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Approved Minutes - 2010-09-20 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes Monday, September 20, 2010 CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL Co-chair Bruce Brown called the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) meeting of September 20, 2010, to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Main Fire Station, 300 B Avenue, Lake Oswego, Oregon. Members present: Co-chairs Grant Watkinson and Bruce Brown, Sarah Asby, Dorothy Atwood, Gary Bachofner, Daniel Gottlieb, Vidya Kale, and Gregory Monahan Members excused/absent: Matt Briggs Council Liaison: Sally Moncrieff Guests: Brock Howell, State Policy Advocate, Environmental Oregon; Joe Gilliam, President, Northwest Grocery Association; and Amanda Dalton, Northwest Grocery Association Staff present: Susan Millhauser, Sustainability Coordinator; and David Donaldson, Assistant City Manager MINUTES Watkinson moved to accept the Minutes of July 19, 2010, as corrected. Monahan seconded the motion and it passed by unanimous vote. ANNOUNCEMENTS A candidate forum was scheduled October 6th at the Bagdad Theater. The City would dedicate a time capsule on October 10th. Millhauser asked for suggestions about what to put in it. She circulated information about a Biking on Highway 43 workshop. The electric vehicle show had been a success and would be part of the classic car show again next year. The recycling effort at the City employees’ picnic was successful. Monahan and Millhauser had talked about developing a sustainability rating tool for regulations. The Council wanted more than just anecdotal information about “aging in place.” PUBLIC COMMENT (None) REGULAR BUSINESS Plastic Bag Ban Brock Howell, State Policy Advocate, Environmental Oregon, asked Lake Oswego to join other cities in influencing the state legislature to pass a ban on plastic bags. The bags accumulated in City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of September 20, 2010 Page 2 of 3 the ocean and broke up into small, toxics-attracting, bits that got into the food chain. They also gummed up recycling equipment and sewer systems. 100 jurisdictions around the world had banned plastic bags, but Oregon could be the first entire U.S. state to ban them. The City of Portland had passed a resolution to support a statewide ban, but implement its own ban in October 2011 if the state failed to act. Howell provided a copy of a model resolution. He clarified the legislation his organization supported would require users to pay for paper bags and would not ban plastic bags used to ensure food safety. Joe Gilliam, President, Northwest Grocery Association had sent a memorandum to the SAB saying the Northwest Grocery Association strongly supported local adoption of the resolution. Gilliam explained the Association preferred to see a statewide measure that would implement a uniform policy that applied to all retailers. He reported that use of reusable bags had increased from 1% to about 15% of all transactions over the past three years. But low-income customers and seniors tended to want to keep using plastic bags because of the cost of reusable bags and because they reused plastic bags at home for various purposes. When asked to quantify the resulting environmental payoff, Howell reasoned that a ban would reduce litter and put a significant dent in the 12% of ocean debris that was plastic bags and after many years the ocean would eventually heal itself. Implementing the plastic bag ban was a move towards a waste-free society. Howell asked Lake Oswego to act by January 1, 2012. The SAB hoped the Council would quickly consider a resolution to the effect that the City supported the state legislation regarding plastic bags and would consider local action if the state failed to act. Monahan moved to recommend that staff draft a resolution for Council consideration in support of a statewide plastic bag ban based on the model resolution submitted by the Northwest Grocery Association, as soon as possible. Watkinson seconded the motion and it passed by unanimous vote. We Love LO / Comprehensive Plan Update Sidaro Sin, Senior Planner, asked the Board to review the draft Sustainability Framework that was being developed to guide the decision-making before the staff forwarded it to the Comprehensive Plan Update Citizens’ Advisory Committee. He explained that the City had the results of a demographics study and was getting answers from the community survey about what the community valued. There were to be two public workshops in October to give the community an opportunity to discuss strategies to achieve what its citizens valued. The staff would use what they heard there to develop three to five scenarios for the City Council to consider before it chose the preferred vision. He distributed material that described the proposed format of the workshops and seven proposed Comprehensive Plan Action Areas. He explained the participants at the October meetings would learn about the Sustainability Framework, existing conditions, demographics, and mega-trends that affected Lake Oswego. They would gather in small groups that each talked about a different action area. He asked the Board members to send him their feedback on the process, format and questions. During the discussion Sin clarified that the average age in the City was 42 and the 65-plus percentage of the population was growing. The staff anticipated that up to 200 persons would participate in the workshops. The City would determine how to address its industrial land during the update process. The draft vision would be statistically validated in January 2011. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes of September 20, 2010 Page 3 of 3 The City Council would endorse it in February. However, the endorsed vision might change during the rest of the Comprehensive Plan update process. At the end of the process the vision would be adopted along with the updated Comprehensive Plan. Sin agreed to involve former SAB youth member, Jacob Shimkus in the process. Board members examined the document, “Planning for a Sustainable Lake Oswego.” They discussed the implications of the graphic of multiple circles, but did not change it. They suggested specifically calling out “schools” in the document, so readers would not have to hunt to find it under Public Facilities and Services. They suggested linking the website to the Natural Step website. Comprehensive Plan Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) Update Dorothy Atwood encouraged everyone to take the community survey. She thanked the board for their support and promised to keep them updated on what the CAC as doing. Allied Waste Commercial Food Waste Pilot Status David Donaldson reported he had met with Ray Phelps, Allied Waste, and the project was moving forward. The first step was to ask Council to lower the rate structure for commercial/industrial users. Allied had already started talking to grocers and restaurants about the project. Donaldson was making arrangements for two field trips. He and Millhauser were going to visit the Pacific Region Compost Facility near Corvallis, take photographs, and bring back a sample of compost. October 7th he and several City Councilors were going to visit the Wilsonville materials recovery facility. He invited SAB members to go and Monahan indicated he would go on both tours. School District Sustainability Fund Susan Millhauser reported the City Council had adopted Resolution 10-57 Regarding Oversight of Lake Oswego School District’s Use of Proceeds from the Grow and Gather Dinner. The School District had already submitted the brief, “Sustainability Curriculum in Lake Oswego Schools,” but it was to submit a formal proposal too. ADJOURNMENT The next meeting was scheduled on October 18, 2010. There being no further business Co-chair Brown adjourned the meeting at approximately 8:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Millhauser Sustainability Coordinator L:\Boards & Commissions\SAB\Minutes\2010\LO SAB2010 09-20 APPROVED.doc