Chambana Sun

City of Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission met March 2.

Here is the minutes provided by the commission:

Commissioners Present: James Corbin, Tomas Delgado, Stacy Gloss, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, Grace Wilken Commissioners 

Absent: Jessica Lehmkuhl, Maddy Garbacz 

Staff Present: Scott Tess

Call to Order, Roll Call, and Declaration of Quorum

Stacy Gloss called the meeting to order, a roll was called and a quorum was present.

Approval of Minutes

Grace Wilken motioned to approve the minutes from the February 2, 2021 meeting. Morgan White seconded the motion. Grace Wilken made a note to remove a section that was from previous minutes. Andrew Stumpf also noted that a word was missing from the Public Input section of the minutes. James Corbin, Tomas Delgado, Stacy Gloss, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, and Grace Wilken voted yes to approve the minutes as amended. The motion passed.

Public Input

There was no public input

Presentations

Kara Dudek, Park Planner and Savannah Donovan, Environmental Public Program Coordinator from the Urbana Park District came on to share the Urbana Park District’s CARES Plan, which stands for Climate Action, Resilience, Education and Sustainability. A discussion ensued. (See attached slides). This is in the Public Input phase, and the public is encouraged to fill out the survey until March 9th at: https://www.urbanaparks.org/be-green-help-inform-the-urbana-park-district cares-climate-action-resilience-education--sustainability-plan/

Traci Barkley, Director of the Sola Gratia Farm and Emily McKown, Executive Director of Channing Murray Foundation came on to share about the Solidarity Gardens Initiative, which is a collaborative project to produce more fresh, local food for those who need and want it in our community and how it came to be. A discussion with the speakers and Commission members ensued. (See attached flyer). More information is available at: www.Solidarity-Gardens-CU.org.

Staff Report

Community Solar

Nexamp has begun land-clearing activities at the closed landfill. Staff continue to support subscription recruitment activities.

APPROVED

Geothermal

Geothermal Urbana-Champaign has secured seven contracts for installation totaling 28 tons of capacity and has 25 proposals out for review by property owners. There are seven remaining Geo Power Hours listed at geothermalUC.org.

Green House Gas Inventory

Staff is collecting annual data to create a calendar year 2020 municipal greenhouse gas emissions inventory.

Public Engagement

Staff spoke to the University of Illinois classes CEE 438 - Science and Environmental Policy and NRES285 - iCAP Ambassadors about City sustainability work.

Ucycle

Cities and the County will host a Spring Residential Electronics Collection Event over two days: Friday, May 21, 2021 AND Saturday, May 22, 2021. Pre-registration is required to participate; online registration will open on April 12. Residents can sign up for a 15-minute time slot to drop off their used electronic items for recycling, free of charge. Timeslots will be filled for Saturday first with Friday timeslots used for overflow capacity. To register, visit the collection website beginning April 12. If you need assistance with registering, please email recycling@champaignil.gov on April 12. As part of your registration, you will select one of the 15-minute time slots to bring your items.

Announcements

∙ Geothermal Power Hours posted at geothermaluc.org

∙ Household Hazardous Waste collection event Saturday, April 10, 2021 – Location TBA, Registration TBA– general public will be notified once contracts/logistics approved 

∙ Residential Electronics Collection Event – Scheduled for Saturday, May 21 and 22, 2021

Next Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting

April 6 at 7:00 pm in Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building or by Zoom depending on circumstances.

Unfinished Business

JEDI goals and activities

Chair Stacy Gloss entertained a motion to continue this discussion on the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion goals in the May 2021 meeting. Morgan White moved to continue the motion. She asked that half an hour be devoted to the JEDI goals discussion. Tomas Delgado seconded the motion.

Announcements

The Sustainability Advisory Commission has an immediate opening for Commission Member. Interested parties may download the application form at: https://www.urbanaillinois.us/boards/sustainability-advisory-commission.

With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 8:43 p.m.

This meeting was recorded.

http://urbanaillinois.us/sites/default/files/attachments/SAC_DraftMinutes_March2021.pdf