HomeMy WebLinkAbout191029_Work Session ReactionsTo prepare for next week’s recap meeting, please send me your take-aways from the work session meeting with Council;
What perspective struck you as important or new?
Where did you hear agreement or disagreement?
List the top 3 next step actions the City should take.
List the top 3 next step actions the Task Force should take.
Tara Brown
Here is my concise thought on the climate change topic:
Most of their discussion to date has been on strategies to adapt. That is where most of their effort should be. But, it's important to callout that these won't be successful in the
future if we keep having a moving target. This is where work to lower our GHG emissions is critical. They do not have to create answers for this, but they need to make this connection
to council (and their community when speaking on this work), make the connection for EEC, and be an advocate for that work if they want their adaptation recommendations to be a success.
Richard Manser
1. What perspective struck you as important or new:
- We have their attention. Timing may actually be right to make something happen.
- Stop studying, let’s get something done
- Still need to clarify mitigation vs adaption
2. Where did you hear agreement or disagreement?
- We need a convergence of priorities, where to start
- Safety is key
3. List the top 3 next step actions the City should take
- Put concepts into practice
- Collaborate closely with School District and adjacent Cities
- Education, outreach, Flood Squad (after Home Energy Squad), examples of what individual home owners can do, creative incentives for home owners and businesses to do the right thing
- Meet current maintenance commitments before adding additional maintenance burden to City departments
- Effectively include at-risk citizens
- More trees
4. List the top 3 next step actions the Task Force should take
- Educate Council on how interconnected climate change is with almost all aspects of what is under the City’s purview
- Assist with strategies for articulating related issues to community
Roxane Lehmann
New or important perspective
All agreed that the issue was enormous and complex. Many on the task force believe it is also an urgent issue, but I didn’t hear any Council members describe the issue as urgent. A
lack of urgency combined with uncertainty about how to factor climate change into planning could bog down progress.
Disagreement or Agreement
Range of suggestions from Council members about how cost should be factored into task force recommendations: “don’t consider costs” to “of course, cost matters” to expressed preference
for low or no cost projects.
Agreement that good data are imperative to the planning process. But some disagreement about how complete and accurate the current database is and how much more information is needed.
Agreement that educating residents is important: 1) to create awareness and 2) to inform about what help can be expected from the City, what residents can do to manage and improve their
own property, and how all citizens can help.
Top three actions for City
Develop flood risk database that is as accurate and complete as possible.
Mindful of the negative economic impact flood risk data can have, determine what (and how) to share the gathered information with general public.
Get decision makers up-to-speed – this should include local knowledge as well as scientific and technical knowledge.
Adopt a comprehensive, big-picture strategy that defines and prioritizes flood issues and projects – making the process more objective, more efficient, more coherent, and easier for
the general public to understand.
Top three next steps for task force
Identify potential low-regrets remediation measures/actions needing more study. Think in terms of toolbox/portfolio of actions.
Develop and pilot ideas for raising all stakeholder awareness of the uncertainty and complexity of risk.
Develop and pilot ideas for educating residents about what can be done to reduce risk and build resilience. (See attached pictures of research project at Arboretum.)
Louise Segreto
What perspective struck me as important or new?
The Task Force members have spent a significant amount of time learning about the complexities of flood risk reduction/community resiliency. I think it is important to acknowledge that
our City Council Members may not have the depth of understanding and therefore may have a more simplistic notion about what it will take to respond to the problem. For example, I was
struck by MB’s belief that we can solve our problem largely by scraping out our storage basins. I also found it disappointing that City Council Members continue to receive telephone
calls from residents that deny climate change.
Where did I hear agreement or disagreement?
I heard disagreement between City Council Members regarding what will be the ultimate determining factor of which potential flood reduction tools will be viable or not: the amount of
$ that should be spent on any option(s) list that we present.
I heard some consensus that increasing flood water storage by looking to create more storage in open green spaces was a favorable option and that it could lead to a more beautiful City
with a net positive on heat management and carbon sequestration.
I heard some consensus that we need to do a better job of maintaining our storm water system and address deferred maintenance.
I am confused about what I heard about whether out right purchases by the City of homes regularly flooded was on the table? (I thought I remember this being discussed? But I can not
remember what was said and did not see a reference in Sarah’s notes.)
I heard the several City Council Members urge us to consider regulatory changes that might help.
I heard a consensus that education about climate change, flood risk, and available community resources are very much needed.
List the top 3 next step actions the City should take
A. The City should consider a standing committee on Flood Risk/Community resiliency because the problem is not going away and needs to be an ongoing priority of the City Council.
B. The City might consider being a leader among our neighboring municipalities and organize a “Flood Risk Summit” to discuss with leaders from different municipalities and watersheds
what strategies may be employed to work together towards shared solutions.
C. The City must develop a process for prioritizing Neighborhoods for focused flood mitigation. This should be coupled with the City reaching some consensus on policy issues related
to economic liability $/ % share between the City and private/commercial owners.
The next step our Task Force should take
Our Task Force should start to write its final Report. We might first agree on the major sections and outline of our report. (We might use page 4 of the IPCC Report egg diagram to organize
our thoughts?) There is no better way to start to crystalize our thinking than to begin writing. Break our outline of the report into series of meeting discussions. I think that at
this point, Staff and Barr Engineering has helped us arrive at a pretty good understanding of the problem and options that are available to mitigate flooding and build community resiliency.
I think we need to guard against losing energy and make sure that each of our Members can influence the writing to our Task Force Report.
Nora Davis
Thought Louise did a great job of summarizing - I have just a couple of things to add. Financing is going to be a huge issue. The city is currently 44 million behind in Park maintenance
- so I think we need to aware of that issue.
And I think we need to talk about the increase in rainfall - and perhaps not so much about climate change?
Still think we need to partner with other groups, Energy and the Climate change folks - and keep at it.
Greg Lincoln
I thought the session was very positive. Council seemed engaged, open to some of the directions we discussed and encouraged to learn some new things about Edina FRR.
I think they gave us a format for our recommendation. That is:
An overall strategy of adapting to the new reality of more rain and more flood risk with active long term focus, by all residents and the city
With tactics including: (in priority order)
(1) maximize use and capacity of our current storm water assets (I.E. maintenance on storm sewer system, street sweeping),
(2) enhance the city's use of public space to accommodate storm water ( I.E. re-imagining some parks)
(3) grow the city's capacity for temporary storage,
(4) Develop an impervious surface policy for Edina,
(5) Increase funding for storm water management, through an increase of the storm water fee to all residents,
(6) Resident engagement focused on
education of causes/impacts/residential solutions and preparedness,
program incentives for local mitigation,
voluntary acquisition program for the most problematic residences.
I think the city would be wise to develop a funding strategy for FRR. This might be done in parallel with our strategic focus.
FRR remedies will be ongoing and expensive. They are not affordable within the cities current funding. Paying for FRR will require some combination of additional funding to the city's
budget, innovative ways to pay for a significant new expenditure, and resident contributions.
The city would be wise to begin the process, now, of working toward determining a new source of funds for FRR.