Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission — Skokie, IL
Date: 2023-04-25

Village of Skokie
 Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission
 AGENDA

 April 25, 2023
 7:00 pm
 Village Hall Room D/E
 Also live streamed at www.youtube.com/user/thevillageofskokie
 Public Comments: sustainability@skokie.org


  I. Approval of minutes

 II. Old Business
 a. Library seminars
 b. Spring Greening
 c. Plan Commission Drive-through agenda item
 d. Compost week
 e. Leaf blower regional report

III. New Business
 a. Sustainability Coordinator approved in budget
 b. Plan accomplishments

IV. Other business

 V. Public Comment

VI. Next meeting

VII. Adjournment




Document Number: 511765

Memorandum
TO: Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commissioners

FROM: ______________________________________________________________________
 Andrew D. DeCanniere, Commissioner, Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission

DATE: May 16, 2023

SUBJECT: April 25, 2023 Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission (SEAC)
 Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 7:07 PM in Conference Room D/E at Skokie Village Hall. This
meeting was also streamed live on YouTube. A recording may be viewed online by visiting
the following web address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDOkvioB88Y

Present: Chairperson Jennifer Grossman, Vice Chair Jim McNelis, Commissioners Christopher
Buccola, Andrew DeCaniere, Michael Gershbein, Lisa Gotkin, Emily Okallau, Robert Render,
Charles Saxe, Trustee Liaison Ralph Klein, Assistant to the Director of Public Works / Staff
Liaison Elizabeth Zimmerman

Absent: Commissioners Olivia Mahoney, Rick Moskovitz

I. Approval of Minutes

Minutes from the March 21, 2023 meeting of the Sustainable Environmental Advisory
Commission were unanimously approved.

II. Old Business

 a. Library Seminars

 Commissioner Saxe provided an update on upcoming seminars that will be taking place
 at the Skokie Public Library. He noted that he still needs to confirm a description for the
 upcoming Niles Township program, which will be about food scarcity in Niles Township,
 and which will be taking place at the Niles Township offices on Lincoln Avenue. He also
 noted that the program on Native Plants, which was done by the Beautification and
 Improvement Commission, was a big success. It was very well received and there was a
 lot of genuine interest.

 Staff Liaison Zimmerman noted that they will be giving away the new buckets that
 they’ve gotten in, in which people will be able to transport their compost to the compost
 drop-off sites around the community, during the library seminar that she will be
 participating in on June 6th. They finally got the stickers in, which are to be applied to the
 buckets, to provide additional information/guidance in terms of what is compostable.
 She noted that they are ready to go. They just wanted to have an event of some sort at
 which to launch them. Additional discussion ensued.

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Commissioner Saxe noted that the seminar Staff Liaison Zimmerman will be a part of
will be taking place on June 6th at the Skokie Public Library in the Business and
Community Center on the second floor. The May 23rd seminar on geothermal will also
be in the Business and Community Center on the second floor. He thinks that both will
also be on Zoom. So, there will be an opportunity to virtually participate in those two
seminars.

b. Spring Greening

Staff Liaison Zimmerman thanked Vice Chair McNelis and Commissioners Gershbein
and Saxe, who volunteered to help out at this year’s Spring Greening. She said that she
thought that traffic control was better, which helped. They once again accepted a lot of
material, which included more than 19,700 pounds of documents that were shredded,
something like 22,000 pounds of electronics. They had to get a third trailer to be able
to accommodate all of it, so it was above and beyond what they were expecting.
Additionally, there were 360 pounds of fire extinguishers and 300 pounds of lithium
batteries. She went on to note that lithium batteries are a big one that they like to
collect, as it helps prevent fires from occurring inside recycling trucks and at
recycling facilities. They also collected 300 pounds of holiday lights. There were
1,068 vehicles that went through the electronics recycling and document destruction
stations that were set up in the parking lot. They had 627 vehicles go through the other
recycling stations, which is a big number for the other parking lot, where the other
stations were set up. The textile recycling was also very popular. Even though we do
not get weight information from them, they did have to bring in a second truck. Some
other vendors had to shut down their stations, because they were full. It was a good
event.

Vice Chair McNelis said that it seemed to him Spring Greening was busy compared to
previous years, and that he would be curious to know how this year’s attendance
compares to years past.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said attendance was about the same. The number of vehicles
for electronics recycling and paper shredding was down just a little bit, which is to be
expected, as last year was the first year for the event after COVID. Therefore, she thinks
there were some people who came to the event who had saved up some material, and
that accounts for the slightly higher totals for last year’s Spring Greening. She also
reiterated that this year’s event was really successful, they took in a lot of material,
and they had good weather.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman also went on to note that residents can also go to any other
Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) community event, which is
messaging that they put out there. If someone missed the Spring Greening event, all
Skokie residents are invited to participate in any of the SWANCC collection events. For
example, Evanston has a big event later in the summertime. They will be getting
messaging out where that is concerned as well.



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Commissioner DeCanniere noted that if people were made aware of these other
SWANCC collection events, it may help them spread it out a bit, so that they aren’t
amassing all of these items in their house all year long. They can then bring smaller
amounts of stuff with them, rather than feeling compelled to bring everything with them
to this one event.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that she is aware that Morton Grove reached out to the
Village, and they are thinking of starting an event. They would be a part of that
SWANCC group, and Skokie residents would be able to go there as well.

Chairperson Grossman noted that it seems to her that when other communities do hold a
collection event, what is accepted at the event is not as broad as what is accepted during
Spring Greening. Commissioner Saxe said he had been to an event in a nearby suburb,
and they accepted both paper and electronics. It was convenient. However, Spring
Greening is probably the most comprehensive of all of the collection events that he can
think of.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman noted that she thinks that with the location that they have for
Spring Greening now, it works pretty well. She said that some of the confusion as far as
where to go to drop off which items could be attributed to the switch from the Niles
North High School property to Westfield Old Orchard Shopping Center. It took some
time for people to learn the new traffic patterns, and so it has been nice for it to have been
in the same place.

Commissioner Saxe said that there was some confusion among those who had multiple
things that they wanted to drop off. For example, if you had electronics, paper and some
other things, there seemed to be some uncertainty as to where to go. He went on to note
he is not aware whether that was a prevalent problem. They had a few people coming
through the station that was intended for paper, asking what they should do with their
other stuff.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that they do go through the lessons learned afterward.
If there are any other comments regarding the event, Commissioners can feel free
to email her. Additional discussion ensued.

c. Plan Commission Drive-through Agenda Item

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that she was curious as to whether any Commissioners
attended the Plan Commission meeting.

Commissioner Saxe stated that he could not attend the meeting. He tried to follow online,
but it seems that it was not streamed or broadcast. Consequently, he is unaware of what
actually occurred.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that, just to provide everyone a brief update, the
Community Development Director, Johanna Nyden, has been working with her team

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to develop some policy changes regarding drive-throughs in the community. As a
reminder, it is not legal for the Village have an outright ban on drive-through facilities.
Ms. Nyden came up with a memo, which Commissioners have hopefully already had a
chance to read. She went on to say that she feels that the memo is very thorough and
thoughtful. It presents some ways to mitigate the impacts of drive-throughs. She said that
she did provide Ms. Nyden with the minutes from our March meeting, at which we
discussed the issue of drive-throughs in the community, along with the document that
Commissioner Saxe produced. Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that she felt as though
all of Commissioner Saxe’s ideas were thoughtful and good as well. The Plan
Commission did get all of those comments/documents before voting on the matter.
She is not sure what happened after that, but she will try and get Commissioners an
update as to what happened at that Plan Commission meeting.

Commissioner Saxe said, generally speaking, he feels that Ms. Nyden’s recommendations
are good. He obviously has his point of view, but he thinks that she is approaching the
issue in a very constructive way.

Commissioner DeCanniere noted that he recently found a news article that is somewhat
related to this topic, and that he emailed the link to the article to all Commissioners.
The article concerns how a number of fast food chains and some convenience stores have
begun to add electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to their parking lots.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman noted that Commissioner Gershbein just checked, and the link
to that Plan Commission meeting is now up on the Village of Skokie’s YouTube channel,
so perhaps they just posted it. Commissioner Saxe said that he will take a look at it.

d. Compost Week

Staff Liaison Zimmerman noted that Compost Week is coming up. They’ve done a soft
opening of three more compost drop-off sites. These three new sites are Hamlin Park,
the Niles Township government offices, and Central Park. These are all pilot programs.
If any sites isn’t working, they can always look at different locations, etc. They will
be advertising those on Tuesday, May 2nd. The program, in general, has really taken off.
In March, the numbers came in, and in March of 2022, 5.4 tons were composted. This
March, 10.8 tons were composted. She said that she couldn’t ask for a better start.
There have been a few contamination issues here and there, and there are a few locations
that will become full once in a while, but it has been manageable and the program has
been going really smoothly. Additional discussion ensued.

Chairperson Grossman said that she thought we originally discussed locating these
compost drop-off sites at places where they could be monitored (e.g. at facilities).

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that there is some concern over how this is going to go.
This is a pilot program, and they are keeping an eye on these locations. Park District staff
is out in the parks, and they still send Village staff over on Fridays as well. Collection



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days are Mondays and Thursdays. So, they are monitored for a majority of the week.
That said, we’ll see how things go with these locations.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman went on to say that she thinks that the program has become
more successful a bit faster than they anticipated, and when it comes to finding new
locations for additional sites, you kind of run out of these “perfect” locations (e.g.
locations that are at facilities).

Chairperson Grossman inquired about the potential to add compost drop-off sites at
schools. Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that she initially thought that we should partner
with the schools. However, she had some concerns about the traffic flow at the schools,
and how it may be adversely impacted by people trying to drop their compost off.

Chairperson Grossman indicated she talked to some parents at Highland School, and they
indicated that they would be interested in having a site there, because that whole area
doesn’t have a compost drop-off site nearby. The Devonshire location is not that far,
but if the drop-off sites are not right on your way, you may be less inclined to participate.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that if a school has a site they think will work well with
their traffic, etc., they can talk about it. Additional discussion ensued.

Commissioner Gotkin said that the postcard that was sent out by the Village regarding
what can be composted and what goes where was excellent. She put it up in her kitchen,
so that everyone in her household can see it. Commissioner Saxe said that he put it up on
his refrigerator as well. It was an excellent piece. Commissioner Gotkin said she doesn’t
know who designed it, but she thanks them for it. Staff Liaison Zimmerman thanked
them for the comments/feedback, and said that she will pass that on to Communications
Manager Meredith Gioia.

Trustee Liaison Klein asked whether there was any thought about putting that on the
recycling bins. Staff Liaison Zimmerman noted that there is some recycling information
on the recycling bins. Trustee Liaison Klein said he is aware, but that this has more
information. Staff Liaison Zimmerman asked whether we think it should go on the
recycling bins or on the refuse toter. Chairperson Grossman said she thinks it should go
on the refuse toter, because other than with certain exceptions (e.g. hazardous waste),
the refuse toter is sort of this first step or catch-all for many people. Trustee Liaison
Klein said he was thinking it should go on the recycling bins, because of the potential
for the recycling to be contaminated. Commissioner Okallau said that she likes the
postcard as a means of communicating this information.

Commissioner Saxe said that he feels that the heads-up that has been provided regarding
the refuse collection changes has been pretty good.

Chairperson Grossman said she also likes that when you go to the Village website,
www.skokie.org, there is a pop-up that comes up informing visitors to the site of the
upcoming changes to refuse collection. Staff Liaison Zimmerman said she has to give

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credit for that to Village Manager John Lockerby. It was his idea to put that up there.
Additional discussion ensued.

Commissioner DeCanniere said that while he is not aware of how the schools may feel
about it, it does seem to him that locating compost drop-off sites at schools as well as at
these other locations throughout the community is a good idea — as long as it can be
done safely, and without impeding normal operations at the schools. He went on to note
that he was also thinking of reaching out to the schools to get some sort of baseline
assessment in terms of what green initiatives may already be in place at the schools,
what their curriculum looks like in terms of what they are teaching students about
climate change / environmental sustainability, so on and so forth. A compost drop-off
site at a school could certainly fall under the heading of “green initiatives” or programs,
and could be one way the school districts could be involved in these kinds of things in the
community. He also noted that the updated version of the Refuse and Recycling Programs
brochure, which may be found on the Commission’s webpage as well as on the Village’s
recycling webpage, contains some information about the transition to once-weekly refuse
collection.

Chairperson Grossman said that during one of the budget hearings that was held recently,
there was some discussion of videos regarding composting and recycling. She went on to
inquire who would be producing these videos for the Village. Staff Liaison Zimmerman
stated that Ms. Gioia would be doing so. Additional discussion ensued.

e. Regional Leaf Blower Report

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said she isn’t aware whether Commissioners saw the
messaging that went out last week, but Village crews have essentially completely
transitioned to electric landscape equipment. It has been really successful. The only
situation in which one might hear a chainsaw running is if they have to take down a
really big tree or if there has been a storm, because as the wood chips get wet, sometimes
the electric landscape equipment won’t do as well. Other than in those situations, they are
now fully electric, and the Village crews are very excited about it, including about how
quiet the electric equipment is.

Chairperson Grossman inquired as to whether the battery for the electric riding
lawnmower holds a charge to do a day’s work. Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that
is the thing that they are waiting to see. When you get a new cell phone or something,
the battery life is great. They are just going to have to learn how long these batteries will
last. Right now, with new batteries, everything is working and going really well. She
noted that how the Village operates is definitely different than the manner in which a
private landscape company that works 12 hour days would operate. They want to be
mindful that it is a hard transition for everybody to make. She went on to say that
the other thing we will see the Village doing is rolling out more of the zero-emission
robot mowers. The only thing stopping them from doing a much larger rollout is that
you need an electricity source. Solar chargers are expensive.



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Staff Liaison Zimmerman went on to note that they had Village staff meet and talk about
the Regional Leaf Blower Report. There’s a code committee that talks about any code
changes that are being considered. Right now, they’re just following this report, which
at this time is essentially limiting the use of leaf blowers to the seasons in which you
really need them —which is that spring and fall season. Again, there needs to be time
for the technology to catch up, for more companies to purchase this equipment, and so
on. Therefore, they are looking at this as a starting point. There are some things on the
enforcement end of things that concern the Village staff. For instance, during the week,
the property inspectors would be responsible for handling calls about noise. On the
weekend, the police department would be responsible, and obviously it’s low on the
hierarchy of their calls. That can create frustration, when someone thinks that their leaf
blower is the crisis of their day, and there are other things that the police department
needs to handle. This can create some conflicts, so they are working on talking through
these kinds of scenarios within their code committee. She is aware that some other
communities allow taking a photo and things of that nature, and so they are just trying to
work on those sorts of things with the Village’s legal department as well.

Vice Chair McNelis inquired whether the battery-powered equipment would be allowed.
Staff Liaison Zimmerman said battery-powered equipment truly is quieter, but it is a little
different in that it has this higher pitched sound to it. It also doesn’t travel through
windows and doors in the same way. The use of gas-powered equipment would be
banned, except for during the spring and fall.

Vice Chair McNelis asked whether, during this transition from the old equipment to the
new battery-powered equipment, the old equipment is kept for some period of time.
Staff Liaison Zimmerman said they’re not aware of any programs that are recycling
that right now, and it is good for them to have on-hand, in case they have the need for
it. They will be keeping the old equipment on-hand for the foreseeable future, until
they’re comfortable with the transition.

Commissioner Saxe said that, as he sees it, there are a three of issues where the leaf
blowers are concerned. One issue would obviously be the emissions generated by
the gas-powered equipment. The second issue is the noise. The third issue is that all
they do is redistribute debris. He is glad some progress is being made, but he thinks
that we ought to keep those three things in mind, in terms of what we are trying to
achieve with a leaf blower policy.

Commissioner Okallau said that not only are there emissions from the gas-powered
equipment, but the particulates in the air as well, that are of concern, in addition to
the environmental impacts that exist. She went on to inquire as to whether the ban
will just be on gas-powered equipment or whether leaf blowers will be banned
entirely.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that in terms of the Regional Leaf Blower Report, there
was a lot of thought that went into it. There was a balanced committee. Not only did it
include environmentalists, but it included the landscaping community, and how they

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can do their work and survive. At this point, that report is recommending to start
by limiting those gas-powered leaf blowers. She thinks that what that does is that it
provides a sort of heads-up for community members and landscapers to begin
purchasing electric equipment. The Village’s Environmental Sustainability Plan
actually wants a code change for gas-powered equipment — not just leaf blowers —
but when you start thinking about the problems the Village had with getting their one
crew set up, it’s just not really feasible to roll that out in the community at this time.
However, doing one code change alerts the community that other changes are coming.
She thinks it is just the first step in the process.

Commissioner Saxe said he thinks that it is an important step, just to normalize the
practice.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that she thinks that the violation part of it is tricky,
because at this time they are looking at allowing electric leaf blowers during all seasons.
So, are people going to know that the higher-pitched leaf blower that is running is not
a gas-powered leaf blower? Additional discussion ensued.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman noted that they are also considering requiring the landscape
companies to register with the Village, and license themselves. That would essentially
provide the Village with an email list, and they could push messaging out when they
change the code, and to send reminders out regarding the noise ordinance and things
of that nature.

Chairperson Grossman noted that many of the landscapers in Skokie are not big
companies, such as those you may see in Wilmette or in Evanston. If you are assuming
they have somebody who does communications, there may not be anyone in that sort
of role.

Commissioner Okallau noted that even if this registration requirement seems simple to
us, it could be a barrier.

Commissioner Gotkin asked who would be considered in violation — the landscaper or
the homeowner.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that’s something they have to work out. They were
talking about that a little bit at the last meeting. She said she believes that in Evanston
it is the homeowner who would be considered to be in violation.

Commissioner Gotkin said that she thinks that it should be the homeowner. She does
think people need to know the law where they are working. However, she believes that
the burden should be on the homeowner to monitor what their landscaper is doing on
their property. Commissioner DeCanniere concurred and said he feels that this would
also simplify the whole communications component, as we would then only have to
worry about communicating this new regulation to the homeowners. They, in turn,



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 would be responsible for making that regulation known to whatever service they
 may elect to use.

 Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that just in terms of the timeline, they would never roll
 this out in the middle of the season. Therefore, we would be looking at these changes
 being made after the season.

 Chairperson Grossman asked what the Village’s preference may be in terms of what
 the restriction would look like initially. Staff Liaison Zimmerman said she thinks that
 communities in the area tend to look to one another. They like these regulations to be
 similar. It just makes things easier for everyone involved, including easier for the
 landscapers who are traveling between these communities. Right now, they’re really
 advocating for this to go before the Village Board to do this code change. At the end of
 the day, she doesn’t think that we can get too drastic with it, because the availability of
 technology is not widespread. Again, with the companies, there is also this equity issue.
 You have companies where a family is just trying to make a go of it, and trying to feed
 their families. When it comes to the Village, it may be that the Village only needs to
 purchase one battery to make it through an eight-hour day whereas, for someone who is
 working a 12-hour day six days per week, it may be that they need to purchase triple the
 amount of batteries. Commissioner Saxe said he thinks that the draft policy addresses that
 issue by phasing the implementation, allowing for a transition to happen.

 Commissioner Saxe added that he thinks that a rake is a more effective means of moving
 leaves than a leaf blower. He rakes the leaves on his property, and he watches those who
 use leaf blowers, and they spend a lot of time blowing the leaves and debris all over the
 place. It does not take a significantly longer amount of time for him to rake the leaves.
 Commissioner DeCanniere concurred, noting that sometimes the lower tech solution
 actually is the better one.

 Commissioner Okallau noted that Evanston does not fine the homeowner. There was an
 iteration of this ban that was going to go after the property owner because that was
 considered to be more equitable. Additional discussion ensued.

III. New Business

 a. Sustainability Coordinator approved in budget

 Chairperson Grossman noted that the hiring of a Sustainability Coordinator has been
 approved by the Village Board. It is in the budget. She went on to inquire if the timeline
 for hiring this individual is known. Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that the intent is to
 hire somebody to fill this position soon. The goal is to get the job listing up in May. She
 brought the budget item that talks about it with her, and proceeded to quote from it.




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The following is a brief description of the duties of the Sustainability Coordinator that is
to be hired by the Village:

This newly created position affords an exciting and challenging opportunity to provide
sound leadership in advancing the Village's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in
pursuit of carbon neutrality. Under general direction of the Assistant Village Manager,
you will coordinate and ensure continued execution of the 2022-2030 Skokie
Environmental Sustainability Plan by supporting the Village's Sustainability Action Team
in implementing the 189 detailed action items; Provide expertise and oversight of the
Village's sustainability initiatives including research, data collection, metric development
and monitoring, policy review, grant research and assisting with staff and community
partner education and engagement initiatives that promote environmental sustainability;
Develops, calculates, tracks, and manages metrics and data to support the Plan;
Coordinate with Plan Sector Leads, secure approval of implementation actions, develop
policies or programs, manage projects and contracts, identify resources needed, assemble
project teams and communicate progress with executive leadership; Must have the ability
to garner the support and buy-in of internal and external stakeholders with a positive,
can-do attitude; the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with a
diverse assortment of groups and individuals in a courteous, tactful and professional
manner is essential; Performs other work-related duties, as assigned.

Vice Chair McNelis inquired as to whether this individual would report to Staff Liaison
Zimmerman. She replied that they will be reporting to the Village Manager’s Office,
which is where it really needs to be.

Commissioner DeCanniere said it is good that this appears to be moving forward,
because it seems that more and more communities are making this investment. It’s
an investment in the community — in the future and in the people. So, it is a good thing
that the Village is committing to this position.

Commissioner Okallau said that it is good to see that the Village, including the Trustees,
have not only accepted this plan, but are on-board when it comes to its implementation.

Commissioner Saxe said he also appreciated having that memo sent out regarding the
progress that the Village has made thus far.

Chairperson Grossman noted that there is a lot in the budget that covers the items in the
Environmental Sustainability Plan. There isn’t just a plan without the funding. Staff
Liaison Zimmerman said that Chairperson Grossman’s point is well taken. A lot of
money was devoted to sustainability-related items in the budget this year. They were
asked by the Village Manager’s Office to come up with each Staff Lead on the sectors
and to tell them what is needed and, to her knowledge, nothing was cut. It was a back-
and-forth of what we need to implement those first stage plans and they supported that.




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Commissioner DeCanniere mentioned that the totals are actually noted in the memo that
went out to all of the Commissioners. Please note that this memo was also made available
to the public on the Village of Skokie website, and may be accessed by going to
https://www.skokie.org/DocumentCenter/View/8817/SustainabilityUpdateMemo.

b. Plan Accomplishments

Chairperson Grossman noted that there is a very thorough memo outlining what has been
accomplished so far under the Environmental Sustainability Plan. It is pretty impressive.

Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that the goal now would be for each Commission liaison
to take a look at their specific section, in order to learn what is going on and where they
are able to jump in — whether they want to jump into something that is already ongoing
or something new.

Vice Chair McNelis provided an update to an item in the memo that went out, noting that
there is now a draft award form for a Village-wide Skokie Energy Efficiency Challenge.
He will be sharing that with all of the Commissioners, and hopefully there can be a
discussion about that next time. They’re looking for some feedback, and then they can
move forward with that.

Commissioner Render discussed foam recycling. Staff Liaison Zimmerman noted that
one interesting thing, when it comes to food packaging, is that if a community or a state
bans foam food packaging, then there’s less money for grants / opportunities for foam
recycling. However, she went on to say that SWANCC has assured her that it has not
been affecting the packaging styrofoam at all. So, even if there would be a ban on
the food styrofoam packaging, there’s still plenty (e.g. from electronics, like televisions)
to run a program. Additional discussion ensued.

Commissioner Saxe said he wanted to note that the Village recently received a grant from
the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP) for the Church Street bike lane.
So, that has some additional funding, and hopefully that bike lane will happen this year.
He also said that the Skokie Bike Network has been asked to provide a letter of support
for the extension of the Skokie Valley Trail. He went on to mention that the Village of
Lincolnwood received a grant for putting a protected bike lane on Pratt Avenue. He said
that he thinks it runs from McCormick Boulevard all the way to Niles Center Road.
Additionally, the City of Evanston received an ITEP grant to install a cycle track on
Church Street between Dodge Avenue and McCormick Boulevard.

Commissioner DeCanniere noted that the Plan Accomplishments memo talks a bit about
electric vehicle (EV) charger installation within the community. He went on to say that on
a recent show he had seen on PBS, they talked about a new type of EV charger that
would allow electric vehicles to charge wirelessly, and how wireless charging capabilities
will be available on new electric vehicles. There will even be a wireless EV charger that
will be able to be integrated into concrete, so that snow plows will be able to go over
them without damaging them. He went on to say that he thinks that new technology like

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 this will encourage more people to purchase electric vehicles, particularly as these kinds
 of chargers become increasingly ubiquitous, simplifying things for EV owners. He
 doesn't know whether the Village has been looking into the possibility of wireless EV
 chargers, but it seems like there’s a real potential for the Village to make use of them
 throughout the community.

 Staff Liaison Zimmerman said that there’s a team working with the Metropolitan Mayors
 Caucus right now, and noted that there is a program similar to the SolSmart program,
 which is the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus EV Readiness Program. They’re working
 through achieving different accomplishments in various areas when it comes to the
 chargers, in order to achieve a Bronze-level designation. They can’t go for Gold at the
 moment, because the Village fleet would have to be comprised of a really high percentage
 of EVs. Therefore, they’re going for Bronze, hoping to get Silver. She’d said there’s a lot
 of low-hanging fruit they have to work on before they look into these kinds of things, but
 she reiterated that there is a team that is working on this / getting updates on EV
 charging. Additional discussion ensued.

 Staff Liaison Zimmerman asked whether Commissioners have heard from their Village
 Sustainability Action Team Staff Liaison. They had asked Staff Liaisons to reach out to
 SEAC Sector Liaisons via email. She went on to say that what she is going to do is
 provide each Commissioner their contact for their particular sector. Chairperson
 Grossman asked if she could send the contact info for all liaisons to all Commissioners.
 Staff Liaison Zimmerman agreed to do so.

IV. Other Business

Staff Liaison Zimmerman reminded Commissioners of Chicago River Day, which is an annual
clean-up event, and encouraged those who can do so to sign up for the event.

V. Public Comment

No public comments were received.

VI. Next Meeting

Based on the expected availability of Commission members, the next meeting will take place on
Tuesday, May 30, 2023.

VII. Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:32 PM.




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