MINUTES

JULY 21, 2003 MEETING OF THE

CITY OF SANTA MONICA

TASK FORCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

 

 

The meeting was convened at 7:10 p.m.  Task Force members in attendance: Susan Mearns, Sandy Grant, Matt Petersen, Bill Selby, and Mark Gold.  Santa Monica City staff in attendance: Craig Perkins, Brian Johnson, Greg Reitz, and Dean Kubani.  Others: Parks and Recreation Commissioner Jennifer Wolch, MWD Board member Judy Abdo, Erik Neandross, David Hertz, Laurel Roennau, Louisa Fish, Marty Rubin, Stacy Brown, Gene Burke, Todd Flora and Ruth Reiser.

 

Minutes

The minutes from the June 16, 2003 meeting were unanimously approved with the following correction on page 4 under “Public Input”: “Laurel Roennau expressed frustration that the City hasn’t updated its traffic counts methodology in a number of years.”

 

Welcome to New Task Force Members David Hertz and Erik Neandross

Task Force members and City staff (unofficially) welcomed David Hertz and Erik Neandross to the Task Force.  (Note: they were formally appointed to the Task Force by Council on July 22, 2003).

 

Sustainable City Advisory Committee Discussion

Brian Johnson reported that Council is scheduled to make a decision on the establishment and structure of a Sustainable City advisory body at their September 9 meeting (Note: This item was subsequently rescheduled to be heard at the October 14 Council meeting).  Mark Gold and Sandy Grant agreed to attend the Council meeting to speak in support of creating the advisory body. 

 

Update on Climate Change Lawsuit

Brian Johnson provided the update.  He indicated that the City of Santa Monica has joined the cities of Boulder, CO and Oakland, CA in this lawsuit against the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of the United States.  Brian indicated that staff are currently identifying potential impacts to Santa Monica from climate change in support of the suit.  Task Force members recommended that staff contact the Union of Concerned Scientists, Bob Wilkenson at UCSB and Peter Gleick at the Pacific Institute to assist with data collection for this.

 

Update on the City’s Marine Mammal Rescue Protocols

Brian Johnson provided the update.  The motion made by the Task Force at their June 16 meeting addressing this issue was forwarded to the City Manager and the Chief of Police.  They have not yet responded to staff and Peter Wallerstein of the Whale Rescue Team has not been informed of any changes or contacted by SMPD.  Brian advised the Task Force to wait an additional month for a response before taking further action.  He will provide an update at the next Task Force meeting.

 

Subcommittee Updates

Susan Mearns reported that the Airport Ad Hoc Committee met with representatives of SCAQMD on June 17 to discuss air emissions from general aviation airports.  AQMD expressed a desire to work with stakeholder groups on this issue and they agreed to conduct a three-month air sampling study at Santa Monica Airport and other general aviation airports in the region.  Susan will participate in drafting a proposal for the design of the study and will review the monitoring plan prior to its implementation.  She anticipates that the study proposal will be completed in approximately 60 days.  Susan asked Stacy Brown and Marty Rubin to provide her with any specific information that they feel needs to be included in the monitoring study.

 

Susan also reported that she attended the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting in July, at their invitation, to present the Task Force concerns regarding Airport Park.  The commission has agendized additional discussion on the item at their August meeting.

 

Regarding water fluoridation, Susan noted that she was recently forwarded responses by the City’s consultant, Black and Veatch, to questions submitted by her and Mark Gold.  She is in process of reviewing the responses and will schedule a meeting with Mark, the City’s Utilities Manager and Black and Veatch following her review.

 

 

 

Metropolitan Water District Update

MWD board member Judy Abdo provided the update.  She reported on a recent educational water forum for local businesses sponsored by the City, Chamber of Commerce and MWD.  She noted that there has not yet been an agreement reached for the transfer of Colorado River water from Imperial Irrigation District to San Diego but she feels that all sides are getting closer to agreement.  Judy also reported that the EPA recently decided that it will not develop a health standard for perchlorate in drinking water.

 

General Plan Noise Element Discussion

This item was not discussed because Planning Commissioner Arlene Hopkins, who agendized the item, was not in attendance.

 

Discussion Regarding Planning Commission Traffic Workshop

Dean Kubani and Laurel Roennau provided background on this workshop scheduled for July 23.  The workshop will focus on alternative methodologies for conducting traffic analyses.  Laurel noted that this workshop could lead to improvement in the way traffic analyses are conducted in Santa Monica and urged Task Force members to attend.

 

Public Input

Marty Rubin thanked the Task Force for its work addressing air quality issues at Santa Monica Airport.

 

Gene Burke discussed the recent water conservation workshop sponsored by the City, Chamber and MWD and noted that he raised concerns at the workshop about MWD’s decision to fluoridate its water.

 

Laurel Roennau noted that the Neighborhood Council is active again and would be a good resource when looking for neighborhood representatives to participate on the Sustainable City advisory body.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.