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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.s. Regional Indicators Initiative ROSEMOUNTEXECUTIVE SUMMARY CITY COUNCIL City Council Meeting Date: November 18, 2013 AGENDA ITEM: Regional Indicators Initiative A NQA SECTION: OW CM PREPARED BY: Jason Lindahl, AICP AGENDA NO. Planner tX tc, ATTACHMENTS: Regional Indicators Initiative Agreement, Regional Indicators Initiative Fact Sheet, APPROVED BY: Star Tribune Article RECOMMENDED ACTION: Motion to approve the Regional Indicators Initiative Agreement and authorize the Mayor to enter into this agreement. SUMMARY Staff recommends City Council authorize participation in the Regional Indicators Initiative program. Attached please find the standard Regional Indicators Initiatives agreement authorizing the city's participation in the program and noting its $3,000 cost. The City Attorney has reviewed and approved this agreement. Should the City Council authorize participation in the program, the Urban Land Institute and its consultant will study energy,water, travel and waste data from 2008 to 2012 for Rosemount and produce a report establishing baseline measures that can assist the city in assessing progress towards its sustainability goals with the GreenStep Cities and STAR Communities programs. Depending upon when the information from the utilities can be assembled, it is anticipated that the final report can be issued in spring 2014. BACKGROUND The Regional Indicators Initiative is an outgrowth of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's GreenStep Cities Program. Out of the 28 GreenSteps best practice categories, 19 are directly measurable within the Regional Indicators Initiative's four current indicators. It is anticipated that the Regional Indicators data will also assist in participating in the STAR Communities program. The project collects the following data generated through the activities of the people who live,work, learn, travel,visit, and recreate within the city's geographical boundaries: • Energy (in BTUs): electricity, natural gas, and district energy consumed for both residential and commercial/industrial use. • Water (in gallons): potable water consumed for both residential and commercial/industrial use. • Waste (in pounds): municipal solid waste managed via recycling, composting, combustion, and landfilling. • Travel (in Vehicle Miles Traveled): on-road distance traveled by all vehicles within Rosemount's boundaries. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with each of these measures is also calculated,providing a common metric to compare the environmental impacts of the indicators. The indicators are broken down into residential, commercial and industrial use and presented in terms of per capita and per job enabling comparison over time. The Initiative supports planning for sustainability by defining a baseline,tracking a status quo trajectory, establishing targets,and measuring outcomes of sustainable strategies at a city-wide scale. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends City Council authorize participation in the Regional Indicators Initiative program. Should the City Council authorize participation in the program,the Urban Land Institute and its consultant will study energy,water, travel and waste data from 2008 to 2012 for Rosemount and produce a report establishing baseline measures that can assist the city in assessing progress towards its sustainability goals with the GreenStep Cities and STAR Communities programs. 2 RCM Mg Urban Land a s LHB Institue I r;tUIl)NAL Minnesota Regional Council of Mayors INITIATIVE 6 REGIONAL INDICATORS INITIATIVE AGREEMENT THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered into this on August 19, 2013 (date), by and between URBAN LAND INSTITUTE MINNESOTA ("ULI MN") and CITY OF ROSEMOUNT(the "City"). RECITALS A. The Urban Land Institute's mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. B. The Regional Council of Mayors (RCM),supported by ULI Minnesota, provides a non- partisan platform that strategically engages mayors and land use professionals to support a more connected, more sustainable and more prosperous region. C. The RCM Regional Indicators Initiative measures actual citywide environmental metrics. D. The analysis will: • Deepen the understanding of opportunities to save energy and money; • Assist in promoting public understanding of the cities' effects on climate change; • Inform subsequent analyses, plans, and policy decisions by the cities and others; and • Serve as a model for other cities. E. LHB, Inc. will serve as Project Manager of the Regional Indicators Initiative project. F. The CITY OF ROSEMOUNT expressed interest in participating in the Regional Indicators Initiative project. AGREEMENT NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual terms hereof, ULI MN and the City agree that the Regional Indicators Initiative project shall be as follows: SCOPE OF WORK Participating cities will pay a fee to cover the cost of the consultant team.This fee will cover the following: • Assist with collecting the last five years of data for benchmarking (2008, 2009, 2010,2011 and 2012). • Establish a process for collecting data for the next year(2013). • Evaluate the specific best management practices (BMP)selected by each city participants in and correlate them to the outcomes being measured. • Produce a final report that measures each metric individually(i.e. kBTUs, gallons,vehicle miles traveled, and pounds) as well as in tons of carbon.The report will include data on a per-capita basis for residential data and on a per-jobs basis for commercial/industrial. • Provide evaluation and comparisons of data for use in selecting strategies and establishing policy. • Provide a communication template for public distribution of information. The City will provide the following in support of the Regional Indicators Initiative project and in exchange for the services provided above. • City staff will support LHB, Inc.,with project assistance from ULI MN, in collecting information, coordinating City meetings, and providing guidance for the completion of services outlined above. • The City will participate in sharing results and lessons learned to inform and shape the Regional Indicators Initiative. • The City agrees to share all data collected publically. SCHEDULE We estimate the data collection phase for each city to take approximately 3-4 months. This schedule may vary, based upon the number of cities who elect to participate and the ability of the utilities to provide data in a timely manner. We are prepared to begin this process on within 30 days after this agreement is signed. PAYMENT A lump sum fee of Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) will be due to LHB, Inc. no later than 60 days after signing this agreement. Except as amended, the Agreement is and shall remain in full force and effect in accordance with its terms. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused this Agreement to be duly executed as of the date first above written. Urban Land Institute Minnesota The City of Rosemount By: By: Executive Director City Mayor Date: Date: REGIONAL INDICATORS INITIATIVE-GET INVOLVED WHAT WHERE The Regional Indicators Initiative measures annual performance metrics for Twenty Minnesota cities(27%of Minnesota cities committed to increasing their overall efficiency and level of Minnesota's population), including sustainability.The project collects the following data that reflect the activities of the people who live, work, learn, travel, visit, and play within each city's Central/Stand-Alone Cities: geographical boundaries: Minneapolis Saint Paui 0 ENERGY Rochester ' Electricity, natural gas,fuel oil, coal and biomass,and Duluth district energy consumed for both residential and commercial/industrial use. Inner-Ring Suburbs: WATER ( Potable water consumption for both residential and Richfield > commercial/industrial use Hopkins Saint Louis Park TRAVEL I On-road distance traveled by all vehicles within the Saint Anthony municipality boundaries. Edina Falcon Heights WASTE I Total municipal solid waste that is landfilled,composted, Maplewood incinerated or recycled. Outer-Ring Suburbs: The greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions and costs associated with each of these White Bear Lake indicators are also calculated, providing common metrics to compare the Coon Rapids economic and environmental impacts of the indicators. Oakdale WHEN This Initiative was started in 2010, and it collects annual data for 2008-2012. WHO The Regional Indicators Initiative is managed by LHB, Inc. for the Urban Land Institute, with technical assistance from ORANGE Environmental, LLC and financial support from the Department of Commerce and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. WHY Recording these performance metrics is essential to promoting efficiency and sustainable change at the city scale. Benefits to cities include: • Highlight opportunities to save resources and money; • Provide a baseline for estimating the effectiveness of sustainability measures; • Enable comparison with peer cities and within each city over time; • Inform subsequent analyses, plans, and policy decisions; • Improve each city's competitiveness for federal and state funding opportunities that are targeted to cities that have taken steps to measure HOW and improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprints; Contact Rick Carter at LHB, Inc.: • Assist in promoting public understanding of the city's effect on climate regionalindicatorsMN @Ihbcorp.com change. 612-752-6923 . / a \, •. • • « a 0,.. . s ... StarTribune-Print Page http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/7id=214553941 Star Tribune Website tracks 20 Minnesota cities' greenhouse gas emissions Article by Bill McAuliffe Star Tribune - July 7,2013-10:37 PM A new interactive website will allow citizens of 20 Minnesota cities to track how their communities are reducing greenhouse gas emissions—and how they are not. A hazy Minneapolis skyline The Regional Indicators Initiative(RI I)site,a vivid and easy-to-use Judy Griesedieck,Star Tribune file key to a huge storehouse of local energy data,is an outgrowth of several climate change mitigation initiatives by the state Legislature,the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Green Step Cities program and the Regional Council of Mayors. It enables citizens to assess emissions from residential and commercial energy use,transportation and other activities within each of the 20 cities'borders from 2008 through 2011.Data from 2012 data will be posted later this year. Users can sort through the data by adjusting for each city's population,by the number of households and other factors, including distinctions for residential and commercial and industrial use.The site also has data on waste and water use,as well as on energy bills. Rick Carter,an architect with the Minneapolis firm LHB Inc.who has been involved in sustainability efforts and led development of the site,said that state and local governments have been happy in recent years to sign on to greenhouse gas reduction pledges, but have often had no effective way to measure their progress.The site is a partial remedy for that. One way in which it might be useful is in tracking emissions trends in communities along the proposed Southwest Corridor light rail route, said Caren Dewar,executive director of the Urban Land Institute,which helped fund the study.All communities that would be served by the rail line—Minneapolis,St.Louis Park,Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie—have participated in the RII,and tracking their emissions before and after light rail could demonstrate whether the trains will reduce community greenhouse gas emissions,she said. A few clicks on the site reveal that among the 20 cities analyzed: •Duluth had the highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita from 2008 through 2011; •Lake Elmo had the highest residential energy use per household in that period; •Minneapolis had the third-lowest energy costs per household of the 20 cities—less than half those of Lake Elmo households. Carter had several cautions for site users.Air travel and energy used in remote food production are not in the data,as they are in some energy-use calculations.And manipulating the data can produce some misleading results. For instance,Falcon Heights—a city with short commutes,smallish lots and solar panels on city hall—turns up as one of the most profligate energy users and greenhouse gas emitters.That's because its data includes the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus as well as all the corn roasters,deep-fat fryers and thrill rides at the State Fairgrounds. But when the data are adjusted to per-household residential electricity use,for example, Falcon Heights scored the lowest of all cities in each year studied. Falcon Heights Mayor Peter Lindstrom said the city got involved in the assessment when it was only a three-city pilot project because officials wanted to know whether their efforts toward sustainability and greenhouse gas reductions were making a 1 of 2 10/22/2013 3:34 PM StarTribune-Print Page http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=214553941 difference. The worst thing you can do for climate change is say you're a green city and do things that absolutely make no difference whatsoever,"he said. The RII,he added, provides Falcon Heights with a baseline for its own emissions,and a look at how other cities are doing. "I think there's room for improvement.At the same time, I just want to make sure we're heading in the right direction," he said. The most significant trend to emerge in the data, in Carter's view, is a universal upward turn in energy emissions in 2011,after a downward trend from 2008-10.Carter said he expects the line to continue upward when 2012 data arrive.He said the uptick indicates that the growing economy's emissions have simply overwhelmed advancements in energy efficiencies and conservation. The site is the result of a three-year,$225,000 effort paid for by the Minnesota Department of Commerce,the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency,the Urban Land Institute and the cities themselves. It may be expanded to involve 40 cities. The website is at www.startribune.com/a2342. Bill McAuliffe•612-673-7646 ©2013 Star Tribune 2 of 2 10/22/2013 3:34 PM