20181212 Environmental Stewardship Committee LEED for Cities UpdateMINUTES OF
CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE MEETING
DECEMBER 12, 2018
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Judith Leroux, Chair
Bruce Andrews, Vice Chair
Sarah Boren
Bonnie Hanson
Steve Kallao
STAFF:
Shane Corbin, Director of Planning and Community Development
OTHERS:
Brittany Norris, City Commissioner
1. Call to order.
The meeting was called to order at 6:00p.m. in the Commission Chambers by J. Leroux.
2. Courtesy of the floor.
Brittany Norris, City Commissioner, thanked the Committee for their work and stated the
Commission asked for feedback regarding their membership and if the Committee wanted to
increase or decrease the number of members. J. Leroux stated the Committee has a
requirement to have a representative from each district. B. Hanson asked why the
Commission is asking to reduce the number of members and B. Norris stated that other
Committees are having difficulty seating a quorum, and wanted to invite the Committee to have
a dialogue with the Commission regarding any issues. S. Boren asked if the Committee can
self-adjust their member numbers and if the Committee can fill their own quorum. B. Norris
said she would have to check the Committee ordinance. J. Leroux thanked Commissioner
Norris for her input and stated the Committee has only had an issue one time filling a quorum.
S. Boren stated that allowing members to participate over the phone would be helpful, and J.
Leroux stated that members can listen but not participate in meetings by phone. B. Hanson
stated that a courtesy notification from Commission would be helpful when the Commission is
planning to discuss issues related to the Committee.
3. Arbor Day Event-January 18, 2019.
J. Leroux stated that having the Arbor Day celebration on a Friday, rather than a Saturday,
would help City staff to attend the event. She said that Kevin Hogencamp is writing the
proclamation for Arbor Day, and said that a map of current and future plantings would be
helpful. B. Andrews said that Arbor Day falls on a Friday, and said the Committee should
recognize the designated heritage tree and plant a celebratory tree. He said he and S. Corbin
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will be visiting a tree farm the following Monday to get information on trees for future plantings,
and they could procure a tree for the Arbor Day celebration at that time. J. Leroux asked the
Committee if they would like B. Andrews to select a tree, and they agreed.
4. ESC tree planting plan status with City Commission.
S. Corbin said that some proposed planting sites were presented to Commission, and three
sites were approved. He said the City Attorney did research regarding planting trees in the
right-of-way, and the City would not be liable if, for instance, a car were to hit a planted tree,
but the City would be expected to maintain any trees planted in the right-of-way. J. Leroux
stated she contacted other groups that plant trees in the right-of-way regarding legal issues,
but did not receive any negative feedback. B. Andrews stated the FOOT has rules regarding
trees planted and maintained in the right-of-way, and the Committee should look at those
rules. J. Leroux said that the right-of-way planting sites were not presented to Commission. B.
Norris said she could not speak for the entire Commission, but it is a goal of the Commission
to plant more trees. J. Leroux said she welcomed additional ideas for planting sites, the
planting project is ambitious, and asked B. Norris to keep an eye out for other planting
locations. B. Andrews said he wanted to ensure that the tree plantings were received
positively by the community, and there needed to be notification before plantings. B. Norris
said that adequate communication would be needed to send out to the community.
5. LEED for Cities update.
S. Boren said the project is moving along, thanks to City staff, and certification can be granted
when the score is at least 40. She said that it is recommended to achieve a score above 40
before applying for certification, in case points are disputed. She presented the City's current
data collected into the LEED for Cities interface in 14 different categories. She said that the
City can identify other priorities to measure beyond the 14 categories. She discussed the
STAR Community rating system that recently merged with the LEED for Cities program. She
said she would like to report on five years of previous data, and an intern from the University of
North Florida had been working with City staff to research and gather data. S. Corbin said the
City might be the first city in Florida to attain LEED for Cities certification. B. Andrews stated
that this project was identified as a priority by City Commission, and not just a side project. S.
Boren stated the program is so new that she is learning along with staff about the rating
system. B. Andrews asked if planting trees is part of the program, and S. Corbin said the
Committee's planting plan can be included with the green infrastructure plan towards the City's
LEED for Cities' rating. B. Andrews asked who funds the U.S. Green Building Council, S.
Boren stated it is paid through some grants, sponsorships, application fees, and membership
fees. B. Andrews asked if the U.S. Green Building Council had offices locally, and S. Boren
said she works remotely as the Florida Chapter employee, and there are roughly 315
employees worldwide. She said the goal of the USGBC is to have everyone in a green
building within this generation, and it can't be done with buildings alone, so cities are the next
scale.
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6. New Business.
J. Leroux stated that at the next meeting, the Committee will decide on new leadership, and at
the next Commission meeting, will induct two new members. The Committee discussed
meeting with the new members prior to them being officially inducted as members in regards to
Sunshine laws. B. Andrews said he volunteered to serve as Chair for the next year so that
members can plan accordingly. B. Hanson said that she had been asked by other citizens if
they plant their own oak tree and then if later they wanted to remove it, would it require a
permit. S. Corbin stated a permit would be needed to remove the tree. B. Andrews and S.
Boren discussed the tree removal permit requirements and how to educate the public when a
permit is required. J. Leroux stated that public education could be a goal for the Committee in
the upcoming year. B. Andrews asked when the tree ordinance suggested changes would be
presented to Commission, and S. Corbin said it was planned for January 2019. B. Andrews
stated he would like the opportunity to discuss the proposed changes if Commission wanted to
amend the recommended changes. S. Corbin said he didn't think it was likely that the
Commission would suggest changes. S. Corbin stated he submitted the City's Tree City USA
application, and after two years, the City could apply for a Tree City USA Growth Award. He
also said that the State asked the City to include short-term and long-term sea-level rise maps
in the City's Comprehensive Plan. He stated the data came from NOAA and the Army Corps
of Engineers' data. S. Boren asked why both NOAA and the ACOE's data was used, and S.
Corbin stated they based the plan off the City of St. Augustine's plan, which had already been
approved by the State of Florida. B. Andrews asked what departments address the City's sea-
level rise plan, and S. Corbin said it was a collective effort between Community Development,
Public Works, and Public Utilities. The Committee discussed efforts to address sea-level rise .
7. Adjournment.
The motion to adjourn was brought by B. Hanson, and passed with no opposition. The
meeting adjourned at 7:30pm.
(Minutes respectfully submitted by Jennifer Johnston on January 7, 2019.)
•
Corbin, Director of Planning and Community Development
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