Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission — Skokie, IL
Date: 2024-08-27

Village of Skokie
 Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission
 AGENDA

 August 27, 2024
 7:00 pm
 Village Hall Room D/E
 Public Comments: sustainability@skokie.org


  I. Approval of minutes

 II. Old Business

 a. Household Hazardous Waste event July 27
 b. 2024 Q2 Environmental Sustainability Plan updates: questions and
 comments


III. New Business
 a. Village updates
 i. Bilingual Sustainable Landscape Practices Letter
 ii. Electric Leaf Blower rebates
 iii. North Shore Electric Aggregation Consortium Contract Extension
 iv. ComEd Event September 3
 b. Sustainability Sector updates
 i. Economy Sector Sub-Committee update – R. Render & A. Likic
 1. Skokie Business of the Year nominations
 ii. Land Use & Housing Sub-Committee update – C. Saxe

IV. Other business

 V. Public Comment

VI. Next meeting

 a. September 24, 2024
 i. Local Food & Agriculture Sector update
 ii. Health & Safety Sector update

VII. Adjournment




Document Number: 511765

Memorandum
Manager’s Office - Sustainability Division

TO: Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commissioners

FROM: Lisa Sanzenbacher, Sustainability Coordinator

DATE: August 29, 2024

SUBJECT: August 27, 2024 Sustainable Environmental Advisory Commission (SEAC)
 Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 7:06 pm in Village Hall Meeting Room D/E.

Present: Chairman Jennifer Grossman, Alma Likic, Jim McNelis, Lisa Gotkin, Michael
Gershbein, Emily Okallau, Olivia Mahoney, Bob Render, Charlie Saxe, Sustainability
Coordinator Lisa Sanzenbacher.

Absent: Commissioners Andrew DeCanniere, Chris Buccola, Rick Moscovitz
 I. Approval of minutes –Motion by C. Okallau, seconded by C. Likic.

 II. Old Business

 Sustainability Coordinator (SC) Lisa Sanzenbacher recapped the Household
 Hazardous Waste event that took place Saturday, July 27 at Niles North High School
 Parking lot. Of the 660 cars that attended, 213 were specifically from Skokie. All
 total, the event collected over 16 tons of hazardous materials including flammables,
 oil paint, pesticides, and others.

 Next, Commissioners commented on the 2024 Quarter 2 updates of the
 Environmental Sustainability Plan. These are action items that were completed or
 made progress during April – June, 2024. These comments will be used to edit the
 document before publishing on the website.


 III. New Business

 Village Updates:
 SC Sanzenbacher updated the Commission on the status of reducing gas-powered leaf
 blowers in the community. She reminded them that a presentation was made to the
 Board on July 15 that a gas-powered leaf blower ban was not recommended, and
 instead the Village would pursue an educational campaign aimed at both property
 owners and landscapers to be reevaluated in 12 months (June 2025). There are three
 current campaigns to reduce gas-powered leaf blower usage: (i) a letter for
 homeowners to share with their landscape company to use more sustainable
 landscaping techniques, (ii) a $50 rebate to incentivize homeowners to purchase an
 electric leaf blower (as of Aug. 27, all rebates have been claimed), and (iii) a hands-
 on field day event for landscape companies, facility and grounds managers, and

Document Number: 511786 Page 1
489823v4
 public and private schools to learn about using commercial-grade electric landscape
 equipment.

 SC Sanzenbacher alerted the Commission of the upcoming agenda item for the Board
 meeting September 3: The North Shore Electric Aggregation Consortium Contract
 Extension. She commented that current 3-year contract with MC Squared expires
 Sept 30, and that the Village is proposing a 1-year contract extension in order to take
 the time to evaluate options and other electricity suppliers to expand program to
 include renewables. She reminded the Commission that in the one year extension,
 nothing would change for residents, there would still be a continued ComEd Price
 Match, ongoing customer services and a Civic Contribution to be used to help pay for
 the LED street light retrofit project.

 SC Sanzenbacher then reminded the Commission about the upcoming ComEd EV
 Rebate event on September 3. Because Skokie was one of the first municipalities in
 the region to receive a rebate as part of ComEd’s beneficial electrification (BE) plan,
 ComEd CEO, the Mayor of the Village of Skokie and Kevin Burns, Chairman of the
 Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC) Executive Board and Environment & Energy
 Committee, and mayor of Geneva will present the Village of Skokie with a $45,000
 EV rebate at an event held at Village Hall, where Skokie EV municipal vehicles will
 be displayed and charging in the background.

 Economy Sector Update:
 C. Alma Likic and C. Bob Render presented about action items in the Economy
 sector of the Sustainability Plan, mostly focusing on the Skokie Green Business
 Recognition Program. C. Likic discussed what makes a business “green,” what the
 Green Business Program is, and how it aligns with 15 strategies of the Sustainability
 Plan. She reviewed the steps to take that are necessary to get officially recognized, as
 well as what has happened so far in the program. There was a kick-off meeting in
 July and businesses have been busy completing and scheduling waste and energy
 assessments. SC Sanzenbacher talked about how the volunteers are essential to the
 functionality of the program. She thanked C. Lisa Gotkin and C. Andrew DeCanniere
 for their work on this program helping businesses. Finally, SC Sanzenbacher notified
 the Commission of the upcoming 2024 Business of the Year Awards and the deadline
 to submit a nomination is September 30. She suggested that businesses participating
 in the Green Business Program should be nominated for the extra work they are doing
 to help Skokie become more sustainable.

 Land Use & Housing Sector Update:
 C. Charlie Saxe presented on the update of the Comprehensive Plan Housing Chapter.
 C. Saxe said Housing Sub-Committee was appointed in August 2023 and contains
 members from various commissions and quadrants. They were tasked to rewrite the
 Housing Chapter of the comprehensive plan, provide new or updated themes for the
 Housing Chapter, and consider five affordable housing goals which were approved by
 the Village Board in May, 2023. There were monthly meetings between October 2023
 and May 2024 with two public forums. In that time, Village staff drafted several
 iterations based on committee comments, which were reviewed and recommended to
 Plan Commission for adoption, which were recommended to Village Board. The
 Housing Chapter update included a re-write of the existing chapter 6 of the
Document Number: 511786 Page 2
489823v4
 Comprehensive Plan, a Vision Statement, and four themes for housing aspirations for
 the Village: Community Enhancement, Promote Housing Type Flexibility,
 Reasonable Standards, and Reinvest and Retain. C. Saxe mentioned that the Village
 Board adopted the proposed chapter and made the housing sub-committee of the plan
 commission a permanent entity at the August 19th Board meeting.


 IV. Other Business:
 C. Bob Render discussed a film consolidator machine that condenses plastic film into
 blocks. C. Render brought in the block to show the Commission.

 V. Public comment
 Lauren Grodnicki discussed water conservation tips for the Village and how to best
 communicate why the Village’s Lawn Sprinkling Restriction is prohibited between
 the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The Commission felt that information on the
 water utility bills would be the best place.
 A member of Go Green Skokie invited the Commission to their next meeting and to
 see what Morton Grove does during their Sustainability Expo.

 VI. The next meeting is scheduled for September 24th in which topics to be discussed will
 include the Local Food and Agriculture and Health and Safety Sectors of the
 Sustainability Plan.

 VII. Meeting Adjourned at 9:37 p.m. with a motion from C. Okallau and seconded by C.
 Likic.




Document Number: 511786 Page 3
489823v4