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04/19/2023 Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 19, 2023 City of Clearwater Main Library- Council Chambers 100 N. Osceola Avenue Clearwater, FL 33755 e Meeting Minutes Wednesday, April 19, 2023 4:00 PM Main Library - Council Chambers Environmental Advisory Board Page 1 City of Clearwater Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 19, 2023 Roll call Present 3 - Chair Jared Leone, Board Member Marita Lynch, and Board Member Sheila Sullivan Absent 2 - Vice Chair John Thomas, and Board Member Glenna Wentworth Also Present— Micah Maxwell — Chief Innovative Officer, and Nicole Sprague — Deputy City Clerk 1. Call To Order The Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. at the Main Library and read the Environmental Advisory Board's mission statement. 2. Approval of Minutes 2.1 Approve the October 19, 2022 and March 15, 2023 Environmental Advisory Board meeting minutes. Member Sullivan moved to approve the minutes of the October 19, 2022 and March 15, 2023 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 Brian Beckman reported on city wide solar permits since the beginning of the year and said solar installations will reduce the amount of CO2 production and gasoline usage needed to generate electricity. He said you can see solar components being installed on the amphitheater canopy. He said staff is working to incorporate solar installation into affordable housing proposals. There is a new grant opportunity for EV chargers as part of the federal infrastructure bill, providing charging infrastructure in our county. 4. New Business Items 4.1 EAB/Staff Alignment. In response to questions, Department of Innovations Director Micah Maxwell said the defined objectives in the worksheet provided to the Board at the last meeting can be added to or substituted. There was consensus to add the words integrity and transparency under the behavior category. Discussion ensued with a suggestion made to add verbiage regarding two-way communication between the Board, Council, and staff. There is a Board desire to receive and review related material or initiatives to provide input prior to projects with environmental impacts being approved by Council. Comment was made that this is the only advisory board with a Page 1 City of Clearwater Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 19, 2023 specific stated objective which is delineated in the ordinance that created the board. Board business should align with and strengthen the mission. Mr. Maxwell said he will bring back language for the Board to review. Discussion ensued regarding standard operating procedures (SOP). Mr. Maxwell said the objective of the SOP's is to make sure all items the board wishes to address are kept on the radar. Discussion items may change from meeting to meeting and staff wants to be attentive to items important to the Board. Mr. Maxwell said his office is scheduled to provide an update to the City Manager regarding the city's solar implementation plan. Information from the study done by the third party will be supplemented with real time staff capacity and project timelines and presented as what will be feasible and functional to accomplish in the amount of time allotted to spend the federal appropriation and the ARPA funds. He said he can bring that information to the Board before it is presented to Council. One individual commented on the stormwater pond littoral zone at Crest Lake Park. 4.2 Ruth Eckerd Hall Sustainability Plan Presentation. Sustainability Specialist Melody Yin provided a PowerPoint presentation. In response to questions, Ms. Yin said the plan is specifically for The Sound at Coachman Park and that Ruth Eckerd Hall (REH) is ocean friendly certified. She said the data will be tracked with the metrics reported. Plans for non-soil gardening such as hydroponics or aquaponics is referenced and code changes have been implemented permitting Open Space Recreation zoning to allow community gardens. Comment was made that REH said they want to serve as an industry model for sustainable venues. Mr. Maxwell said the responsibility of the resiliency side of the venue falls on the City. Discussion ensued regarding the opportunity to provide an educational component supported by volunteers and community partners to help people separate their trash and recyclables at events. One individual supported using parking lots near Baycare Ballpark and shuttling event attendees to the amphitheater. One individual said Jazz Holiday provides a shuttle service for attendees. 4.3 Greenprint Update. Page 1 City of Clearwater Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 19, 2023 Sustainability Specialist Melody Yin provided a PowerPoint Presentation. In response to questions, Ms. Yin said there is not much update to the Ready for 100 in terms of what the plan is. Staff is participating in regional discussions with the Pinellas Sustainability and Resiliency Network. Everyone is at the stage to learn from each other to drive the change toward clean energy. The Duke Energy program has allowed users to create clean energy. Comment was made that it would be nice to see the progress made toward the clean energy goals. Mr. Maxwell said Cenergistics will provide the first full year report to Council in June. Staff will try to provide the information to the EAB at the May meeting if the information is available, if not, the report will be provided at the July meeting. He said the solar implementation timeline plan will be discussed with the Board at the May meeting. In response to a question, Ms. Yin said there are 39 members in Clearwater enrolled in the solar co-op and she will provide the number of members who are actively using solar. She said the total subscription for the Duke Energy Connection Program municipal energy use is 40% and the City retired 1,976 renewable energy credits last year. One individual suggested the Board track the Duke Energy program break-even point when savings are realized. He said there are three ways to achieve the city's operation goals at it pertains to energy savings 1) drive down energy consumption, 2) install one's own renewable energy source, and 3) ask the utility provider to help find inefficiencies. He said the solar co-op delivers great pricing opportunities. One individual said 880 Mandalay Condos installed four EV chargers. She said Moccasin Lake is having an event on Saturday and two clean-up events for Stevenson Creek have been scheduled. She said some insurance companies are dropping customers because of solar installation and some policies won't cover solar panels. Comment was made that some solar companies cover the insurance on the panels, not the homeowner policy. In response to a question, Mr. Maxwell said the EV chargers in the Garden Ave. garage are level 2 chargers because that facility does not have the energy capacity for level 3 chargers. Upgrading the transformer on the site was going to take 12-18 months and staff has discussed installing additional level 2 chargers in that location for the future city fleet. Plans for level 3 Page 1 City of Clearwater Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 19, 2023 chargers are being planned for the public and the city fleet. The infrastructure element of the green fleet policy is being discussed among staff. Infrastructure challenges have been discussed with Duke Energy related to the transformers and the grid itself. Staff is providing Duke of a map of where city charging stations and parking lots would likely be. Duke will be able to add capacity to these areas as they upgrade their infrastructure countywide. 4.4 Review near term items with the EAB. Mr. Maxwell reviewed items discussed at the previous meeting and said the Drew Street Complete Street plan was approved by Council before the Board was able to review it. He said the Interim Public Works Director is planning to provide a presentation at the May meeting regarding the right-of-way tree plan. The Planning and Development Department will provide the Comprehensive Plan presentation as part of the public engagement component of the Comp Plan. He said Code Compliance is working on the lighting issue at Cooper's Bayou. The City has received complaints and there is nothing environmentally precluding the lights but they are impacting people. He said he planned to get a report next month from the Police Department regarding smoking on the beach but it may be delayed to the July meeting due to the Chiefs transition to the City Manager's office. Board legislative priorities will be discussed at the July meeting as well as the budget and what capital improvement projects are slated that may have environmental impacts. He said the pesticide and herbicide conversation may fall within that discussion. He said the Cooper's Bayou design plan is underway and the Engineering Department will have information to share with the Board at the October meeting. Comment was made that the Board would like to discuss red tide and how the City can promote education on what can be done to reduce the issues that cause red tide. The Lake Belleview water management plan is also a desired discussion topic as well as the City's resiliency when it comes to flooding. Mr. Maxwell said the Public Utilities Department has new technology to monitor any overflow issues as well as the ability to track any intrusion. In response to a question, Mr. Maxwell said the City does environmental reviews on city owned property, not private property. He said the Planning Department may be able to provide input as to environmental reviews on new developments. Page 1 City of Clearwater Environmental Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 19, 2023 One individual said water quality is related to wastewater treatment which effects red tide. Wastewater treatment does not extract nitrogen from the wastewater which is used in reclaimed water. Nitrogen in the waterways contribute to red tide algae. 5. Director's Report 6. Board Members to be Heard 7 Adjourn Member Sullivan said the State has provided an incentive in the form of a tax exemption for the purchase of new HE appliance through June 30, 2023. Member Lynch clarified there is a special board meeting in May. She said My Safe Florida Home is a state funded program that is available to everyone for hurricane resiliency assessment. Chair Leone said it is Earth month with a slate of events throughout the city. The City's tree giveaway event is scheduled for the end of the month. The meeting adjourned at 6:09 p.m. 41116 Attest: elpronmental isory Board Board -porter 1 ycta war4 .44 • 'O _ �• ur Page 1 City of Clearwater