02-10-20211
Chanhassen Environmental Commission (EC)
Regular Meeting – Zoom Online Meeting
6:00 pm
February 10, 2021
Members Present: Bill Chappell, Kristin Fulkerson, Jeff Harken, Greg Hawks, Don Vasatka, and
Markus Fischer.
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Jill Sinclair, Environmental Resources Specialist
Minutes: January minutes were approved.
City updates:
• City staff had EAB training with the MN Dept of Agriculture (MDA) on site at the confirmed
infestation. Street and Park employees were shown the signs of EAB in the ash and
presented with life cycle and management information. City and MDA employees then
scouted throughout the city. Two more trees north of the confirmed site were found with
signs of EAB. Jill has contacted all of the affected property owners and sent information to
the neighborhoods closest to the infestation alerting them to the situation.
• Tree City USA and the Arbor Day Foundation is hosting a free virtual conference. Jill can
share the promo code with any commissioners who’d like to attend the sessions.
• Last month, Jill shared that Xcel plans on updating all their street lighting in Chanhassen to
LED. The commission asked how many lights is that and how many lights does the city
operate? Jill shared that Xcel owns and maintains 963 streetlights in town. Minnesota
Valley Electric Company has 289 lights. The city has 305 street lights, of which 60 at last
count had been switch to LED. The switch is made when the light burns out and needs
replacement. Don suggested buying all of the need LED replacements to get a better cost
and help facilitate replacements. Jill will look into it.
• Adopt a highway. Don told the commission that the section of Hwy 5 without a name is
currently adopted and waiting for a new sign. The only other section available is on Hwy 41
south of Hwy 5 and is mostly in Chaska. The commission agreed that they’d still like to
pursue a highway adoption within town. Don will check with Carver County on what’s
available. If something is adopted, then maybe other commissions could also be invited to
participate.
• Jill shared that the city is considering offering a Metro Blooms class on Resilient Lawns, Bee
Friendly Lawns or Creating Pollinator Habitat. She will let the commission know if one gets
scheduled.
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• A UMN student contacted the city about bird-safety protocols and ordinances and whether
the city has any. It does not. The student has been invited to make a presentation to the city
council on the topic.
2021 Recycling education event: Greg contacted DemCon about their education trailer and shared via
email that the trailer is out of commission until Covid protocols are removed. In anticipation of less or
no restrictions by fall, Greg reserved the trailer for Sept. 8. He said the trailer education program only
runs M-F, 8a-5p. Don suggested maybe making it an after-school type of program and schedule it for 3
or 3:30p on a weekday. The commission decided Oct. 13 would be a better date. Greg will contact
DemCon and change the date. The event could be advertised through Park and Rec programming to
reach families as well as PeachJar for the schools. Greg also shared that DemCon has a variety of good
videos that the city is free to use on social media. It was suggested that posting them should be added to
the recycling communications calendar. Kristin offered to watch the videos and schedule them in the
calendar. Markus will add her as an editor. Don had an idea of creating a physical display to rotate
around the city parks. It would have recycling info and possible be interactive, include QR codes for
more info or quizzes or videos. Keeping it simple was the consensus. Perhaps have a side for each
recyclable material – paper, plastic, trash, metal. Include factoids like take a cap off glass and metal
bottles before recycling, what recycling gets turned into, etc. One idea for construction is to use
recycled material lumber for the display. Markus shared the Waste Wizard, a program that allows user
to type in any material and see if it’s recyclable or not and what the options are for disposal. The
program is run by ReCollect. Jill will look into the cost of hosting it on a city webpage and whether
Carver County would be interested in partnering on it. The discussion circled back the education event
and the display and it was decided to talk about it again next month after the Environmental Center tour.
Arbor Day 2021: Jill shared the write-up for the poster contest and virtual Arbor Day event that will be
published in the Connection. The commission suggested advertising the poster contest in more ways
like a banner on the website, posting on social media, and maybe most effective – sandwich boards
downtown. Jill will scan any posters submitted and send links to commission to a share file for viewing.
General Discussion:
• The commission decided to promote Earth Hour this year. It happens March 27, 8:30-9:30p.
Participants are asked to turn off exterior lights for 1 hour. Kristin will add the promotion to
the communications calendar. Jill will check to see if the city can participate with any city
lighting that can be programmed remotely for the shut off. Don will check with high school
about participation since they participated in 2019. Jeff will check with Rachel to get Paisley
Park contact info to see if they will participate again as well.
• Watershed update – The board approved a survey to be done for the Pioneer Tr/101 project.
A vegetation management plan was approved for Lotus Lake. It will include issues such as
wanted/not wanted vegetation present, shoreline restoration, etc. St. Hubert is requesting a
reuse system to be included with the fix for the failed catch basin. The system would save
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$150K in water costs. The project would cost $160K+ to implement the smart controller
system. It was tabled. A Bluff Creek stabilization project near the high school is being
explored.
Meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm
Minutes prepared by Jill Sinclair