Sustainability & Resiliency Advisory Board

SUSTAINABILITY & RESILIENCY ADVISORY BOARD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 400 NW 73RD AVE. PLANTATION, FL 33317 MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2022 Present: Dr. Julie A Long, Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel, Guithele Ruiz-Nicholas, Joel Feingold, Maria Oliva, Nicholas C Hessing Staff liaison Carole Morris Timothy Rivera was also in attendance via Zoom CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES Motion by Dr. Julie A Long, seconded by Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel, to Approve the meeting minutes. Motion Passed with the following result: Ayes: Dr. Julie A Long, Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel, Guithele Ruiz-Nicholas, Joel Feingold, Maria Oliva, Nicholas C Hessing Nays: None 2022-02-14 Sustainability Minutes.pdf NEW BUSINESS Ryan Goldman, Chairman, City of Sunrise Sustainability Advisory Board Ryan Goldman provided a brief summary of his experience, knowledge and involvement as the chair with City of Sunrise Sustainability Advisory Board, Broward College Science Advisory Commission and his current position at the airport in the environmental program in the Planning and Development department.

Mr. Goldman: I have natural resources, endangered species and environmental background. The City of Sunrise Sustainability Advisory Board consists of 9 board members that were approved by the City Commission through applications with a 1 year term. The panelists consist of multiple job titles, backgrounds and knowledge in different career fields. There is a an action plan that was approved in 2019, that was created by an environmental consulting firm. You will need to submit reports to keep certifications and accreditation in some national groups. Sunrise funded five years ago a fulltime position that was dedicated to sustainability and it was appointed by the advisory board. If you get can anything from my advice tonight, it would be to support a fulltime position. We determined in the beginning of the year what tasks we want to take on that is in the sustainability action plan. We have hosted volunteer tree planting events, installed butterfly gardens, and we find grant funding to increase the city canopy. Elaine Franklin, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, City of Hollywood, gave description of her experience and progress she had made as the Sustainability Coordinator with the City of Hollywood. Ms. Franklin: I have been with the City of Hollywood for three and a half years. Sustainability is a growing field and federal funding is starting to flow. In 2020 Hollywood Beach adopted the Dune Master Plan. Currently, we have a number of dunes scattered around the beach and we are in the process of renovating those dunes. My major job has been organizing volunteer dune planting events. Our city passed a plastic band ordinance. At city events, parks and property, people are no longer allow to use single use plastics or foam for food and beverages. We have a ban on the intentional release of helium balloons as well. There have been conversations about the effectiveness of the ordinance because it is so broad with the different items it covers. In my view of sustainability, any amount of compliance is moving in the right direction. Our committee is interested in pushing to make a recommendation to the commission to pass an additional ordinance on the ban on plastic utensils and straws city wide. The conversation includes the recommendation for restaurants to avoid giving plastic utensils and straws in take-out orders unless the customer requests it. It is good to look at encouraging changes or incentives rather than regulating it outright. OLD BUSINESS Proposed Ordinance Irrigation-Water Shortage Management Discussion Joel Feingold shared his opinion on the overview of the proposed ordinance based on the research of the background work that the South Water Management district had worked on when developing the ordinance. Mr. Feingold: I proposed we return the ordinance back to the city with some board recommendations. And have the city staff and attorney iron out the details.

Dr. Long: I was confused when I got this plan. I provided everyone with a document about what sustainability is and what can be done. Please see attachment. Joel Feingold: I would like to move to return the ordinance without modification to the city, with three recommendations. 1)The City add a financial incentive for property owners to install drought tolerant landscaping. 2)Consideration for homeowner should be included within the ordinance, but large users should not be granted extra consideration. For example, A homeowner should not be required to change an irrigation system from manually controlled to automatic with a rain sensor until it is replaced or the property is transferred to another owner. However commercial users, HOA's, larger facilities and so forth should be required to convert by a certain date. 3)That the ordinance should also create an education and notice requirement to be fulfilled which will help in many ways. Dr. Long: 2nd the motion Proposed Ordinance Irrigation-Water Shortage Management (SFWMD Update) (00491290-5xC4B6A).pdf SFWMD v Existing Code.pdf Moved by Joel Feingold; seconded by Dr. Julie Long to Approve with recommendations listed above. Motion Passed: 6- 0 Voting For: Dr. Julie A Long, Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel, Guithele Ruiz-Nicholas, Joel Feingold, Maria Oliva, Nicholas C Hessing Voting Against: None OTHER BUSINESS/DISCUSSIONS Carole Morris: Next month meeting, we will have the City of Fort Lauderdale Sustainability Manager attending and the staff support from Broward County Climate Change Task Force is visiting as well. Dr. Long: I strongly encourage the board to go online an educate themselves. City of Pembroke Pines has a green plan that have been in effect for several years. Several cities have done energy audits, long term planning and have set up initiatives that we may want to consider those.

Carole Morris: At some point, the board will need to start suggesting items for the agenda. We have a deadline to creating and publishing agendas. Please don't wait until a week before the meeting to notify us that you have secured a speaker, let us know a couple of weeks in advance. Guithele Ruiz-Nicholas: Inaudible.... I see the possibility of working on a brochure that simply reads what sustainability is doing and educating the public. If it pleases the board, I would like to place that as a motion. Dr. Long: I think it is a good idea but I don't know what we want to educate people about as of yet. For us to be successful, we need to get community support. Dr. Schwoebel: If we think about our goals and objectives, we can design a public education program. We have to decide what specific issues, we want to address. Dr. Long: I would like for us to recommend to the city to do an energy audit. Joel Feingold: Over the next two meetings, it would be great if we create a list and send it a week in advance. Carole Morris: There are two questions that needs to be asked in regards to energy audit. What did they do with that information? And what improvements have they made? Nic Hessing: You may want to look into the Southeast regional climate change compact. Find out what are the initiatives that they took and what are the results of those initiatives. Dr. Schwoebel: I would like to make a motion that we each come next month with a reasonable number of project ideas or recommendations. Joel Feingold: Each of us should come in with a few areas of sustainability and a few areas of resiliency. Guithele Ruiz-Nicholas: Can I get an amendment? Dr. Schwoebel: I want to make a motion for each of us have 3 or 4 initiatives, so we can have a lot we can all agree on. Dr. Long: We should also add to have it submitted to Carole. Joel Feingold: I want to put a date on this, so March 28th. Nicholas Hessing: 2nd as amended

Motion by Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel, seconded by Nicholas C Hessing, to Approve as Amended. Motion Passed with the following result: Ayes: Dr. Julie A Long, Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel, Guithese Ruiz-Nicholas, Joel Feingold, Maria Oliva, Nicholas C Hessing Nays: None PUBLIC COMMENTS none ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned 7:52pm