get the PowerPoint back there there it is okay next item the Oakdale development map. City staff recently created a new web-based development map which details new and upcoming development projects throughout Oakdale. The Oakdale development map can be accessed on the city website at this link under if you were to go to the city's website there's an economic development web page and it would be there or there's also this link where you can directly access the GIS map. The Oakdale development map displays development projects at various stages of um at various stages the four categories are under review approved under construction and completed projects are considered to be under under review Once an initial application has been submitted projects are deemed approved once appropriate city council approvals have been granted to allow cons for construction and then additional information available on the map includes the name of the developer the date final approvals were granted and if applicable the number of residential units or commercial floor space listed projects will be updated at least monthly and then here's a screenshot of one of the development projects in Oakdale this is the um impact Apartments down by 94 so you can see that there are multi-family residential development currently under construction by the developer Norhart and then it shows the approval dates and then it also shows that there will be 328 residential units at this property. So this is a similar layout to all the different development projects in Oakdale and we'll and will be updated at least monthly. **[00:51:40] Chair Miller:** Yeah this is great because the issue in the past has come up you know of our commission being in coordination with economic development and you know we use used to get the economic development report or at least the chair and vice chair would get that report when it would come out on regularly quarterly or something and uh um you know we've kind of moved away from that and this will be good and I think that Commissioners or at least we should talk about that that who who would like to be the lead person on looking at this regularly and just letting us know if there's anything uh we should be involved in and generally if there is something and if there are environmental issues that are part of a development project we get informed of that but I think it's good to to take a look through our lens at these projects to just see if something might raise our some issue with us maybe it won't be an issue but uh you know good to be aware of what's going on as this update is great to know what's going on across the city so this is great that they're going to have this uh available on the website. **[00:52:45] Hannah Dunn:** Quick update is as you're aware the Gold Line bus Rapid Transit is a planned 10 Mile bus Rapid Transit line connecting St Paul Maplewood landfall Oakdale and Woodbury the route will be mostly constructed north of I-94 and there will be two Transit stations serving Oakdale one at Greenway Avenue North and one at helmo Avenue North. Construction continues throughout the project area with an anticipated 2025 opening. Crews are currently working on the new Bielenberg Drive bridge in the hellmo station area that will go over I-94 and then when you have a chance there's a link to a Time Lapse video of the bridge construction. So in the PDF packet that was emailed you'll be able to click that link and then see um you know basically from nothing to the starts of a bridge so that was kind of fun to watch and then kind of tying closely into that the helmo station area this is the helmo station PUD. This is an area north of I-94 and east of I-694. Prior to the construction of the Gold Line brt and development of vacant Lots it consisted of approximately 30 Acres of undeveloped land. The Gold Line brt project created an opportunity to reimagine the land use in the area so that it can better support Transit ridership so two projects that I wanted to highlight was there will be a new park in this area and then the Norhart impact Apartments are currently being developed. The Norhart impact Apartments this building will feature 328 dwelling units and first floor commercial space for a coffee shop and a restaurant. There weren't initial intentions to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure to their residents. Construction isn't far enough along to see that come to fruition but that's something that hopefully will be available to residents. Other features of the halmo station area are parks and open space as part of the planned unit development a neighborhood park will be constructed and will be a central feature. Conceptual plans have yet to be finalized but this centrally located neighborhood park is envisioned to provide passive areas for residents and visitors. Other Open Spaces in the halmo station area will provide ecological benefits and offer residents and visitors with Trails boardwalks and Gathering spaces and then are there any final questions? I know there had been um interest in receiving updates regarding the new Public Works building but I think that um I will be able to provide an update regarding that at a future meeting. **[00:55:15] Chair Miller:** In that last um drawing it's hard to tell line here but is that open area to the west of helmo there that's a kind of a pale green and there looks like a pond there that is that going to be open space as well? **[00:55:30] Hannah Dunn:** Yep so I think the original Vision was to kind of have this like green belt that connected that more open space to the park kind of going through the middle of the Pud so that was I guess was the initial intentions apologies about the the small map it is kind of hard to read. **[00:55:45] Chair Miller:** Yeah great yeah area's been busy with construction I go by there often but all right well it's great to have that that update and uh think with that your tool within stay in touch with developments and and actually this this year um we've been getting regular updates on Community Development so that's been really great with everything going on it's it's been very helpful. All right the next item in our well are there any questions or comments by other Commissioners? **[00:56:15] Commissioner Wilson:** No. **[00:56:16] Chair Miller:** All right so uh the uh we have our editorial calendar that we're following through 2023 and again this is a way to promote our communications with Oakdale residents and uh see that September is electric vehicles month and uh that the week of September 22nd to October 1st is National Drive electric week so um so we do have things that are are planned for this month regarding that it looks like and also then Energy Efficiency month being next month so uh there are a number of things we need to communicate about that I'm wondering if it isn't too late to try to get a citizens Utility Board meeting if someone come in and put on a a workshop for that we've done it at City Hall here before but maybe if Discovery Center could be used possibly um that might be something also to get you know Direct involvement of people just to clarify. **[00:57:15] Hannah Dunn:** Terminal you're talking about at the clinic? **[00:57:20] Chair Miller:** Yeah yeah okay the clinic I'm sorry no I didn't say that I know we did that initially with the solar Twin Cities or the solar power hour was to offer an hour before the solar power hour to have a clinic and uh so it would be be good to have a you know an early evening clinic or something like that for uh you know we can arrange that so maybe we can see if that could happen sometime in October I think it's timely with the heating season coming on. Are there any things you'd like to highlight Hannah about the communications? I see you as we have in our packet here the highlight of uh various things. **[00:58:00] Hannah Dunn:** Yep and yeah the only other thing I would call out is um there will be pumpkin drop off at Public Works Public Works building so Communications will uh post about that um you know leading up to the Halloween time because it'll be available for about two weeks around Halloween so that's something the county um handles the logistics of we just host the spot but it went very well last year so hopefully it's as successful this year. **[00:58:30] Commissioner Gerding:** Yeah thank you that's what I was going to elevate it's written into our our grant anyway the pumpkin piece so the pumpkin piece it's like a movie um so it's great to see that we'll be highlighting that. Question do we do anything for trees holiday trees? **[00:58:45] Hannah Dunn:** I want to say Public Works does because I feel like when I was talking with them regarding pumpkins they said something about trees but I don't I can't say for sure. **[00:58:55] Chair Miller:** So any uh comments on our editorial calendar? Oh I think it looks good it's robust and just uh November reuse and recycling so we can think about if there's anything there we want to highlight uh in November as well start thinking about that. All right so um next item our commissioner updates if any of the Commissioners have anything that was not on our agenda this evening that they would like to bring up please do so now or if you've attended some Workshop or something and want to tell us about that that's would be great. No updates? Okay well we have our mayor mayor Zabel is here this evening for uh our city council update. **[00:59:45] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** Thank you Mr chair uh first and foremost I want to welcome everybody to fall allergy season I've been celebrating for the past week or so so bear with me but it's here yes it found us um just a few updates from the city. So um our biggest uh update is regarding our city budget for 2024. and our last city council meeting we took our first official step towards adoption and that's uh setting our preliminary Levy. This is required by state law it really is our ceiling for the the levy um so over the course of the next few months we'll work with our city staff to make any final Trims and edits of the city budget but it has been set that is the highest we can go. Some highlights of our budget include uh the current and I want to stress this this is the proposal you know so things could change but we're fairly confident that we're almost there. The 2024 budget will include funding for three new police officers in the city of Oakdale as well as an additional Parks worker and some administrative help all very needed positions. Also as we're all seeing interest rates continue to climb and stay steadily High the city continues to put more emphasis on using our cash and our reserves to pay for things like equipments and vehicles and avoid putting them on bonding so that is a very positive outcome for our financial situation. This is our third straight year I believe of not using bonds and quote the credit card for our equipment and vehicles which is always a good thing. We also took action on four cannabis related items at our last meeting actions pertaining to cannabis use in city parks use of cannabis and spaces subject to public accommodation laws establishment of new Canada or a Prohibition of establishment of new cannabis businesses before the state of Minnesota releases guidance as we all know the state is taking the lead on regulation for cannabis businesses across the state so in Oakdale we're hitting the pause button until they roll out their rules so we understand how that impacts our zoning and then finally allowing the sale of THC products in liquor stores that was something that was previously prohibited under state law they changed it so we're just updating our ordinance to reflect that. We've also had a lot of events lately I always love that in September we've had Touch a Truck Family Fun Inflatables Farmers Market it is hard to believe we only have I think four farmers markets left and then we all know what comes after that winter um but I just want to extend a very big thank you to our recreation department they have they've done so much good work throughout spring summer fall we're seeing it now um they always do Stellar work so a big thank you to them. Uh finally the state of the city address uh dropped earlier this month you may have seen it online if you haven't please go visit the city's Facebook page or YouTube channel it's posted there among topics that I discussed were Public Safety Communications Recreation development and more so it was about 10 minutes we shortened things up polished it up this year but I'm very happy with how it turned out and a big thank you to the Ramsay Washington cable commission for their assistance in filming that but it's a really good resource for our residents to understand what's happening around our community what's changing there's a lot of change and a lot of growth happening so we encourage everybody to go check that out. Finally a welcome to Chang for joining the EMC we met with him about a month ago at the city council workshop and we're really excited to have you aboard here on the EMC so welcome. Questions? What do you got for me? **[01:03:30] Chair Miller:** Well you have the budget set and we mentioned in our discussion uh possibly getting um you know five or ten thousand dollars for assisting and doing energy audits something along those in that category yeah is that something that was is within the budget boundaries uh that you've set or within the current budget? **[01:03:50] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** Probably not but we always do have discretionary funds for one-off type projects like that that pop up so um I would encourage EMC to send that through the process that's something that city council can absolutely evaluate. The crux of the city budget really looks at those ongoing long-term expenses so Personnel infrastructure vehicles that type of stuff we always do have um methods of addressing one-time expenditures such as energy audits so and as those bubble up we take them on the fly. So please pass it along I know Hannah we'll we'll get that through the staff process and then I think we should be able to handle that. Great. Any other questions? Alrighty well thanks everybody. **[01:04:40] Chair Miller:** All right so our next meeting is going to be on Monday October 16th at 7 pm right here in a city council chambers and uh with that I would look for an emotion to adjourn the meeting. **[01:04:50] Commissioner Wilson:** So moved. **[01:04:52] Chair Miller:** Do I have a second? **[01:04:53] Commissioner Gerding:** Second. **[01:04:55] Chair Miller:** All in favor of adjourning? **[01:04:56] Commissioners:** Aye.