01/17/2018 Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 17, 2018
City of Clearwater
City Hall
112 S. Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33756
9 '
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Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
4:00 PM
Council Chambers
Environmental Advisory Board
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City of Clearwater
Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 17, 2018
Roll Call
Present 5 - Vice Chair Jared Leone, Board Member Mark Wright, Board Member
Ashley Wilson Pimley, Board Member John E. Thomas, Sr., and Board
Member Candace Gardner
Also Present: Laura Mahony —Assistant City Attorney, Sarah Kessler— Environmental
Specialist, Patricia O. Sullivan — Board Reporter
1. Call To Order
The Vice-Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. at City Hall.
To provide continuity for research, items are in agenda order although not necessarily
discussed in that order.
2. Approval of Minutes
2.1 Approve the minutes of the October 18, 2017 Environmental Advisory Board Meeting
Member Pimley moved to approve minutes of the October 18, 2017
Environmental Advisory Board meeting as submitted in written
summation. The motion was duly seconded and carried
unanimously.
3. Citizens to be Heard Regarding Items Not on the Agenda: None.
4. New Business Items
4.1. Presentation of"Ready for 100" by Sierra Club members Phil Compton and Bryan
Beckman
Sierra Club Clearwater& Largo Coordinator Bryan Beckman provided a
PowerPoint presentation on the Ready for 100 Campaign (ready for 100%
clean and renewable energy). He said the cities of Sarasota, Orlando, and
St. Petersburg were fully committed and developing plans to achieve 100%
clean and renewable energy use, cities of Safety Harbor and Dunedin were
beginning their commitment. He said achieving 100 required improved
efficiencies in houses, solar energy use, EV cars, etc.
Mr. Beckman said many residents relocated to Clearwater because of its
beautiful environment. He said several years ago the City had developed
GreenPrint, "a framework for a competitive, vibrant, green future,"but the
City had not promoted the program much to achieve a cleaner, greener,
more sustainable City. He said since GreenPrint was developed, renewable
energy costs had dropped substantially. He said fiscally responsible schools
installing solar energy panels were saving millions of dollars while saving the
environment. He said energy efficiency saved money. He recommended
integrating GreenPrint into Imagine Clearwater.
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Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 17, 2018
In response to questions, Mr. Beckman said GreenPrint encouraged the City
to install solar panels on municipality locations, carports, and City buildings
and to implement efficiency standards in new buildings and improvements.
He recommended the City establish a more aggressive timeline to achieve
GreenPrint objectives and hiring a sustainability coordinator, a common
position that worked across departments, monitoring efforts, holding the City
accountable for reaching its goals, and establishing an energy efficient
culture in Clearwater. He said some cities encouraged developers to
incorporate energy efficiencies by lowering or waiving building fees and
streamlining the permit approval process. He said Pinellas County was
considering the PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) program which
provided a mechanism for homeowners to obtain a long term loan to
implement energy efficiencies and have their loan payments collected with
their property taxes. He said Clearwater could endorse the program and
encourage homeowner participation.
In response to a question regarding barriers, Sierra Club Senior Organizing
Representative Phil Compton said many cities had insufficient staffing
resources to plan energy efficiencies. He said implementation approaches
did not have to be reinvented, Clearwater could choose and implement an
approach that worked for Clearwater.
Concerns were expressed that solar energy was not an option for
homeowners with tree-covered lots and that tidal energy had not been
considered.
Mr. Compton said tidal energy required much additional research. He said a
community solar location could serve its surrounding neighborhood. He
anticipated development of battery storage would improve sufficiently within
2 years to provide 100% of a home's energy needs. He said benefits and
economies of renewable energy had improved markedly since GreenPrint
was developed. He encouraged Clearwater to consider clean transportation
to offset the biggest source of air pollution. He said the case study report
included City of St. Petersburg efforts.
In response to a question, Mr. Compton said a combination of solar
installation and working with the utility company would help the City reach
100% clean and renewable energy. He said it was most important to reduce
consumption through efficiencies. He said a contest re most energy efficient
downtown building, for example, could result in innovations. He suggested
the City could use solar power for water purification which required
significant energy use.
Concerns were expressed that densely populated Pinellas County had little
land for solar farms, retrofitting buildings for solar was expensive, and wind
turbines were noisy. It was suggested the City could purchase energy credits
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City of Clearwater
Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 17, 2018
from the national grid.
Sierra Club member Lisa Hinton said Clearwater could implement energy
efficiencies by reducing demand, encouraging homeowners to produce their
own energy, encouraging utilities to produce more renewables, and
decentralize energy distribution which was where most innovation was
happening. She said Orlando was working to locate solar fields over
retention ponds. She said developing the right approach required
commitment and teamwork.
4.2 Single Use Plastic Campaign Resolution Language Discussion
Environmental Specialist Sarah Kessler said Assistant City Attorney Laura
Mahony had organized single use plastic campaign Board input in
Resolution form.
Discussion ensued with comments that language suggestions were based
on Treasure Island and Madeira Beach resolutions, the landfill currently was
not overburdened as stated, and the resolution was drafted to reduce waste.
Recommendations were made for the resolution to reference paper straws
and cups, add an educational component, require action for Ocean Friendly
business program items 4 and 5, base geographic origin of seafood on
Florida, add criteria options for composting and sponsoring a cleanup to
encourage trash pickup, and assign point values to criteria that add up to
Ocean Friendly status. Support was expressed for an Ocean Friendly
Coordinator.
Consensus was for Member Leone to forward updates to Ms. Kessler to
include 5 requirements. Attorney Mahony will update the resolution and
present it to the Board for consideration in April. She suggested coordinating
single use plastic campaign efforts with the Clearwater Beach Chamber of
Commerce to engage beach business participation.
In response to a question, Ms. Kessler said beachfront properties were
required to have turtle friendly lighting.
4.3 Agenda Topics for April 18, 2018 Meeting
1. Single use plastic campaign Resolution
2. Trash pickup program
3. Water quality
4.4 Appoint New Chair and Vice Chair
Member Wright moved to appoint Jared Leone as Chair. The motion
was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
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City of Clearwater
Environmental Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes January 17, 2018
Member Leone moved to appoint Mark Wright as Vice Chair. The
motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
5. Old Business Item: None
6. Director's Report: None
7. Board Members to be Heard
New Board members Thomas and Gardner were welcomed.
Member Leone reported Bob Heilman's Beachcomber Restaurant would be
honored with Ocean Friendly status on January 26, 2018.
8. Adiourn
The meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
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