City of Highland Park Sustainability Advisory Group met April 7
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
CALL TO ORDER
At 6:03 PM, Chair Wagenius called the Sustainability Advisory Group (“SAG”) regular meeting to order, and Assistant City Manager Sabo called the roll.
Advisors Present: Advisors Falzone, Futterman, Kramer, LaCosse, Papakos, Wren, Ross (Arrived at 6:40 PM), Nichols (VC) (arrived at 6:23 PM), and Wagenius (C)
Advisors Absent: None.
Staff Present: Rob Sabo, Assistant City Manager
Also Present: Councilwoman Kim Stone
Greenest Region Corps Member Natalie Grimaldi
Sustainability Consultant Kelly Shelton
Student Representative Levi Goldberg
Student Representative Ben Kessler
Student Representative Eric Anderson
Assistant City Manager Sabo was at City Hall with the doors open to host the meeting in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, and the meeting proceeded virtually.
MINUTES
(a) Approval of the November 18, 2020, Sustainability Advisory Group Regular Meeting Minutes
Advisor Wren requested a bullet point correction regarding off-road vehicles to address off-road single-stroke engines as was intended during the special meeting. These off-road engines (not vehicles) are specific to leaf blowers, lawnmowers, and landscape types of equipment.
Advisor LaCosse moved to approve the minutes as amended and Advisor Wren seconded the motion. Upon a roll call vote, Chair Wagenius declared the motion passed unanimously.
AYES: Advisors Falzone, Futterman, Kramer, LaCosse, Papakos, Wren, and Wagenius (C)
NAYS: None
ABSENT: Advisors Nichols and Ross
BUSINESS FROM THE PUBLIC
There was no business from the public.
OLD BUSINESS
(a) Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Progress Report for the 2023 5% Reduction Target
Last meeting’s GHG Progress Report presentation by Quercus Consultant Kelly Shelton resulted in a discussion of the potential for modifying and expanding the City’s current GHG reduction target of 5% over 5 years by 2023.
This meeting’s progress report addressed that potential modification and how to expand on the current goal. The meeting included additional considerations, input from the group, and ideas for assessing the goal moving forward.
The presentation began by addressing the questions below. When assessing the 5% reduction target by 2023, it is helpful to use these questions and situations to conclude if the goal is right for Highland Park (HP).
Is 5% in 5 years the right goal?
The recommendation from Quercus Consultant Kelly Shelton was not to change the goal but instead layer it with additional components that would lead to positive impacts towards reaching and exceeding the current goal. The 5-year short-term goal allows the City to stay focused and can alter methods quickly when needed. Examples given were to add a goal of 30% of all restaurants composting in 3 years, or 15% of residents are in energy efficiency programs.
What were the overall GHG emissions of HP when the reduction initiative was formally set? One aspect to consider is whether HP was already operating at low emission levels. If this were the case, then the room for improvement would not be comparable to neighboring communities with a higher GHG emission starting point.
Are there unique conditions specific to HP that would limit the ability to reduce certain GHG emissions?
Examples include newer housing stock with updated energy efficiency technology and building codes, large industrial users entering or leaving HP, or a high commuter population.
Was HP already improving when the baseline was set?
The baseline was created using a multi-year average by the previous consultant. It is important to understand if reductions were already occurring over the three years of 2014, 2015, and 2016. This helps to inform if the baseline was truly ground zero by examining changes throughout that baseline setting period.
How does HP’s baseline compare to neighboring cities and the state? A number does not always tell the whole story as to why your neighbor has a lower GHG emissions number, such as an industrial emitter may have gone out of business and left the area. In the end, keep in mind that the environment is not concerned about the how. It is concerned about the emissions it experiences.
What has already been done? What is left to do?
It’s important to know what has already been done from the beginning. The low-hanging fruit is typically easier to accomplish and addressed early on. As time continues, it is the more challenging reduction opportunities and harder to achieve results that are left.
Sustainability Consultant Kelly Shelton’s presentation also reviewed how HP’s GHG emission reduction goal compares to Evanston, Park Forest, and the State of Illinois. Comparisons were normalized to HP’s 5-year 5% reduction goal and presented GHG Emissions Reduction Goals for Evanston at 9%, Park Forest at 8.5%, and the State of IL at 6.5%.
Highland Park’s baseline breaks down to most GHG emissions coming from electricity and natural gas use, as opposed to transportation and waste. However, residential natural gas use has increased in usage, even though heating days stayed the same, and is tabled for another meeting.
The three components to consider for additional reductions covered in this presentation were electricity, commercial and residential, and commercial natural gas use. Below are the slides’ data and the overall impact of each component.
GHG Goal Consideration - Residential Electricity (in MtCO 2e)
● Current goal is 3790 metric tons.
● What if we doubled the goal to 7581 metric tons?
● The overall impact is a 6% reduction. This exercise was to walk through what happens if we change the numbers and the impact.
○ The reduction changes 1% (from 5% to 6%) if we focus on residential electricity reductions.
GHG Goal Consideration - Commercial Electricity (in MtCO 2e)
● The current goal is 3625 metric tons.
● What if we doubled the goal to 7250 metric tons?
● The overall impact of commercial electricity is a 6% reduction, but the impact with the residential electricity goal is a 7% reduction.
○ The impact for doubling a specific segment’s goal is not as significant as compared to coupling goals. This is an example of not changing the goal but layering on additional components that increase the reduction goal.
GHG Goal Consideration - Commercial Natural Gas (in MtCO 2e)
● The current goal is 1792 metric tons.
● What if we doubled the goal to 3584 metric tons?
● The overall impact is a 5.5% reduction. But combined with the impact of the residential and commercial electricity goal, the increase is an 8% reduction.
The results for doubling the targets lead the overall goal to change about 3%. If we look again at Highland Park’s comparison after increasing those three components, HP jumps from 5% to 8%, Evanston at 9%, Park Forest at 8.5%, and the State of IL at 6.5%.
One caution regarding the GHG analysis concerns the pandemic. We have the data from 2019, but we do not know the full impact from 2020. Currently, Highland Park is not at goal and hovering around 4%. Potential reasons could be that residents have been using more energy while at home during the pandemic. But could the additional energy used while at home be offset because the resident would have used that energy elsewhere - we do not know that information yet.
What has already been done?
● Public Works Lighting Projects
○ LED conversions (street lights, etc.) is a multi-year project to phase in LED over time.
● Public safety vehicles
○ Transitioning to hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles over a 5-year project
Next steps of our analysis and presentation final thoughts
● Information requested for follow up:
○ Percentage of residential electricity within Highland Park’s total use?
○ Numbers for residential electric usage over time.
○ Translate this information into what type of projects produce the desired change and what that would mean for a typical resident. Examples:
● Encourage more residential participation in programs that increase energy efficiency with appliances and behavior change.
● Partner with North Shore Gas to bring more awareness to restaurants about the energy efficiency programs.
● Results of the North Shore Gas webinar. Did it result in residents or businesses scheduling energy assessments?
● Available data of residents or businesses using rebates or utility programs such as the energy jumpstart program?
● Prioritize outreach due to the impact a project would have.
● Can we identify smaller goals that can contribute to this larger goal?
● Keep the existing goal and consider these different components and what reduction goals can be layered on top to reach and exceed the current goal.
● Assess the impact of the pandemic on the numbers.
● Consider adding a longer-term goal to the shorter 5-year goal.
Questions and comments from SAG throughout the presentation
Chair Wagenius questioned what percentage of residential electricity is of our total use and what change are we asking of residents? Sustainability Consultant Kelly Shelton will look into this for accurate numbers. When it comes to the overall baseline, residential electric makes up around 10%.
Advisor Futterman commented that the caveat to this is measuring electric use in metric tons. Since the baseline was set, a percentage of coal-driven energy has come offline and been replaced with gas and renewables. It can appear that our numbers are getting better without changing habits due to the grid becoming cleaner. Sustainability Consultant Kelly Shelton will follow up with numbers for usage over time and agreed that it is not a one-to-one correlation to emissions because it goes into source calculations.
Councilwoman Stone commented that natural gas, in particular, is related to weather. When we look at emissions, are we looking at permanent reductions or just looking at a warmer or cooler winter? Sustainability Consultant Kelly Shelton agreed not to rely on the weather to translate into lower usage when we need permanent solutions and behavioral changes. For example, utility programs help residents and businesses be more energy efficient in their equipment choices. Smart thermostats and high-efficiency equipment are more permanent solutions versus relying on weather response to hit our goal. Which leads to how do we encourage more of our residents and businesses to take advantage of utility programs to assist with these permanent infrastructure type solutions?
Chair Wagenius had a question referring to what has already been done, and have we started to accrue the benefits, or are they yet to come? Sustainability Consultant Kelly Shelton, Councilwoman Stone, and Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo provided additional details of:
● The analysis has not been completed yet to answer that question.
● It’s a possibility the City accrued benefits from the LED conversions that took place before the baseline. Also, several government buildings have already gone through LED conversions.
● The streetlight LED conversions was a ComEd project that began in 2019.
● The City has had a hybrid police vehicle for a year and just purchased four more.
● The Public Works fleet and the Community Development fleet have had Priuses for several years. The Priuses will be phased out, and the new vehicles will be hybrid or electric. Specifically, there are two Nissan Leafs and plug-in hybrids in the fleet. There is a spreadsheet listing the vehicles’ fuel efficiency in one of the departments. It is important to include the wording of “hybrid and electric” when relating to fuel-efficient vehicles.
● The City has an Environmentally Friendly Vehicle Policy. City Council recently approved a modification to it to allow the purchase of pursuit vehicles. Before, the policy only focused on inspector vehicles and Public Works. After testing the Ford Hybrid model this year, the Police Department felt comfortable making recommendations to modify the fleet towards hybrids and electrics to get away from internal combustion engines.
Advisor Futterman asked about the natural gas webinar with North Shore Gas. Did it result in residents or businesses scheduling energy assessments? What other tools do we have? Advisor Futterman had a couple of ideas:
● We are in the process of unveiling the Green Seal Program. The City could expand it to HVAC, insulation, and plumbing contractors.
● PACE financing should be available by the fall.
● Work with the Chamber of Commerce to promote energy efficiency and savings to our businesses and multifamily housing.
● Is a Low-Income Weatherization Program still operating? Are there qualifying properties in HP? Reach out to residents or owners that can benefit.
Advisor Wren challenged the notion that new housing stock uses less energy than old housing stock due to new housing stock’s more extensive square footage. An efficient way to reduce consumption would be to make older housing stock more energy efficient. Such as a previous government program that partnered with private companies for subsidizing retrofits.
Advisor Ross inquired about available data of residents or businesses using rebates or utility programs such as the energy jumpstart program. This would be helpful to understand if our outreach is having any impact and making any progress in residential natural gas usage.
Advisor Futterman and Advisor Ross provided feedback regarding incentives to increase utility program participation. That could be in the form of money back, gift cards, financing rebates, lottery style for a larger prize, etc. Would this increase participation? Also, holding webinars in person adds the benefit of scheduling interested participants right away instead of virtual webinars that add an extra layer of effort on the resident to reach out and sign up.
Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo advised the group that creating incentives would be a new program which the City Council would need to approve for SAG’s work plan. If supported, the steps would be to formulate qualifications, a process for implementation, and configure a budget to be approved by SAG. Also, determine how to approach the incentive. Would it be smaller individual incentives or
a larger lottery-style prize? An analysis will be put together with recommendations on how to start an incentive program.
Chair Wagenius questioned if the pandemic ended today, how long would it be before we could assess the impact? Sustainability Consultant Kelly Shelton couldn’t answer that question at the moment, but 2020 data will be available soon. Councilwoman Stone mentioned that the difference could be addressed by comparing 2019 to 2020 data while correcting for the weather.
Advisor Futterman addressed that there are no specific smaller goals that feed into the overall 5% reduction goal. When addressing the increase of residential natural gas use, we should have a goal of x% of gas audits per year, etc. Can we identify smaller goals that can contribute to this larger goal?
Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo summarized the presentation and resulting conversation with the below action items:
● Review an Incentive Program for increasing residential and commercial participation rates in energy efficiency audits.
● Create a more targeted approach to GHG reductions with multiple layers added to the current goal.
● Present a proposal with those targeted layered GHG reduction components and translate these into projects for future consideration.
● Summarize the incentive program for the City Council’s consideration to direct SAG to proceed.
NEW BUSINESS
(a) Bee City USA Presentation
Greenest Region Corps Member Natalie Grimaldi presented the Bee City USA program. Bee City USA is a certification program that supports and recognizes cities, counties, and universities committed to protecting pollinators. In Illinois, the Village of Hawthorn Woods, the Village of Barrington Hills, and the Village of Port Barrington have been certified along with the College of Lake County as a Bee Campus USA. For Highland Park to become a Bee City USA affiliate, there are commitments that affiliates fulfill each year. Below are the requirements that would be expected of the City and the Application Process.
Bee City USA Commitments
● Form Committee (Recommended to include city staff, parks and recreation staff, engaged citizens, and local experts.)
● Create or enhance pollinator habitat on public and private land each year
● Reduce the use of pesticides
● Incorporate pollinator-conscious practices into city policies and plan
● Host pollinator awareness events
● Publicly acknowledge Bee City USA’s affiliation with signs and an online presence.
● Pay an initial application fee ($300), annual renewal fee ($300), and report on the last year’s activities. (fees scaled to population)
Application Process
● Form Committee
● Complete online application
● The City council adopts Bee City’s resolution & receives approval from the highest elected official.
● Pay application fee of $300 (scaled to population)
Questions and comments from SAG following the presentation
Councilwoman Stone questioned if the City permits beekeeping as we do chickens. Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo confirmed there are sections of the code that do not permit beekeeping based on not allowing the keeping of stinging or harmful insects and animals. Councilwoman Stone inquired about the City possibly reconsidering beekeeping. Also, the City already does not allow pesticides on the grounds, and would more than that be required? What would be the gap between Bee City USA’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and the City’s plan? The consensus was that we are exceeding what they would require.
Advisor LaCosse commented that he is an enthusiastic gardener. He has noticed a decrease in the number of bee species that frequent his garden and is concerned regarding this decline. Advisor Wren agreed that there had been a general decline in pollinators in the area. The Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network’s records confirm a steady decline of butterflies in the area. Advisor Wren’s garden used to see three species of bumblebees and has not seen a brown-belted bumblebee in a couple of years.
Councilwoman Stone questioned the benefits that the City would get from the affiliation due to adopting the Mayors' Monarch Pledge, ceasing use of pesticides, purchasing plants with seeds untreated by pesticides, and many other items on the list already completed. Are there activities we can do instead of paying the fee and receiving the certification? The City is also sign averse. For example, the Bike Advisory Group has been told there are too many signs in town when requesting bike-friendly community status signage. Councilwoman Stone disagreed that this affiliation will aid Highland Park in becoming more bee-friendly.
Advisor Wren sees the purpose of becoming a Bee City USA affiliate as more of a PR effort for education and changing behaviors to protect pollinators. Ideally, involve schools in the program. He used his own experience in initiating an ecological gardening program through the Heller Nature Center as an example of how significant community involvement is in the success of these projects. Advisor LaCosse agreed we should involve the schools.
Advisor Wagenius discussed that we are promoting two actions - one for the City and the second for outreach to change the actions of landowners, residents, and businesses. The sign aversion is about the City posting signs, but people can post signs in their yard. One of the requirements for an affiliate is to display one sign from the City.
Advisor Futterman asked for feedback on how this has worked in the Village of Hawthorn Woods. Has the community been involved? What is the experience of the resident? Greenest Region Corps Member Natalie Grimaldi explained that the Village of Hawthorn Woods highly recommended becoming an affiliate for the recognition and resources it provides.
Advisor Falzone added that she is leaning towards Councilwoman Stone’s initial assessment of Bee City USA and is concerned about the fear factor associated with bee stings.
Chair Wagenius commented that honeybees are one species out of thousands of bees, and Illinois has 1,000 native bee species, which the honeybee is not. The affiliation promotes native pollinators. Most
bees nest in the ground and stems, and the majority of bees do not sting. There is the potential of education as most have a misunderstanding of bees.
In regards to permitting beekeeping, Advisor Wren addressed that honey bees compete with native bees. If we do allow beekeeping, it should be discouraged around natural areas for that reason.
Advisor Falzone’s concern is economic and wants to be fiscally responsible before approving spending additional funds.
Student Advisor Kessler reiterated that the program’s point is to spread education about bees and increase their populations and habitats. Instead of spending $300 on this, can that money be used towards starting a partnership with the schools? For example, bring in a speaker one day a year or field trips to local gardens.
Councilwoman Stone brought up the Sustainability Map on the City website and suggested promoting it more often. Student Advisor Goldberg would like to advertise that around the high school with Student Advisor Kessler.
Advisor Ross would like information regarding what the City has committed to as a part of the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge and what is required for the reporting.
Councilwoman Stone asked if there should be a subcommittee to look into Bee City USA and come back with recommendations. Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo will connect with Keith O’Herrin, the City's Forester. Keith has been involved with what is planned, and Forestry is working on programs that fall within pollinator-friendly initiatives. Once we connect with Keith, then we will know if there is a need for a subcommittee.
Chair Wagenius continued the discussion of Bee City USA affiliation until the next meeting. Before coming to a decision, information is needed regarding the overlap with Mayors’ Monarch Pledge. Vice-Chair Nichols and Advisor LaCosse agreed that more information is needed, and SAG should wait until the next meeting before deciding to recommend approval of Bee City USA.
Advisor Kramer likes the idea of hosting pollinator awareness events and is happy to be a part of planning such events.
OTHER BUSINESS
(a) Advisor Comments
Advisor LaCosse read an article in the Herb Quarterly Magazine about the City of Detroit advertising for beekeepers to put their hives on the roofs of underutilized buildings. This is not a suggestion for the City but something to think about.
Advisor Kramer thanked the presenters and outgoing student advisors for their work.
Advisor Futterman has been educating himself on heat pump water heaters which can be 300% more efficient. Not enough plumbers know about them.
Advisor Papakos reminded the group that the City is hosting a flood mitigation meeting.
Advisor Wren explained the Xerces Society is named after the first extinct butterfly in the U.S. The Society is responsible for getting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to list the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee as endangered. Also, the Society’s artwork would look great for the sign.
Advisor Ross is interested in participating in the public process for the Ravinia Fire Station redevelopment. Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo provided updates from the City staff meeting with Williams Architects and how they are putting together information for the City. We expect to receive updates by June. Once the City receives the information, SAG will be updated and can provide feedback at the subsequent meeting.
Vice-Chair Kelly discussed the upcoming Clean Energy Jobs Act.
(b) Administrative
Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo stated the following administrative items:
● The Water Plant Solar RFQ was completed, and the City received proposals from vendors. However, because solar incentives are no longer available and Highland Park is not an environmental justice community to qualify for additional incentives, the project will have to wait until incentives become available to proceed with the installation of solar panels.
● The City is working with the North Shore Electricity Aggregation Consortium to evaluate switching the ComEd franchise agreement from free franchise city accounts, like City Hall, to paid accounts and then subscribing to an alternative energy supply or community solar. This would allow the City to receive net revenue on that change and the opportunity to reinvest that into the sustainability fund for sustainability initiatives.
● He provided information about the upcoming Reuse-O-Rama and Arbor Day events.
● Greenest Region Corps Member Natalie Grimaldi is working on an EV readiness flyer in conjunction with the Community Development Department to share with the building and development community. The flyer is to provide builders with information on how to implement EV readiness in new projects and for retrofitting properties.
● There will be more composting social media posts by the City in partnership with SWALCO to increase compost participation in our region through education and marketing.
Councilwoman Stone asked about the rain barrel sale. Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo answered that the City is promoting SWALCO’s sale in Vernon Hills and will see how many City residents participate to gauge if Highland Park will do a City-specific event. Councilwoman Stone was hoping to add an EV readiness requirement into our building code. It looks like municipalities cannot do so within the energy code for single-family homes. However, municipalities can change the code for multifamily and commercial properties. The Community Development staff is looking into implementing that and providing a report to the City Council.
ADJOURNMENT
Advisor Ross moved to adjourn. Advisor LaCosse seconded the motion. Upon a roll call vote, Chair Wagenius declared the meeting adjourned at 7:56 PM.
AYES: Advisors Falzone, Futterman, Kramer, LaCosse, Papakos, Ross, Wren, Nichols (VC), and Wagenius (C)
NAYS: None
ABSENT: Non
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