HomeMy WebLinkAboutSCMinutes_2019_10_09Brookings Sustainability Council
October 9, 2019
A meeting of the Sustainability Council was held on Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at 4:00pm at Brookings
City & County Government Center.
Members present: Stephanie Aure (distant), Jennifer McLaughlin, Norma Nunz-Chandler, Anna Barr,
Bob McGrath, Nels Granholm, Shelly Brandenburger, Betty Beer (late), Robin Buterbaugh (late).
City staff present: Paul Briseno, Jackie Lanning
Members absent: Jane Hegland, Mike Lockrem, Paul Peterson
Guests present: Doug Dykstra (GenPro Energy), Russell Halgerson (BMU), John McMaine (SDSU,
Landscape Architecture), Elizabeth Tofte (SDSU, Landscape Architecture), Jeremiah Bergstrom (SDSU,
Landscape Architecture), Todd Langland (Landfill), Lawrence Novotny (Retired/Public).
I. The meeting was called to order by chair Jennifer McLaughlin at 4:03pm
II. Agenda approval: Shelly/Bob/passed
III. Previous minutes approval: Shelly/Norma/passed
IV. Solar Energy Discussion
a. Doug Dykstra with GenPro Energy presented information about Community Solar
programs. Community Solar programs can help municipalities meet Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS) goals with several other benefits to the community. More can
be found on their site at www.genproenergy.com This company has been around since
2003. They started in solar pumping (for wells without electricity). They are now in 15
different countries and several states. Customers include NASA, US Air Force and
Johnson & Johnson. They do design and project installation for community solar
projects. He states solar is appealing as a renewable energy and these systems have less
“moving parts” than wind farms. They have 30+ years of data so can predict how much
energy they should be getting even with cloudy days. The panels follow the sun which
increases the power they gather by 30%, helping them pay for themselves. He predicts
Brookings would need about 15 acres of land to create about 5% of our current (3 MW)
power use. The systems have a 25-30 year lifespan, are hail resistant and multiple
financing models have been used. He stated that another community project to
consider is solar lighting for sidewalks, bike paths, etc – grants exist for these and they
come with 7 year batteries. Handouts were left for the committee members.
V. Jeremiah Bergstrom, Elizabeth Tofte and John McMaine from SDSU Landscape Architecture
came to speak to us about their project on sustainable water management. They received
funding with the East Dakota Water Development District and are conducting a study called
“On Beyond Q” (Q is the cubic feet/second at peak discharge). Green Stormwater
Infrastructure (GSI) management tools have been around for 30 years. Cities like Portland
have used them after the EPA said they needed better stormwater management. SDSU and
their students are looking at how some GSI tools would work here. They’ve done soil testing
in some parks and other places (primarily undisturbed soils) around Brookings. They’ve
analyzed that data and done GIS mapping and hydrological calculations. They have analyzed
the city’s stormwater infrastructure and draining maps. Brookings is primarily loam, clay
loam and sandy loam for soil type. G.S.I. systems come in three forms: (1) Vegetative
systems such as Rain Gardens and BioRetention Systems, (2) Storage Systems such as
underground reservoirs of stone or permeable pavements, (3) Harvesting Systems such as
Rain Barrels or Cisterns. All of these systems are visible and thus need acceptability from
the community, they need maintenance and they may need to be retrofitted into existing
private land, requiring buy in from landowners. They also need to place systems in places
that are dry, not already wet as many areas in Brookings are. They stressed that even
something as simple as a Rain Garden could backfire and become ponds if not done right.
They commented that a review of data indicates that compared to 1960-1990, during 1990-
2011, we are getting 2-3 more inches of rain per year so stormwater management is
becoming increasingly important. They are asking BSC to help get the word out to the
Brookings community. They are doing a Community Forum on November 14th. The
outcomes of their grant include making recommendations in a report and sharing that with
the community.
a. Action Items: The SDSU folks will send us an invitation to the public forum on
stormwater management. It is set for November 14th at the Brookings Activity Center
and we will help share that on our social media.
VI. Todd Langland from the Landfill updated us on Glass Recycling. He stated that for now,
glass will stay in the recycling stream. He does feel this may change but right now there’s a
lot of confusion around glass. He also updated us on how plastic bags do however need to
come completely out of the recycling stream. This will be a large challenge for the
community and require multiple efforts at education of the public. On campus, bags are
banned in recycling as of January 1st, 2020. Todd reported that some of the larger recycling
systems won’t even consider any recycling that shows up in a bag – they will simply throw
the whole bag in the garbage/landfill stream. Millineum Recycling will impose a fine.
a. Action Items: The BSC will work with Todd in any ways we can to spread the word on a
“ban the bag” campaign through our social media – or be helpful in any ways we can.
VII. We discussed the document we are working on to present to the City Council on our
research around a plastic bag ban. The document needs to be cleaned up in format and
presentation but doesn’t need substantial changes in context. Bob would like to see it
highlight our recommendations and to stress that even a fee (if that were to be done rather
than a ban) would need to be researched by the city’s attorneys to be sure we can do that. It
was voted that since Shelly’s changes aren’t substantial content changes, we will vote today
to move this to the City Council so it can go in front of them on October 22nd. Overall, the
group recommends no ban and no fees but would like to see education and reducing use of
plastic bags and in fact, all forms of plastic. Todd added that as it is, recycling is only being
done on types 1,2, 3 and 5 for plastics now anyway. Jake says the document should be in the
“memo” format that the city uses.
a. Vote: Robin/Betty/passed
b. Action Items: Shelly will clean up the document and move it on to Jacob.
c. Action Items: The group would like to consider doing a survey of businesses in
Brookings – what are they willing to do to reduce their reusable-plastic consumption.
We can then use that feedback for planning further action. Due to time, will need to
discuss this action item at a future meeting.
VIII. Meeting adjourned 5:31pm
Respectfully submitted,
Shelly Brandenburger, Vice-Chair