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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.07.2022 MinutesCITY OF OSHKOSH SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY BOARD Minutes March 07th, 2022 PRESENT: Vic Oliver, Ken Osmond, Bob Poeschl, Bradley Spanbauer, Aaron Wojciechowski (arrived at 6:45pm), Margy Davey EXCUSED: Eric Degroot, Pat Dwyer Hallquist, Lisa Marone, Michelle Bogden-Muetzel ABSENT: STAFF AND OTHERS: Brandon Nielsen (Staff Liaison), Staff (Oshkosh Media), Kelly Nieforth (Director of Community Development), Lori Palmeri (City Mayor) I. Call to Order Chair Margy Davey called the meeting to order at 6:00pm and a quorum was declared present. II. Public Comment Board member Pat Dwyer Hallquist submitted a letter regarding the proposed Native Plant Ordinance agenda item. Mr. Nielsen read the letter as a public comment. The letter is attached to the minutes. III. Approval of Minutes, February 7th, 2021 No board members had any revisions for the minutes. The board approved the February 7th minutes 5-0 (Poeschl / Osmond). Motion by Mr. Poeschl to accept the minutes as written Seconded by Mr. Osmond Motion carried 5-0 IV. Environmental Justice Resolution Ms. Nieforth explained that a resolution was brought forward by Mayor Palmeri during a Common Council meeting and the common council agreed that SAB should look at it first. Ms. Nieforth further explained that city staff, particularly the city attorneys, city manager, and community development staff, reviewed the resolution to determine how it would or could best fit into the City of Oshkosh. Part of the meeting packet was a redlined document showing SAB the original resolution and the proposed staff edits with explanations of those edits. Mayor Palmeri said that council recommended this be reviewed by SAB, but believes environmental justice floats across many aspects of the city to include diversity, equity, and inclusion, and also looks forward to hearing SAB’s recommendations. Mr. Nielsen showed the board a few maps that he created using the EJScreen mapping tool that is available on the EPA website and Ms. Nieforth stated that the State of Wisconsin is working on a website similar to the EPA website that should have more information pertaining to Wisconsin cities. Ms. Nieforth and Mayor Palmeri hope that the data presented on the EJScreen mapping tool will help the city make more informed decisions. Mr. Osmond asked if there will be a process in place to layer in the data provided from the EJScreen mapping tool and Ms. Nieforth stated that staff is working on figuring out where this data could be incorporated, such as, within staff reports for new developments. Mr. Poeschl voiced his support in looking at environmental justice as a lens within the decision making processes. Ms. Davey asked the board what they would like to do with the resolution and they decided to share it with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and bring it back for discussion again at the April meeting. Ms. Nieforth stated that she will pass the resolution onto DEI for their review. V. Native Plant Ordinance Ms. Davey shared that two SAB members could not be at the meeting and requested that this item be tabled until next month. Mr. Poeschl motioned to table Item V for this meeting and to be brought back at the April meeting. Mr. Osmond seconded the motion. Motion by Mr. Poeschl to table Item V Seconded by Mr. Osmond Motion carried 5-0 VI. Oshkosh Energy Analysis Mr. Spanbauer presented his findings regarding 2019 energy data that was collected by Mr. Nielsen and an energy model project from an MIT student in 2021. Mr. Spanbauer recommended that SAB revisit the report produced by Zach Berzolla at MIT to help city staff create programs that can target homes that were built before 1980 for energy efficient upgrades. The board would like to see more activity on the SAB Facebook page regarding the current housing programs, marketing the renewable energy aspect of their ability. VII. Salting Ordinance (Snow Removal Ordinance) General discussion about the previous meeting’s presentation from SaltWise Wisconsin and the ordinance in question. Mr. Nielsen recommended that the board take a good look the current ordinance to decide what language changes the board would like to propose. The board would like to see a “rule of thumb” section in this code section to signify some environmental impact recomendations. Mr. Spanbauer plans to reach out to Allison at SaltWise to see what her thoughts are about this ordinance and take in her recommendations. VIII. Agenda Items for Future Meeting Native Landscaping Ordinance Snow Removal / Salting Ordinance Environmental Justice MIT Energy Model Analysis VIII. Next Meeting, Monday, April 4th, 2022 IX. Adjournment The board voted 6-0 to adjourn (Osmond / Poeschl) Motion by Mr. Osmond to adjourn Seconded by Mr. Poeschl Motion carried 6-0 Recorded by: Brandon Nielsen, Assistant Planner Sustainability Advisory Board Members, I am writing to you about Agenda item V, Native Plant Ordinance. The city code of concern, specifically Sec. 17-33 and Sec. 17-44, is about weed cutting and lawn care. Concern about the Weed Cutting and Lawn Care Code was brought to the Sustainability Advisory Board’s attention in December 2019 when UW Oshkosh students submitted their report, “Native Landscaping”. The students pointed out that the current code has unclear guidelines for landscaping with implications that the city may order landowners to cut any vegetation over 8 inches. While native plants are not explicitly covered by the 8 inch rule, the language (vegetative growth) could be interpreted to mean that native plants are subject to the 8 inch rule. The current City of Oshkosh code sends a mixed message to Oshkosh landowners about the native plant landscaping. While Sec. 30-254 of city code includes specific native plants as suitable for landscaping, Sec. 17-44 does not protect native landscaping from a mowing requirement and requires approval for native landscaping areas of any size. Landowners who wish to landscape with native plants should not have to worry about a city order to mow their landscaping. The SAB edit of the Weed Cutting and Lawn Care code addresses the issues raised by the students. The SAB edit of Sec. 17-33E has a clear definition of noxious weeds that refers to Wisconsin state code. The SAB edit of Sec. 17-44 makes clear that the 8 inch rule applies only to turf grass and noxious weeds. The phrase “vegetative growth” is removed. The SAB edit replaces the requirement to obtain approval from the Director of Parks with a requirement to give notice to the city if the native landscaping area exceeds 50% of the total area of the private property. It also states that a land owner is not required to send notice for landscaping areas smaller than 50% of the total area of the property. The SAB edit clearly communicates to landowners that native landscaping is acceptable as long as turf grass growth is limited to 8 inches and noxious weeds are controlled. The Staff edit and the SAB edit agree on the definition of Noxious Weeds in Sec. 17-33E. However, the two edits differ in other significant ways. The Staff edit of Sec. 17-44 B includes the term “other vegetative growth” which is not defined, and could be interpreted to include native plants. The Staff edit of Sec. 17-44 D also includes the requirement that landowners apply to the Director of Parks for approval of a native landscaping area on their property to obtain exemption from the 8 inch rule. This requirement applies to native landscaping areas of any size. No time frame or criteria for approval are described. The Staff edit does not clearly communicate that native landscaping is acceptable in the City of Oshkosh. There are many benefits of native plant landscaping: improved water quality, better control of erosion and flooding, and increased biodiversity. Chapter 4, Environmental Conservation, of the City of Oshkosh Sustainability Plan has goals related to native landscaping, including a goal to “review and modify City lawn and tree ordinances to encourage responsible native landscaping”. Landowners who wish to landscape with native plants should not have to worry about a city order to mow their landscaping. I wish I could be at the meeting discussing the proposed changes to Sec. 17-33 and Sec. 17-44. My hope is that these sections can be modified to address concerns of both staff and the Sustainability Advisory Board. Sincerely, Pat Dwyer-Hallquist