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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - MGG - 03-09-2010ORIGINAL Milton Grows Green Committee Minutes March 9, 2010 [Approved] Date: March 9, 2010, 6:30 — 8:30 p.m. Place: City of Milton Fire Station No. 43, 750 Hickory Flat Road, Milton, GA 30004 Attendees: Amy Peters, Jack Lindon, Francia Lindon, Jon McPhail, Gordon Hunter, Julie Pinckney, Kathy Johnson, Bruce Langston, Mark Law, Wilson Borden, Cyndee Bonacci and Ellie Babb from Verizon Wireless. Agenda: The Agenda was posted on the City's web site prior to the meeting. L Approval of Minutes and Announcements: February 10, 2010 minutes were unanimously approved. Ellie Babb from Verizon Wireless (off of Morris Rd.) announced that the company was opening up to the public its electronics recycling event March 17'h 7:30 am to 2:00 pm. Verizon is looking for volunteers to help and publicity for the event. Verizon is Milton's largest employer having over 2,000 employees and this location is the company's headquarters for the southeast. Over the past two years it has started a lot of green initiatives. Sustainability is a very "hot topic." One of their programs is called "Hope Line" which recycles cell phones regardless of the manufacturer. Funds from this go to helping domestic violence agencies. An outside vendor is providing the trailer but needs help unloading and directing traffic to the overflow parking lot. A press release from the City is going out March 10`h listing acceptable materials. The results are going to be measured and we will know how successful the event is. II. Updates: Cyndee Bonacci, the City's new Director of Parks and Recreation was introduced_ She is also the special events planner and on Milton's Trails Committee. (She gave contact names for the Trails Committee - Brian Maloney, Bill Shellhorn, Sandy Shelley and Mary Williams are on the bike & ped committee.) They are very supportive of the Earth Day Event. She will get more information from this group next Thursday as to their needs will be. She brought some topo maps of the Birmingham Park. Jason and Cyndee are planning on having a booth with a large topo map. They be available for any questions on Milton's parks and have volunteers to lead small tours of areas within Birmingham Park. In 2005 a master plan was done by Fulton County. That plan is currently being reevaluated. A Parks and Recreation needs assessment survey is being mailed to all Milton residents to give the City guidance as to what the citizens want. Birmingham is the largest park in Fulton County. Cyndee also has vendor contacts for T-shirt and porta-potties. III. Committee Reports: LUGS: Jon has talked with Councilwoman Thurman about going to GA Tech, Prof. Charles Allen at the architecture school to have some of his students work on developing a plan for implementing Transfer Development Rights (TDR). Highway 140 is in her district. It is believed to be our best "receiving" area. Whatever we come up with will have to be coordinated with the City of Roswell as the border crisscrosses the highway several times. Gordon, Wilson, Melinda (maybe) said they would be glad to review the draft of the proposal to be delivered to Prof. Allen for his class to work on as a study problem. Prof. Allen is also a lawyer who has litigated a lot of zoning cases in Atlanta. Jon wrote the proposal by looking at the Georgia state statute and TDR setups in other states such as Virginia and North Carolina where they have been used in more exurban areas similar to ours. He's also asked Lynn Tully to develop a list of parcels sorted by size that would be appropriate for preservation. Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes March 9, 2010 ALL MILTON GRows GREEN DOCUMENTS ARE PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER WITH AT LEAST 35% POST -CONSUMER CONTENT. Amy asked Cyndee if there was anything in the works on community gardens. Cyndee said this is one of the items on the needs assessment survey. Community Gardens and Farmer's Markets are two qualifying items for the Certifications and Designations certification. Jon suggested small chef or truck gardens would add value to small parcels that much else can't be done on_ Kathy said these gardens would be valuable for mini field trips for environmental education classes. Air, Water & Energy - Stream Buffer Protection Pamphlet: The suggestion was made to print the brochure on heavier stock for distribution at the Earth Day Festival. Jon mentioned the trout he saw in Chicken Creek at Atlanta National. He doesn't want to let the information widely disseminated because it means another 50' of protection along the Creek, which would put the poor trout's life at risk. Bruce got an e-mail from GEFA, the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority that is an omnibus government organization that administers federal funds. Lots of money has been available through this agency. The last grant money available was for retrofitting homes to be energy efficient. MGG should have information out there on all the tax incentives and grants available for conservation. Funds can also be for companies that offer services. We need to get a better feel for what they do. Certifications & Designations: Green Cities has been carved up into pieces and assigned to various members of MGG. Jon has a personal connection with the woman at the city of Roswell who put together their workbook. She once worked in his legal office. Roswell has been awarded SILVER. Both Alpharetta and Roswell have had people within the city governments who worked on this thus facilitating the compilation of information. It would be a great advantage for us to have similar access. But first we need to figure out what questions to ask before taking up staff time. If we figure out what we need to know, then we can figure out whom to ask. We're trying to keep the burned off the city staff. The City's web site could be more helpful if names were associated with department. The City is working on getting that information out there. There is a real effort for the City's business to be transparent. Keep Milton Beautiful: Marc has gotten a two -page description of the training that's involved. Jon is going to send this out to the people who have volunteered for the training: Marc, Gina, Jack, Francia, Kathy, Julie Pinckney and Wilson. Keep America Beautiful is very particular about assigning positions. Those who have expressed an interest should indicate what positions they think they'd be good in. MGG has to take back the URL "KeepMiltonBeautiful.org_" Keep North Fulton Beautiful current holds the name but it makes more sense for us to have it. Zero Waste Zones: Todd has reinvigorated this effort. Jon and he have talked to Jimmy Carter of Milton's but need to getting together with Ron Wallace of "Old Blind Dog" to give information on recycling organics. Old Blind Dog has already taken a number of environmental steps. They would be a good "lead dog." The recycler already goes by Publix and Krogers. Organic waste is taken to a composting facility and, under heat, takes about 90 days to turn into "brown gold." Gordon is going to arrange a meeting between Jon and Ron Wallace. RRR: Because of decreasing commodity prices the Roswell Recycling Center is looking for financial support from neighboring communities using the facility. Operating costs are around $400,000 a year. They wanted about $50,000 from Milton. The amount should be based on the percentage of use by Milton residents and was thought to be high. City staff is studying the request. At past bulky trash days when the cars were monitored, Milton wound up with about 5% of the total participants. Based on this, the City paid $800 vs. the $7,500 Roswell was requesting. Alpharetta is collecting all recyclables at the curb. The material will be weighed as it's put on the truck. To encourage residents to recycle, they will be given a "chit" good at local restaurants and businesses based on the amount recycled. Alpharetta is "centralized" meaning the City has a single hauler for residential and one for commercial. In Milton we have a list each individual can choose from. Milton's structure would have to change in order to initiate what Alpharetta is doing. We have to pay attention to the small haulers and squeezing them out of business. Maybe a solution for us would be for each HOA to select between two different haulers. Doing this would have less ware and tear on local roads and generate less pollution. The "dirty little secret" about plastic recycling is that only 41 & 42 actually get recycled. The rest are sent to China where it gets burned for electricity. Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, March 9, 2010 p. 2 Vic Knight offered to give a tour of the transfer station on Maxwell Road and the Chadwick landfill sometime in the spring. Anyone who wants to come is welcome. Waste Management doesn't co -mingle its recyclables. Kathy was interested in this as a possible field trip for school kids. We should let Carter know the date. Communications: Jon has met with the City's director of communications and gone over how we want MGG web pages arranged. The City is going to hire a web service to handle the site on a long-term basis. We will have a "landing page" which will have our events, committees and volunteer projects. Francia and Jon will get all the information from the various committees to submit. Edneational Subcommittee: Kathy is doing a pilot program at Birmingham Falls E.S. and is working on her third green lesson. Birmingham Falls wants to be a "clean air school," and will be doing things for the Earth Day Festival. Environmental Education, the "Anti -Idling Campaign" will be a very big part of Earth Day. Some of the same green lessons material will be used. Once the curriculum materials are developed they will be available for other schools from the web and will be sent electronically. The lessons are grade specific requiring very different material for middle and high schools. In the elementary schools implementation of environmental ed. is PTA driven whereas in the middle and high schools it must got through the principal, the science teachers or the eco-club. Kathy will need help to man some of the mini -lessons hands-on activities at the education booth. Earth Day Festival: It's a fair April 17t'' from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, at Birmingham Park. Gina is the primary program coordinator. Kathy is also a coordinator. Jon passed out the press release also posted on the City's web site. The City wants this to be a signature spring event and is enthusiastic, but there is some concern we might be relying too much on the City for manpower. The event will have some outside commercial vendors, local restaurants, a display of an outdoor water collection system, educational events, a solar energy vendor, a tree planting for carbon offsets and those sorts of things. We can have an educational piece on what carbon offsets are. (We prefer not to have any generators.) We touched on what some of the standards might be for vendors such as products or services being related to recycling, sustainability, fair trade and organics, In relation to LEEDs standards, building materials should come from no further than 600 miles. The parks and recreation dept. will have a booth and conduct tours of the park. As part of the Clean Air Campaign a silent auction will be held to raise funds for replacing or retrofitting a diesel -powered school bus. There will be information on Zero Waste Zones, Community Gardens, and an art contest for elementary schools with environmental prizes such as the adoption of a sea turtle. We need to put a finer point on some of these things within the next week. Both Gina and Jon have talked to Chris Lagerbloom. Chris wants to see detailed, written project management information on all participants, issues to be resolve, responsibilities for each area/booth, and what specifically we have to have from the City in each area. What are the costs going to be? Nailing down these issues will require a lot of work. We will need "tons" of people. There was some discussion on various volunteer lists from past events. These lists have overlapping names. Some of them were donors and some wanted to participate. They need to be flushed out. .Ion asked for a "volunteer coordinator." No one responded though Bruce is willing to help set up the database. Some of planning sessions for the event should be scheduled so people who have daytime jobs can attend. We have a lot to do in a very short time. New Business: Gordon announced that the Church of the Later Day Saints is having a "Day of Service" April 24"' at Summit Hill and Crabapple Crossing Schools to do some landscaping work. There is an opportunity here for reciprocal volunteerism. St Patrick's Day Electronic Recycling at Verizon Wireless needs volunteers from MGG. The City's draft Tree Ordinance in now on the City's web site. The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p. ATTEST: Jon B. McPhail, Co -Chair Francia Lindon, Secretary Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, March 9, 2010 p. 3 Milton PAR Date: July 15, 2010, 5:30 pm — 8:00 pm ORIGINAL Milton Grows Green Committee Minutes July 15, 2010 Place: City of Milton Fire Station No. 43, 750 Hickory Flat Road, Milton, GA 30004 Attendees: Amy Peters, Kathy Johnson, Jon McPhail, Jack Lindon, Francia Lindon, Bruce Langston and Chris Lagerbloom. Agenda: The Agenda was distributed and was posted on the City's web site prior to the meeting. I. Approval of Minutes and Announcements: No minutes were approved at the meeting however, April 14, May 13 and June] 5, 2010 minutes were approved during the follow-up. II. Updates: There's been no official announcement as to who is going to be MGG's liaison with City Hall. Rivers Alive — After discussion a date for this event is tentatively scheduled for October 1 dt". Keep Georgia Beautiful is a co-sponsor. III. Old Business — An MGG Projects List was the focus of the meeting (see attached). We reviewed some on the list, starting with those that involved City staff or needed funding. Chris needed to get budget numbers as he was currently working on the 2011 budget. Hazardous Waste — The budget request was for $15,000 but the actual cost was estimated at $30,000. Sandy Springs just held one of these. It cost ---$70,000 and had between 900 and 1,000 vehicles participating. A contractor who has HazMat-trained personnel to handle and property dispose of all the material would be retained. Specific materials require specific handling. Costs can be controlled by a combination of limiting number of vehicles allowed or by limiting the type and amount of materials to be collected. Pre -registration would be required. To cut costs, we might also partner with Johns Creek or Alpharetta. Again, education is an important component and for some materials, we might be able to do this on our own. For example, latex paint, which is usually the most voluminous material, can be solidified and disposed in landfills without special handling. Vic Knight (Waste Management) has a consultant who might be able to help in planning if we were to do it on our own. The real danger from improper disposal is contamination of the water supply as pesticides, drugs, antifreeze, and motor oil are dumped into storm drains or flushed down toilets. Some of the solvents and other chemicals are volatile and you don't want them sitting around over the years. We could solicit corporate help here but again we run into the 501(c)(3) question, which is why becoming a KAB affiliate is so important. Green Communities Initiative — Jon and Amy met with Michele on Monday July 21". City Council is behind the effort and Michele is moving forward on it with MGG's help. Funds need for this will come from the Community Development Dept. Bring One for the Chipper — A general request was made for approximately $350 for road signs to the event. Adopt -A -Stream — Tom Sewell wants to concentrate his efforts on his students. There are two levels to the training. The first is for monitoring streams for bacteria or chemical contaminants. The second is a "train the trainer" class. MGG will have to find other volunteers to take the training if we want to pursue this outside of the Hopewell middle school setting. Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, July 15, 2010 ALL MILTON GROWS GREEN DOCUMENTS ARE PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER WITH AT LEAST 35%1`05T-CONSUM1ER CONTENT. Clean Air Campaign, No -Idling in School Zones — This was done this past spring at Summit Hill and will be implemented at Birmingham Falls in the fall as a pilot with the idea of taking the program to other schools once all the kinks are worked out. There are different parts to the program and you can pick and choose what parts you want to do. We should invite private schools in Milton to participate as well. Jon is going to try to find a volunteer to lead this specific effort to help Kathy out. Keep America Beautiful/Keep Milton Beautiful — This might be Chris' #1 priority on the list since Milton has severed its relationship with Keep North Fulton Beautiful. If we have a City employee as an ex officio member of our board to keep the books, the city attorney said it would work to satisfy KAB's need for financial accountability for any grants Milton may receive. One of Chris's objectives is to factor into the budget requests a "return on investment." This is an area where Milton may benefit by funding this initiative this year. The training involves a 4-hour Pre -Certification Training Workshop, then completing a number of tasks within the next 4 to 5 months. Bruce volunteered to be one of the KAB trainees. Jon is going to send information on KAB requirements to the core MGG subcommittee heads. The City has indicated a willingness to fund the program. In order to staff a director for this program and to comply with NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System under the Clean Water Act) permit requirements for public outreach, the City may choose to hire a part-time environmental/educational coordinator. It was suggested that Chris contact Terry Porter who fills this role in Alpharetta. How we proceed depends on funding. The City is being very cautious in projecting revenues and budgeting for next year. Fees for KAB for the first year are several thousand dollars to become an affiliate. Schools Environmental Education — This year the pilot program at Birmingham Falls Elementary School was funded by $3,000 from the P.T.A. But in the coming year, this source isn't going to be available as P.T.A. money is being used for teacher's salaries. Some of the expenses were a one-time purchase such as the $1,000 for recycle bins. WastePro is doing the pickup for free. There is also a related teaching component. Some schools have requested an outdoor classroom and some schools already have them. So the needs of each have to be viewed individually. You could just assign each a fixed budget. Chris was putting in a very conservative request of $3,000 per school. Storm Drain Marking — The previous work done by MGG volunteers has not been properly recorded. However, reporting sheets were filled out for each project and turned into Public Works. A partial list of the subdivisions MGG volunteers did was included in the June 15"' meeting minutes. As part of the NPDES requirements the City is in the process of inventorying all storm drains and catch basin system. The City has equipment that gets the GIS coordinates in the field. This should be completed over the next 2 years. We need to coordinate with Carter Lucas to see what records can be found. Stream Buffer Protection Pamphlet — We need to get this information out either by mailing it or sending it by e-mail. The next step is notifying the approximately 10% of residents who abut streams and ponds. To do this we would need postage of $500 and City staffs help in developing an address list. This is lower on Chris's priority list than others, but he has included it in his funding items. Tax Rebates for Energy Efficiency — This can be done by posting the information on a page on the City's web site with Jason's help. There are a number of monetary incentives for energy efficiency and water conservation out there. Transfer Development Rights (TDRs) — Chris wants staff to handle this because there is so much that goes along with this both politically and legally. CPAC is taking a look at TDRs and Chris has professional staff he can go to. As the City needs to go out and get information from the committees, it will. MGG doesn't have any desire to lead this initiative but up until a few months ago, there didn't seem to be any interest in it. For some time Jon has been interested in the associated legal mechanisms. It's quite complicated and with the exception of the Serenbe development, TDRs haven't been successfully implemented anywhere in Georgia. The one thing he had planned to do was to ask Prof. Allen at Georgia Tech, an expert in planning and land use, if he would assign it as a study project to one of his planning classes. The idea is to produce a "white paper," information giving direction as to what issues need to be considered and approaches that have been tried, information without any preset agenda or political ties. It would be information for the good. Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, Judy 15, 20I0 p. 2 There would be no expectation that the City would use part or any of the recommendations. Chris thought that by being on MGG's project list, it generated publicity that wouldn't be helpful in the long run. We agreed to remove it from the MGG List of Projects. Earth Day Festival — We asked for $5,000 based on what was spent last year. The financial detail on the 2010 was attached. Chris was going to take a look at the hotel/motel tax to see hoe that stands in this year. Soles4Souls — They provide cardboard collection boxes and if you register within the prescribed time period, they will come to your collection site every few days for pickup. Otherwise the shoes can be deposited at the Roswell Recycle Center. Kathy will check on the date. This is another area where we need a volunteer coordinator. IV. New Business: The New High School — We discussed and all agreed it was worth asking City Council for support in asking Fulton County that some sustainable features, such as those used in the Arabia Mountain School, he incorporated in the new Milton High School. Arabia Mountain in Dekalb is LEED silver certified. It was built for little more than the cost of a "cookie cutter" design, which is what we're getting from Fulton County. Architects and educators feel that increased natural daylight in classrooms boosts energy efficiency while improving students' attention and positively impacting their grades. LEEDs buildings are less costly to operate. Shouldn't Milton's residents expect at least that much as has been done in Decalb? Isn't there some way the City can exercise some "influence" (if it wants to) through the building code or permitting process over some of the school's construction details or landscaping? Couldn't the City (if it so desired) hold them to some improved standard with sustainable features such as: * Reduced water use with low -flow plumbing fixtures, waterless urinals, sink sensors; * North -South positioning to reduce energy use; * Construction materials that are 10 percent to 20 percent recycled; * Exclusion of materials that emit noxious, harmful odors; Individually controlled HVAC to reduce energy waste in unoccupied areas. * Bicycle and walking paths; * Tree -save areas, including some preservation of old -growth specimens; * Bio-swales with natural plantings to filter water runoff before it enters local streams; A hands-on environmental curriculum. The two percent in additional construction costs contributed by these features will be offset by operational savings of 20 percent annually over a five-year period, according to the architect. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm. ATTEST: cam, Jon B. McPhail, Co -Chair Francia Lindon, Secretary Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, July 15, 2010 p. 3