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City Of Ann Arbor 2013 Sustainable Ann Arbor Forums: Planning for Change in Our Community

When: January 9, 2013 at the Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

This first in a series of four discussions (held monthly and ending in April) centers on Sustainable Systems, including the impacts of current and predicted weather changes in the community and on the City's constructed and natural infrastructure. Building on the public forums from last year, the 2013 forums will focus on planning for change in the community. A think tank of local stakeholders, including University of Michigan faculty, representatives from community organizations, and city commissioners, join City of Ann Arbor staff and the public to discuss local sustainability concepts and efforts--past, present and future. Tonight's presentations will be given by Matt Naud, Environmental Coordinator, City of Ann Arbor; Dan Brown, Research Associate, UM Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessment; Jen Lawson, Water Quality Manager, City of Ann Arbor; Cresson Slotten, Systems Planning Unit Manager, City of Ann Arbor; Rick Norman, Director of Emergency Management, City of Ann Arbor; and Jason Frenzel, Adopt-A-Stream & Stewardship Coordinator, Huron River Watershed Council. The presentations will discuss conditions that are changing in the community and past and potential actions to adapt to change. Each program will also include tips for individual actions that residents may take. There will be an audience Q&A after the presentations.

Transcript

  • [00:00:05.47] [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • [00:00:29.38] TIM GRIMES: Hi. Good evening, everybody. And welcome to the Ann Arbor District Library. My name is Tim Grimes. I'm the manager of Community Relations and Marketing here at the library. It's a whole new year, 2013. Lots of different events happening at the library. If you check out our website aadl.org, you can find out about all the different events in January and February.
  • [00:00:51.43] But it's also a time when we see some of our favorite events and favorite series' returning. And last year, the City of Ann Arbor did a wonderful series on Sustaining Ann Arbor. There were a series of Sustainable Ann Arbor forums. They're going to repeat it this year. It promises to be even better. And here to tell us about the very first presentation in tonight series is Matt Naud, the Environmental Coordinator for the City of Ann Arbor.
  • [00:01:16.41] [APPLAUSE]
  • [00:01:21.33] MATTHEW NAUD: Thank you so much for coming out tonight. First of all, I'd like to thank the library. They've been an incredible partner with us. We had very successful forums last year. We decided a lot of people came out, we'd do it again. We're glad to have you out, today.
  • [00:01:35.73] So, again, I'm Matt Naud. I'm the Environmental Coordinator for the city and I'm going to be the emcee for tonight. So the folks to thank at the library, Josie Parker, the Director, but Tim Grimes, especially, for coordinating this, helping us set dates, getting the word out. They advertised in the Ann, and I heard Tim on 107.1. It's just a great way to get the word out to the community. So, again, thanks.
  • [00:02:01.77] I'd like to thank specifically Jamie Kidwell, our sustainability associate, for all her work on the sustainability framework and the forums. And Wendy Rampson, our Head Planning Manager for her work helping out. Also the U of M faculty, city and county staff, local businesses, and nonprofits that we've reached out to, and you're going to hear from, in this and the next three sessions.
  • [00:02:24.76] I'd like to remind you, we do have to be out at 9:00. The library closes. So we're going to try and wrap up talks by 8:30, and have questions till just before 9:00. So tonight, you're going to get a taste of sustainability in Ann Arbor. We can't tell you the whole story in one night, but we are going to give you several 10 minute snippets into some key areas and stories that we think you'll appreciate. Challenges the city's going to face, some of the good things we're doing, some of the projects we're working on to figure out what to do in the future.
  • [00:02:59.59] So first, we now have a sustainability framework. This was Jamie Kidwell's project. We went through the city's 30 active plans, found 225 goals. Worked with city staff, city commissions, council, and these 16 sustainability goals are now formal elements in the city's Master Plan. So it's a kind of core framework that's going to help guide what we do in the future.
  • [00:03:28.62] Tonight, we're going to hear about one of those goals, sustainable systems. The goal is to plan for and manage our constructed and natural infrastructure systems to meet the current and future needs of our community. I didn't know much about infrastructure when I came to the city 11 years ago.
  • [00:03:47.08] It's incredible, the lines of businesses we're in, and the various systems that we manage, and the ways we need to integrate it. And we do a better and better job. It's not always perfect, but how to take an integrated and a systems approach to manage what we do. And I think that really is the core of sustainability.
  • [00:04:07.85] So these are the asset areas that we think about. The kind of hard core assets. We have a capital improvements plan. It's up on the web. It's our six-year planning document for large capital improvement projects. And I welcome you to take a look at it. It now has a mapping feature associated with it, so you can see where these projects are in your community.
  • [00:04:32.20] For example, in our capital improvements project, the way we integrate things, we'll be talking about what are the street construction projects for the next year. But in that same room and participating in the discussion are the folks from the water system, because there's pipes in the road, waste water system, storm water system, the street trees associated with those streets. How are those going to be affected in any kind of reconstruction project? And also, bike lanes, where are the opportunities to put in non-motorized facilities as we go into the future?
  • [00:05:05.19] So this is going to slowly cycle through a bunch of the things we do. We make water, distribute drinking water, collect waste water, treat waste water, build new streets, repave streets, bridges, we have to inspect our bridges. And there's also, we collect your trash, we own and operate the transfer facility, collector recycling, own and manage the material recovery facility. I think we also take every sixth grader through there.
  • [00:05:35.51] Compost, old landfill contamination, all our park systems, storm water, conveyance system, two recreation, two hydro-dams, two canoe liveries, and I think it is the largest canoe livery in the state. So these are just a few of the systems that we manage. So one of the challenges is, how do we do that sustainably?
  • [00:05:58.32] So tonight you're going to hear a little bit about what's changing. I stole this from the Union of Concerned Scientists. This is the graphic they put up. So in winter, by 2095, they predict we're going to be a lot more like Cincinnati. And our summers, by 2095, are going to be a lot more like Arkansas.
  • [00:06:17.82] So these are the kind of information we're trying to collect, integrate, figure out the best available science. And you're going to hear from Dan Brown from the University of Michigan, the GLISA project, on some of the weather changes we're seeing so far, and some of the weather changes we are likely to see in the future.
  • [00:06:37.83] What kind of effects can we expect? The pictures on the left and the far right are Ann Arbor in 1968. We had a storm that took out Geddes dam. My understanding, and I haven't seen the picture, but when you leave town on Huron, you go under a railroad bridge, it says 14 feet eight inches. Anecdotally, I hear you could not get a canoe under that bridge during this storm. So these are real events that happen in Ann Arbor.
  • [00:07:09.63] We're going to talk a little bit about what you can do. Buy local. We have a lovely farmer's market with solar on the roof. Rain gardens, solar thermal, photovoltaics, how can we use more renewable energy in the way we provide services to the city? And how can we provide you with opportunities through our EV charging in places to park. So FYI, we have 18 charging stations in the city now. And the usage has doubled from last quarter to this quarter. So we're actually seeing quite a bit of use in those parking garages.
  • [00:07:45.64] We're going to touch on climate. You're going to hear some of that tonight. But we have a climate plan that was just approved by city council, so I want to note that. a2energy.org is our, kind of, energy efficiency portal for the city. And if you go to a2engergy.org/climate you'll find a copy of the climate plan.
  • [00:08:06.09] So I like this graphic. The big square is our total greenhouse gas emissions for the whole community. The orange, up in the upper left corner, is the city's greenhouse gas emissions. And ours has actually dropped from 2000 to 2010. The big block M, you can guess, is the University of Michigan. And all the rest of us live and do business. And that's the gray area. And that's the part we have to figure out-- that's the challenge-- how do we go after the greenhouse gas emissions in that gray area?
  • [00:08:39.07] So I'm going to touch on a few places you can go for more information. We hope your curiosity is peaked tonight. a2energy.org website, if you go to the city's website, a2gov.org/a2h20 will come to our tap water program. At our parks area on the website, there's all our volunteer opportunities. And if you go to a2gov.org/soe for State of Our Environment report, you'll see 10 environmental goals and 60 indicators. And our view on how we're doing.
  • [00:09:13.70] You could also go to a2gov.org/storm to find out about storm water or slash recycle to find out recycling. There's a bunch more of those, but I just wanted to kind of remind everyone those are available. So after tonight, we've got three more forums. February 13 is all about economic vitality. We have these speakers confirmed so far, Mary Jo Callan from the county, Dan Gilmartin from the Michigan Municipal League, Paul Krutko, head of SPARK, which is our regional economic development group, Ingrid Ault from Think Local First, and Paul Saginaw, a founding partner at Zingerman's. I think folks know who Paul is. And also on the National Board of Directors of [? Bally. ?] Again, a local business organization.
  • [00:10:01.08] March will be diverse housing. April will be transportation options. We have an updated non-motorized plan that's coming out. And you'll be able to hear more about that at that session. So I will stop there and introduce tonight's speakers. We're going to have Dan Brown from the University of Michigan, the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessment Project.
  • [00:10:22.44] It's a group we speak with on a monthly basis to kind of-- they sit in that space between the wicked, smarty-pants, climate scientists at Michigan and Michigan State, and those of us practitioners that have to install storm water pipes and plant trees that need information based on these large scale climate models.
  • [00:10:43.17] Rick Norman, our Director of Emergency Management, will talk a little bit about how to plan for emergencies. Jen Lawson will be giving a presentation and talking about her storm water systems. How it operates, and how we're thinking about planning for the future.
  • [00:10:59.11] Cresson Slotten, the Systems Planning Manager is here, as part of the panel. And finally, Jason Frenzel from the Huron River Watershed Council talking about volunteering, and that system that helps support our community. So with, that, again, I'd like to thank you for being here. And I'll introduce Dan Brown, who is our next slide.
  • [00:11:24.01] DAN BROWN: All right. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Jamie for getting us all organized. Thank you to the Ann Arbor Library. I'd like to extend a personal thank you to the Ann Arbor District Library. My wife can read incredibly fast. And I think over time we've lived here, the Ann Arbor Library has saved us thousands of dollars. So needless to say, I'm a fan.
  • [00:11:50.62] But tonight, I just want to talk about climate change and how it pertains to Ann Arbor and Southeastern Michigan, and thinking about our region, specifically. But first let me just briefly introduce what GLISA is.
  • [00:12:09.96] So we're one of 11 NOAA-funded, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration funded research centers. We're sort of the only one in the Great Lakes Midwest, or Great Plains region. And as Matt touched on, we try to be a network of environmental social climate scientists that connect practitioners with scientists to help solve these real-world problems.
  • [00:12:47.14] So maybe the first point to mention, that often gets lost in this discussion, is you hear about global warming, global climate change a lot, in the media. And at a global scale, the results are quite certain. When you look at the warming trend, globally, it's a very certain result.
  • [00:13:06.28] When we look regionally, locally, things get much more chaotic. It's a much noisier signal and there is less certainty. But there are still things that we can say very confidently. At the regional scale, natural variability plays a much larger role. And changes in land use, thinking about where parks are put in, where dams are placed, these can have great affect on how impacts of climate change are altered. And they have very great impact on a very small local scale.
  • [00:13:47.92] So I want to jump right into this. So this is the observed Ann Arbor temperature, annual average, going back to 1900. These are the actual averages of actual observations. The stations right up on North Campus, there. And the hash line, across the center there, is the 1951 to 1980 average.
  • [00:14:17.29] So we're seeing something that is consistent with the global and contiguous US trend, where we have more hot years later in the 20th century, early 21st century, and early in the last century it was significantly cooler. So we are seeing something that's consistent with the global trend.
  • [00:14:46.70] Maybe the most striking thing about the Ann Arbor climate record is how precipitation is change, particularly over just this last 40, 50 years. So we actually saw a slight decrease in precipitation, compared to the 1951, 1980 average, up until the '60s. And then we've seen, since then, a dramatic increase in, this is total annual precipitation.
  • [00:15:15.15] So it isn't your imagination. We are getting a lot more rain annually on average. Ann Arbor has a particularly dramatic signal here. So this is about 25% increase since that '51, '80 average. The surrounding area has seen, also, a significant increase, but not quite as significant. Southeast Michigan has seen about on 11% increase. So why is Ann Arbor so much higher than that? It's hard to say. But we are seeing this trend certainly in our local region and throughout the greater region, as well.
  • [00:15:53.26] With this increase in total precipitation, we're also seeing an increase in the number of intense storms, intense storm events. So looking at three-day very intense precipitation events, we've seen, really, in the Midwest, even compare to the United States, a very dramatic increase in the frequency over the last century of these strongest storms.
  • [00:16:26.33] Something that's a little counter-intuitive that follows this is that while we're seeing more storms and stronger storms, we're also seeing the risk of drought increase, just like this year. So droughts that are there like this year, or perhaps a less severe than this year, could be more probable.
  • [00:16:50.78] The reason is that we're seeing, in effect, an intensification of the weather. So as more of our precipitation is coming to us in these stronger storms, most of that's happening during the wet months of the year, so fall, winter, and spring. But we're seeing a greater risk of drought in those summer months. So we're seeing more storms, more intense storms throughout parts of the year, but we're also seeing an increased probability for dry spells, as well.
  • [00:17:27.93] Not surprisingly, as temperatures warm up, we start to lose our winter season. So this is looking at the frost period. And this compression of these top two graphs-- so this is the date of first frost in autumn, date of last frost in spring-- so this compression that you're seeing in these two graphs is effectively the shortening of winter.
  • [00:17:53.08] Starting at this gray band, that's when we're looking at projections to the next century. So, so far, throughout the region, we've seen, depending on where you look, anywhere from just a few days loss of winter up to about two weeks, typically. Looking forward 2100, we think we may see anywhere from one to two months of a longer growing season. So essentially, one to two months shorter winters, if you can imagine that. So again, a very dramatic possibility for our region.
  • [00:18:28.90] And, of course, as the winters shorten and the seasons change, we also see our snowfall and our precipitation forms change, as well. So we're seeing more precipitation falling as rain instead of snow. We're seeing reduced overall snowfall for the region. We're seeing reduced snow accumulations, so less snow on the ground with warmer surface air temperatures.
  • [00:18:55.81] Something less important for this region specifically, is that we are seeing throughout the larger region more lake effect precipitation events, simply because there's more energy in the Great Lakes, more evaporation, more moisture in the air to really fuel those lake effect precipitation.
  • [00:19:18.11] So just to quickly summarize the things we've talked about here, so these are the physical changes in the environment that are most significant for Ann Arbor and southeast Michigan, specifically. And I've ranked these qualitatively, just on my impression, from most confident down to lease confident.
  • [00:19:39.83] So we're seeing warmer average temperatures, we have a high confidence in that. More specifically, we're seeing warmer low and overnight temperatures. We're seeing shorter winters, more total precipitation, with more of that precipitation coming to us in the form these intense storms. And we have the risk for more extreme heat and drought, particularly in the southern parts of Michigan and the upper Midwest.
  • [00:20:13.38] Now how does this translate to real-world impacts? How are you actually going to see this? How is this going to affect you life? Li Well, climate change does not tend to introduce new problems, but it amplifies existing problems. So where we see existing vulnerabilities, there's a good chance that we'll have an amplification of that problem as climate change continues.
  • [00:20:43.32] So the problems we have with infrastructure, flooding, extreme severe storms, damage to infrastructure just from severe weather, those problems with more severe storms could increase. Cutting across different sectors, like public health and economic impacts, we have greater risk of extreme heat as temperatures rise. So that's a public health issue there.
  • [00:21:13.08] Flooding and water contamination with more storms, and as flooding and water contamination increases, we have more extreme heat events. That makes it harder, potentially, for emergency management to respond. Economic impacts, it really cuts across everything. The seasonality of what we do, when we do it, what we like to do.
  • [00:21:37.69] You know, should we go to the beach? Should we get out a snowmobile? Should we walk to the deli? Should we drive? All these types of things are affected over the long-term by climate change. And with that, I just want to make one closing statement.
  • [00:21:55.83] So GLISA works with a lot of cities throughout Michigan, throughout the Great Lakes region. And you can, sort of, take comfort with all these challenges ahead, that Ann Arbor is, sort of, the flagship for this region, along with Grand Rapids, in dealing with a lot of these challenges. So the speakers, as you're going to hear from tonight, will give you a very good picture of what are some really good practices and projects to help deal with these challenges. So with that I'll hand it back to Matt.
  • [00:22:31.77] MATTHEW NAUD: Thank you, Dan.
  • [00:22:33.58] [APPLAUSE]
  • [00:22:38.52] MATTHEW NAUD: So next, I would like to introduce Rick Norman from the City of Ann Arbor, who is our new-- been at the city about a year-- Emergency Management Director. And a couple of tidbits. So just a reminder, we had our first tornado ever in March, ever! That's when we had the huge rain storm here in town.
  • [00:23:01.86] And also, a year where we lost our cherry crop, and the better part of or apple crop. So these are some of the things we're trying to figure out. How do we change the way we think, or do we change the way we think about how we manage our systems, based on some of these changes we're seeing? So with that, I'd like to introduce you to Rick, and Emergency Management.
  • [00:23:25.16] RICK NORMAN: Thank you, Matt. Thanks, very much. It's great being here. I've been with the city less than a year. On the Office of Emergency Management we plan for larger scale emergencies and disasters. I like to say we also plan for things that we hope never happen. And that's basically what we do.
  • [00:23:46.86] I'm located in the Safety Services area in the city, specifically within the Police Department. In my world, these federal agencies are concerned about climate change relative to disasters and emergency preparedness. You can see FEMA, NOAA, specifically, the National Climate Data Center, the Department of Homeland Security, and also Michigan State Police.
  • [00:24:11.75] The Emergency Management Homeland Security Division has just released their draft copy of the Threat And Risk Assessment for the state. And within that document you will find several references to climate change relative to threats and risk within the State of Michigan.
  • [00:24:30.20] One of my major projects that I completed first, when I started working for the city, was completion of the first standalone Hazard Mitigation Plan for the City of Ann Arbor. And within that plan, we define our population, our geography. We look at our uniqueness. We look at our infrastructure.
  • [00:24:47.71] We also look at the hazards that we are subject to. And we rank those hazards according to impact that they would have on the population. And then when we determine that, we start applying different mitigation strategies to those hazards as a planning tool to see, what can we do? What can we accomplish to lessen the impact of these hazards on the city?
  • [00:25:10.46] And by the way, mitigation means the things you can do to lessen the impact of a given hazard on a population and on property. So that plan has been completed. It's available online. And there'll be a hand out tonight that has a link to that. But you can go and look at that document that's online now.
  • [00:25:28.97] Basically, in the emergency management business, we go through certain phases, prevention, mitigation, preparedness and planning, response and recovery. And then that cycle will return. So that's a real general overview of what we work on.
  • [00:25:45.71] Why are we concerned about climate change? And some of this has been mentioned already. The impact of disasters on life, safety, and property, the cost of disasters, and the limited resources that we have. Interesting thing I heard this morning was that 2012 was the warmest year in recorded history, average temperature.
  • [00:26:09.55] The other interesting thing about 2012 was, it is a year 11 $1 billion disasters, or over $1 billion. The total disaster impact cost for 2012 in this country was $140 billion. The two largest disasters that comprised that number are the hurricane Sandy, the second one is a national draught.
  • [00:26:36.61] So we've got the warmest year on history, and a drought that was considered a major disaster, in terms of financial impact. In terms of the Department of Homeland Security, which was on the other slide, Homeland Security is concerned about general areas that I can talk about. And that is population, population density, and critical infrastructure.
  • [00:26:58.13] Those are the areas to which Homeland Security is being funneled towards. So in terms of population, where are the people? In terms of density, how tightly packed are they? And then critical infrastructure defines the things that we need to maintain our life as it is, and also to maintain the response systems that we have.
  • [00:27:15.95] Interestingly enough, on the presentation that Matt gave, there was a slide on systems. And within those systems that he noted, I'd roughly see at least half of those that are considered critical infrastructure to the Department of Homeland Security.
  • [00:27:31.42] So we're talking transportation systems, information systems, waterways, dams, bridges, that kind of thing. And that's what we're concerned about in terms of climate change. And what is the effect on our infrastructure? The already crumbling roads, how much is it going to be accelerated by climate change?
  • [00:27:48.92] Health and disease patterns was also mentioned. Diseases will change. I want to back up just one second. In terms of population with DHS, one thing they're concerned about is migration of people to other areas within the country, based on the temperatures in the country.
  • [00:28:06.88] So they're protecting people in this area. If people are migrating to a cooler climate, maybe, because it's too warm, then that's where the money has to be refocused, on that population. Health and disease pattern changes, are we causing things to-- remember the pandemic a few years ago? Are climate change causing temperature changes that are going to change those disease patterns? And do we have to start worrying about that kind of stuff on a public health basis?
  • [00:28:33.64] So for sustainability, I think, what can you do? And what can we do? You can become informed and prepared. You can become disaster resilient. And I would like to also mention, we can try to help each other and help our neighbors, and people that need assistance. In terms of the sustainability framework for the city, we're sort of addressing an engaged community, and a safe community.
  • [00:28:56.94] So sustainability-wise, and as far as information goes, we have several systems in the city that we're using. And all these systems are places where you can go and get your disaster information. The Code Red System, which we have, is a very robust system that will phone call. We have a 1,500 call a minute rate. And it will inform you by analog phone, and your cell phone, what the disaster information is.
  • [00:29:24.79] It also does email and text. It has a robust mapping system. It can pull a small area on a map, and uniform just that area. We also use Code Red internally to call out or special teams, such as crisis negotiation and our SWAT team. We use it for that kind of stuff.
  • [00:29:38.90] I would encourage you to go online and sign up for Code Red. And get your information in there. And when you do that, create your own account, so that you can manage your own phone numbers, and your phone number changes. I get calls, occasionally, I don't know if I, don't remember if I signed up for Code Red or not, can you check for me? And I don't have access to that. I have to call the company and then we have to find out.
  • [00:30:00.73] So if you create your own account, then you can manage that yourself. If you have to put yourself in there twice, it's not a problem. Because it will not call the same phone number twice. So that can work.
  • [00:30:11.39] NOAA weather radio. I would encourage you to get a NOAA weather radio with a capability called SAME, which is same, Specific Area Messages Encoding. You get a NOAA weather radio, you put it the Washtenaw County code, if that's where you live, in there, and any alert that comes to the county will set off the alarm on your NOAA weather radio.
  • [00:30:30.24] We have a very robust siren system in Ann Arbor. We have 22 sirens within the city. But you need to remember that sirens are, really, and outdoor warning system. So there are occasions when you're in your home, and you won't be able to hear them. What I like to say about sirens is, when you hear them go off, go in, and tune in, and find out what's going on.
  • [00:30:55.65] You can sign up for our gov delivery, and you have a menu of choices that you can make within the city, about information that you want to receive. Social media, there's a Twitter and Facebook account with the city. And then we have our community television network, and of course broadcast radio and television.
  • [00:31:09.67] We use all these sources for information. The trend in public warning systems like this is to integrate all these things together. And I will just say that you'll be hearing more about Code Red in the future. The other thing that, in public warning that's a trend, is the use of text. And, of course, using smartphone devices and other devices that you have.
  • [00:31:35.01] Text is a data burst that can get through, even when the cell phone system may not be working. That was evident in the nuclear accident in Japan. And most recently, as was mentioned, the Dexter tornado. Cellphones we're not working for a while, but text was working. So that's a good technique to use for public warning. And that needs to be integrated in this whole system.
  • [00:31:57.96] As far as preparedness, you've got ready.gov and the Red Cross website. Go on there and understand what you're disaster supply kit should look like. And how it should sustain you without infrastructure, or off the grid. Your communication plan, if your family gets separated in a disaster, there's a way to communicate with each other by maybe having an outside contact in another state.
  • [00:32:22.28] Be sure we have smoke alarms in your home that are working. You have an escape plan, two ways out of each room. And that you practice and drill that. And I would encourage everybody to take training in first aid CPR, and AED, with the Red Cross.
  • [00:32:38.74] We also have community Emergency Response Team training. There will be a contact for that, where you will be able to learn a higher level of disaster preparedness. We have some members now that are part of the city team, that are assisting with our disaster response. They work football games, art fair, and that kind of stuff.
  • [00:32:57.27] So that makes you more resilient disaster wise. If you own a business, I would encourage you greatly to look at continuity of operations planning for your business. FEMA has those resources. And help your neighbors. Do you have elderly, or functional needs down your street that you can assist during a disaster?
  • [00:33:15.85] City-wise, we draw, all the time, and exercise. We collaborate among all the emergency management programs within the county. We also collaborate regionally as our source for Homeland Security Funding, grants and training. UASI stands for Urban Area Security Initiative. That's our Homeland Security Funding source. And that's it. I appreciate it.
  • [00:33:38.47] MATTHEW NAUD: Thank you, so much. Great.
  • [00:33:39.93] [APPLAUSE]
  • [00:33:44.33] MATTHEW NAUD: And I am going to put in a pitch to grab one of these handouts. So Code Red, the links to our number of the things that Rick talked about, and our other speakers-- we don't print as much stuff these day, but this will get to do all the right places. So thanks, again, Rick.
  • [00:34:00.34] Our next speaker is Jen Lawson, who is our Water Quality Manager for the city. Jenn's in our Systems Planning Group. For those of you that don't know, Systems Planning is a redesigned part. As the city reorganizes, it tries to bring some of the core infrastructure expertise all together in one place.
  • [00:34:19.43] So water, waste water, GIS, infrastructure modeling, energy, environment, capital improvement, and I've missed composting, recycling, a bunch of others. But with that, I'll introduce Jen, and she'll talk to you about storm water. Thank you.
  • [00:34:39.86] JEN LAWSON: Thank you, Matt. I'd also like to make another introduction. Here for moral support, but also our Unit Director from Systems Planning is Cresson Slotten. He'll be joining us on the panel, as well.
  • [00:34:53.56] JEN LAWSON: Well, we just heard from Rick. Let me make sure I have these correct. OK. We just heard from Rick about the city's responses to emergency management. And I'd like to delve in a little bit deeper and really talk about some of that infrastructure that the city owns, operates, and maintains at the benefit to the community. Most specifically, storm water.
  • [00:35:16.00] So to familiarize yourself, this is a map of the city. North is up. The red lines are the freeways, the green lines are our major corridors in the city. But this is how I look at it. All of those green lines are the storm water main network. The blue lines are open water. Keep in mind, those are only the city owned pipes, not privately owned, no private development, not university owned, not county owned, not open water State of Michigan. That's a lot of pipes. In fact, it's 231 miles of pipes.
  • [00:36:01.40] One of the things we deal with, though, when we start thinking of how to manage these pipes, or how are these pipes sized, installed? And what's the best technology for some of this management techniques? What were they put in? Almost 20% of our pipes were installed before D-Day. Think about that for a minute. How many of you were even a gleam in someone's eye at that point?
  • [00:36:30.47] 75% of those pipes were put in over 30 years ago. Some of you, again, were still not a gleam in anyone's eye at that point. Then we do have another 25% of our storm pipe that's much more recently installed. We have a small amount, you'll notice about just less than 5% that we have as unknown. And that's because we don't have as-builts, or we really don't know when it was installed.
  • [00:36:59.90] Now keep in mind, those only the city owned pipes. We can almost double that. We have 541 miles of storm water conveyance in this city that is publicly owned. And by publicly owned I mean university, State of Michigan, county, or the city. And that's open water, also. So ditches and river channels, as well. But that's 541 miles of pipe.
  • [00:37:25.90] So for reference, 231 miles of just the city-owned pipe, that'll get us almost to Chicago. 541 miles of pipe gets us to Saint Louis. That's a lot of pipe to manage, inspect, and make sure it's functioning properly. One of the questions I always get is, god, those pipes are kind of old, aren't they? Why were they put where they were?
  • [00:37:52.72] And one of the familiar terms and for some of you in the room, maybe Allen Creek. This is a map of the city that was before 1920. I don't have an exact date, but I do know is before 1920, because those blue lines are actually where Allen Creek used to be. And you can see that there are several fingers going right through downtown.
  • [00:38:17.15] For reference, I have Main Street, Miller, and Huron. Many of you may walk along these streets and notice, oh, there's a dip in the road. Probably because that's where the creek used to be. Any time you look at a storm drain anywhere downtown, it's going into what used to be Allen Creek. And we, typical of any sort of developing urban community, we put the creek in a pipe.
  • [00:38:44.71] Now keep in mind that creek still functions like a creek, even though it's in a pipe. When it rains too much, creeks overflow. What do you think happens to the pipe? When it rains too much, the pipe can't hold all of that rain water, and so it does tend to overflow just like any natural creek would.
  • [00:39:07.18] So this is one of my favorite photos. This is what Allen Creek used to look like. This is looking north at Washington Street. Those two houses on either side are still there. So the gentlemen are standing on Washington Street. Now when we put Allen Creek in a pipe, we didn't make a really big pipe at that point in time.
  • [00:39:31.85] We looked to see what fit. We literally went out and there are some of these timbers still in existence, what pipe fits underneath that already existing bridge in 1920? And lets fit the two ends together. And that is a lot of the system that we still are dealing with today. It's pre-1920s hydraulic design.
  • [00:39:59.04] Taking a step outside of the pipe, one of the things that we also have to kind of think about managing, or think about what some of those impacts are to how the water gets into the pipe, is impervious areas, impervious issues. Impervious, I have a nice Merriam Webster definition up here, not allowing something to go through.
  • [00:40:20.34] So when it rains, if the ground surface is impervious it runs off. It goes into the street. It goes into the catch basin. It goes into the river. It doesn't soak back into the ground like it did before this area was developed and settled. If you think about Allen Creek-- and I'm going to refer to Allen Creek a few times, just because it's really that downtown area that everyone's familiar with-- Allen Creek is 50% percent impervious.
  • [00:40:49.81] So for every two raindrops that fall on that land area in Allen Creek, whether it falls out at Pioneer High, at the stadium, by downtown Home and Garden, or over by Argo Dam, for every two raindrops that fall, one of them goes right into our storm drain pipe. That's a lot of water for those storm drain pipes to handle.
  • [00:41:18.61] Another issue that we deal with, with storm water management, is flooding. Everyone's heard of the 100-year flood, right? It only happens once every 100 years. Not true. Science has indicated to us, as well as our own experience, that a 100-year flood really isn't the best terminology. It's not the best nomenclature for us to use.
  • [00:41:43.84] And so NOAA, and FEMA, as well, have agreed on what they're calling a new term, or a better term to use. And it's not the 100-year flood, it's the 1% chance storm. So in any given year, it has about a 1% chance of occurring. That doesn't mean that it won't occur every year.
  • [00:42:05.89] In fact, it's occurred at least once to my knowledge, in this area. But taking that same science, a 10-year storm, which is what our pipes are designed for, a 10-year storm has a 10% chance of happening in any given year. And I'll talk about that a little bit, because those are some of the numbers and the hydrology behind how do we design storm pipes. How big are they? What size are they? Where should we put them to manage what's coming in off of those impervious areas that we're developing?
  • [00:42:40.70] So a little bit of history about the city's Stormwater Management System from a sizing perspective. Storm drains are not designed to pass every single storm that happens. It's impossible. We cannot build a system that's large enough to handle that.
  • [00:42:57.74] In fact, prior to 1980, the storm size varied. Not because what pipes were available, but it's different technologies, new technologies. Every year there was a better and more accurate design. So since 1980 until now, we designed for the 10% annual chance storm. Which, again, in the old terminology, is a 10-year event.
  • [00:43:25.71] One of the questions we get often is, why can't you just build a bigger pipe? I don't understand. Just build a bigger pipe. Just do that. In 1998, the city you worked with an engineering consultant to evaluate just Allen Creek-- again, in that downtown area all the way up to Pioneer High area-- just to build bigger pipes to handle the city's current design standards, which at that time was, again, the 10-year event.
  • [00:43:51.77] That's not to prevent flooding. That's not for water quality. That's just that 10% chance storm. And in 1998, it was $41 million and it would have torn up pretty much all of downtown. In 2012 dollars, that's $61 million just in a small area of the city.
  • [00:44:12.85] So when storms do occur, they do surcharge into low lying areas. The streets, in fact, are part of the conveyance system to handle storm water. Our storm water inlets, so the grates that you see in the street, they actually are only designed to handle a 2 cubic feet per second capacity. And that's assuming that there aren't leaves blocking, there aren't solo cups blocking them, and every cigarette butt, and all of the debris that's there.
  • [00:44:47.88] For reference, this is a pipe it was installed last summer on Stadium Bridges Project. And this was designed for that 10% annual chance storm, as well as what we were refer to as the Bank Full Rain Event. And so if this were still a creek, the water would rise to the top of the banks.
  • [00:45:09.17] And you see the gentleman down there in the yellow shirt jacket? He's standing in a culvert that is five feet tall by nine feet wide. And the access hole on the top is nine feet wide, so we can get a vactor truck down in the pipe to vactor out any debris that ends up down in there.
  • [00:45:31.68] So I've talked a little bit about quantity. There are also regulations the city has to follow for quality. And really briefly, we had no federal regulation prior to 1970. The Clean Water Act happened in 1970. In 1990, the Clean Water Act was reauthorized, taking it from point source to non-point source discharge.
  • [00:45:58.25] Currently we encourage low-impact development, which takes the water more at the source. And so how do we keep the water where it falls, rather than pushing it to someone else and making it someone else's problem?
  • [00:46:15.53] In line with those stormwater regulations we have to deal with from the federal level, we also have state, local, and even county multiple varying regulations that we have to address. It gets a little bit messy sometimes, guys. So what happens when we get these extreme weather events?
  • [00:46:36.19] This was March 15. This was the Dexter tornado, looking at Depot Street. Taken about 6:00 PM. So just after the tornado, hit it Dexter. And you can see the streets are flooded. There absolutely flooded. The stormwater surcharged out of Allen Creek and entered into our streets.
  • [00:46:57.07] So what's the city doing? What can we do about this? I've kind of told you the story of what are the pipes that we have. There are limitations to the system. And we know those limitations from a physical standpoint. The city is currently calibrating our stormwater model for a more exact understanding of how the system functions in these varying rain events, including that March 15 event. How should our system function? And where will the water surcharge out?
  • [00:47:24.54] We also, again, as I mentioned, work with low-impact development. We try to deal with stormwater at the source. Not only with developers, but also using as a resource to the public, and we'll hear about that from Jason Frenzel in a moment. but really looking to our homeowners, and our property owners. There's also some sort of responsibility and understanding of how stormwater does function.
  • [00:47:50.36] And I want to close with one question by show of hands. You guys have all seen storm drains in the road? How many of you guys know where they drain to? How many of you think you know where that pipe leads to? How many of you would believe me if I said every single storm drain in the entire city of Ann Arbor goes to the Huron River?
  • [00:48:15.02] That's a true statement. We do not treat anything, stormwater-wise. Every cup of coffee you dump out goes to the Huron River. Every cigarette butt that you flick out, goes to the Huron River. So there is certainly a connection that I think every single one of us walking on the way here, even from the parking lot, probably saw that connection. And with that, thank you.
  • [00:48:37.88] [APPLAUSE]
  • [00:48:38.88] MATTHEW NAUD: Thank you, Jen Good job. Thank you, Jennifer. And now I'm going to introduce Jason Frenzel. But I'm also going to take a moment and introduce a couple of folks in the audience, just you know they're there. Council Person Sabra Briere is here. Sandy Smith, who just left council, but I believe is still serving on the DDA.
  • [00:49:01.52] Wayne Appleyard, the chair of our Energy Commission. And Bonnie Bona from our Planning Commission. If there's any other commissioners that I missed, raise your hands. But I just wanted to make sure you know that these are some of the folks that serve on the various boards and commissions that help make recommendations to council, or act as council and help make those decisions the guide how we build and change this infrastructure.
  • [00:49:26.56] So with that, Jason Frenzel from the Huron River Watershed Council. He used to work for us, and he was stolen, but we're not bitter. So Jason.
  • [00:49:36.68] JASON FRENZEL: How many of you grew up crawling through some of those pipes, as I did? Literally, over by Arborland.
  • [00:49:43.40] [INAUDIBLE] you brought in.
  • [00:49:45.77] JASON FRENZEL: I should have hired Lawson to do PR for us, I think, she was talking about the Watershed Council stuff really well. So I'm a Professional Volunteer Manager. I work for 10 years for the City of Ann Arbor and their Natural Areas Program, and I work for the Watershed Council. So my background is really strongly in volunteerism and that side of sustainability, because us, as humans, obviously, have the ability to sustain our demographics if not grow them.
  • [00:50:12.05] So we're continually part of the process, if not part of the problem. So I'm going to highlight a few things we can do to be part of the solution, to this afternoon. And here's where I tell you what I'm going to talk about. I'm going talk about a few trends in volunteerism, just to give us the context of what's changing nationally. And then translate that a little bit locally. And then just give you a few more opportunities to get involved locally.
  • [00:50:39.96] A lot of the stuff that was described by Rick and Jen, they're big things, they're really important things. But being able to do something at home is really important also. And, again, as has been said, a lot of those opportunities are listed on a handout that is on the way in. So feel free to grab one of those.
  • [00:50:59.71] Trends is volunteerism, episodic volunteerism, the one-time volunteering, or short-term volunteering that are being engaged is drastically becoming the norm. The time of our parents and grandparents in this room, of people being involved at the church for their whole life, for 20, or 30, or 40 years, those days are over. There are still some people. But the drastic, drastic amount of people are not involving themselves in the community in that way, any longer.
  • [00:51:29.84] We are volunteering because something seems cool. Because I have free time on Saturday. Because the kids aren't at soccer practice this evening, I have some time to do something. So we're moving more and more in that direction. A couple things to consider are the different generations that are upcoming, and when they're going to have time to work in the community, and work for us.
  • [00:51:51.81] The Baby Boomers are going to be an enormous amount of time invested in our communities, as they are retiring now. So for the next 20 to hopefully 40 years, my mom is a Baby Boomer and she's in the audience, so hopefully it will be at least 40 years, they will want to spend-- studies have shown-- they're going to want to spend, by and large, their time using their own expressed interest in previously existing expertise in the community in a way that shows that they've accomplished something with their life, and continue that in an encore career, they're calling it.
  • [00:52:26.04] So how do we translate our work and our time in these issues have been brought up? Maybe they can go into bigger holes for Jen, but I don't think that's what we're going to get out them. Gen X, Gen Y, and the Millennials are a really interesting group. They all have really drastically different psyches, as we've heard about on the news.
  • [00:52:46.04] Gen X is occasionally called the "me generation," so we're going to have to prod them a little bit. But as they get older and move out of their 20's and 30's, at this point, we're going to see really interesting things from them. The Y's and Millennials are very invested in their communities and the good of the universe for different reasons. They're really active. They hear a lot through social media. And they understand what's going on.
  • [00:53:08.18] So capitalizing on those strengths, and the fact that they're all going to want to be treated as individuals, and not another person in the basement working at the potluck. Again, corporations are changing the way that they're investing in our society. They have, historically, some corporations have historically given a lot of money. And more and more corporations are tying they're funding to their staffs volunteerism directly. And so paying attention to that. And there are a number of corporations in town, both national and local, that are doing this actively.
  • [00:53:45.74] Other impactful trends to pay attention to, that I think a little bit less about volunteering, but more about cultural norms, that I think we should pay attention to, one is unemployment. We've had a huge amount of unemployment in the last few years. And that's reducing, thank you. That will be really nice as that goes down a little bit more.
  • [00:54:03.73] But we've had just an enormous amount of influx of really strong, able-bodied, interested people volunteering to do things that they're really actively interested in. Either to continue their career, as they don't have a job, or to shift their career because they need to go through a transition. And we're going to go through a transition again in the next 5 to 10 years, where that shifts again, as people pick up work and Michigan's economy starts getting going.
  • [00:54:30.78] Another interesting thing that I think that Rick brought up, that I think is really important, is neighborliness and neighborhood cohesion. I heard a really interesting article that was spot on for me by Eric-- I'm really bad with names-- Eric Klinenberg. The title of a book that he wrote was called Heat Wave.
  • [00:54:52.29] It took two basically ideal neighborhoods in Chicago, socio-economically really similar, during a really, really drastic draught. And one, where this sort of shift in our culture into individualism was really, really present. And everyone was sort of disjunct. And they have one of-- and it was also, both neighborhoods were disadvantage in a series of ways-- so this neighborhood, which was sort of disjunct, had the highest, or one of the highest, levels of mortality due to this draught.
  • [00:55:30.27] People don't have air conditioning, and don't have proper access to water, and people die in draughts. There was a really similar neighborhood that had high levels of neighborhood cohesion. And they had the lowest level of mortality in their neighborhood, even though they, socio-economically, we're very similar. So social cohesion is also really important thing for us to consider in responding to disasters, drastic climate change, and the like.
  • [00:56:01.52] So here, locally, we have a lot of strengths to build off of, considerations to think about, translations of some of those national trends. My own background is, and our culture here in Washtenaw County, has really, really strong volunteerism, and engagement in parks and nature, and rain gardens, the city's programs, the county, U of M, a bunch of land conservancies, a ton of great non-profits. All supported in this one venue.
  • [00:56:31.55] And I think that offers us a really interesting lens to translate into other areas of engagement in the community. Similarly, we have a very, very wide array of social service organizations, nonprofit and government, and the government supports the city. The cities and the county support a lot of those nonprofits in coming and going in different years, of course, due to budgets. But lots and lots of opportunities to get involved, and lots of things going on to help people that are disadvantaged.
  • [00:57:03.72] The University of Michigan, having amazing presenters and astonishing amounts of information in our community, as we all know, all too well, sometimes. And then neighborhood cohesion. I think that we in Ann Arbor have a great set of experiences about this.
  • [00:57:21.53] We have a burgeoning local food scenarios, we have the water hill and music things are happening. Just a ton of different things that surround this neighborhood cohesion issue, in my mind. And I think that those are really great things for us to capitalize on and work towards.
  • [00:57:41.48] So a little bit about what we can do. I think that there an essential place for the city government and other large organizations to play. Obviously, Jen and Rick have their business hats on, and they're taking care of business. And I don't need to get in there. I don't really actually need to invite you guys to dig holes for them. But I think a few things that this city, or the large organizations could do.
  • [00:58:05.71] There are now 20, throughout the United States, there are 20 Cities of Service. This is a designation given by the Federal government that a city applies for a grant, and the Federal government gives it to them. And they get a bunch of funding. And it's a restructuring issue, where service in the community orientation is paramount within the organization. As much as any of the other really important systems.
  • [00:58:30.69] Virtual volunteerism, and micro volunteering, so being able to just get out my phone and say, there's a picture of a broken something. And say, here you go, now you have it. I don't have to call anybody and bother anybody with my Code Red question, or my little tiny question.
  • [00:58:48.97] I can just pick up my phone and say, here, I saw a problem. You can fix it. It's your job. I know it's your job and you'll fix it. And there are lots of systems that are like that are out there. And the last thing that I think that the large organizations could do, in town, is an increase in collaboration, especially in philanthropic endeavors. The University, I love lots and lots of people at the University, lots of great friends, but they're the folks that take all the people with all the l.
  • [00:59:19.92] And the city has a detriment because of that. And so I would say, that would be something that we should try to capitalize on as a community. Neighborliness and civility, a bunch of different neighborhoods have picked up this that Nextdoor.com. It's just a way to interact online with your neighbors. Fantastic tool. Try it out.
  • [00:59:43.11] If there isn't one, you just go there, and you drop your point on a map, and you know if you have one or not. And you can create one. A couple of other things that you could do for civility, bake your neighbor a cookie. And then the ultimate one to me is, on the online forums, be a little bit nicer.
  • [01:00:04.13] [APPLAUSE]
  • [00:00:00.00]
  • [01:00:08.79] JASON FRENZEL: But really, what we can do, on-the-ground, in our yards, we can grow food and buy food from farmers. We can keep rain water, unless you have $61 million to give Jen for Allen's Creek. You could put in a rain garden, plant a tree. Just keep the water that you're getting. It's totally possible on almost all lots.
  • [01:00:31.07] And lastly, volunteer. There's a list on that piece of paper. But there's 90 different locations, organizations in the county to volunteer at, across the board, all sorts of different things. You can work on stormwater issues directly with the city or with the Watershed Council. And that's what I have.
  • [01:00:54.02] [APPLAUSE]
  • [01:01:00.19] MATTHEW NAUD: So we ran over a little bit. I think we are going to take questions till about 8:40, as long as you promise me that you will not mingle here. You need to go to the bars, or some other place to chat. Or go to your neighbor's house, as Jason said, and mingle. Because we do have to be out of the library by 9:00.
  • [01:01:18.44] So while we're putting up the screen and arranging our panelists, a few of the ground rules. Please use the microphone at the back. We're recording this, and we want to hear who you are. I will put in an extra plug for Nextdoor.
  • [01:01:34.60] I set one up in my neighborhood. I live out by the Sister Lakes-- and you guys can go ahead-- on the West Side, and we've got a group of neighbors that are interested in how are the lakes doing? Are they sedimenting in? What's the quality of lakes? And a lot of work I've done in the '90s, but not much since.
  • [01:01:53.76] And so we're trying to see what are those tools and kind of local experiments we can do to kind of stay in touch in. And I'm excited to see how that works in our neighborhood. For those of you that did not read the small print in the back, you have all signed up to dig holes for Jen.
  • [01:02:12.51] Anyway, I appreciate all our panel tonight, and I will moderate. To the extent you've got questions on the topics tonight, I'd ask you to go first. If you've got broader questions about the city, we're happy to answer them. But I'd like to give folks who came to the topic a first crack at getting their questions in. So please come to the mic if you have questions.
  • [01:02:33.76] TIM GRIMES: Yeah, just step up to the mic right here, if you have a question. Don't all rush.
  • [01:02:42.77] MATTHEW NAUD: We had to have piqued your curiosity about something.
  • [01:02:46.51] AUDIENCE: I had a question concerning lawns, and whether or not there's anything being done to try and replace them? Or want the city laws have, in terms of what you can and can't do with a lawn, in terms of storm water runoff? I mean, other than just having a little rain garden in one place. The weeds in my lawn looked so much healthier last summer than anything that was grass. So I'm just wondering, is there any kind of a program whereby you can replace your grass with native species, or something?
  • [01:03:16.50] JEN LAWSON: Jason and I are up here, actually, trying to figure out who's the best person to take the question.
  • [01:03:19.99] MATTHEW NAUD: Or maybe both.
  • [01:03:21.14] JEN LAWSON: Maybe both. I can certainly start from a city perspective. We would definitely encourage some sort of vegetation. A lawn is better than nothing. We don't want the sediment in that soil running into the storm, first and foremost. But a rain garden would provide not only the benefit to keep the soil on site, but to hold even more of the water.
  • [01:03:41.29] The city isn't going to, necessarily, pay for a rain garden. But we would provide resources on how to build a rain garden. The county, for example, Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner's Office, does have a program in, I believe it's called the Master Rain Gardener Program, where they will help you design, and connect you with people who already have rain gardens who are willing to share plants. The big expenditure with a rain garden installation is plants and digging the hole. We won't dig the hole for you.
  • [01:04:16.66] AUDIENCE: How about other native species, like grass that's two feet high. Or a draught garden, per se?
  • [01:04:26.89] JEN LAWSON: I would certainly encourage that. We don't have any limitations on plant species.
  • [01:04:30.63] AUDIENCE: OK. So the city says nothing about your grass has to be cut at a certain level, or are there any rules and regulations?
  • [01:04:36.72] JEN LAWSON: We do have landscaping requirements. But the lawn requirements are different than a garden requirements. In a specific vegetated area for a purpose of a rain garden would not fall under those regulations.
  • [01:04:47.80] AUDIENCE: What if I want to replace the whole half acre with native species?
  • [01:04:50.39] JEN LAWSON: We have several lawns in town that already do that.
  • [01:04:52.47] AUDIENCE: OK.
  • [01:04:52.92] JEN LAWSON: So we would certainly work with you and encourage that. In fact, just take it one step further. I know that there are several lawns that are entirely native prairie, and they coordinate with the fire department to do a burn once a year.
  • [01:05:05.78] JASON FRENZEL: A couple other thoughts about that. So the only regulation that's really-- you want to be careful of in a residential situation, in the City of Ann Arbor-- this is different in other communities-- is that you're extension, the space between your sidewalk and your road has to be below an average of 18 inches, I think, now. And that's for sight visibility for vehicles. So you don't hit pedestrians.
  • [01:05:29.10] But on the main portion of your property, there really isn't anything stopping you, for residential purposes. There's a bunch of other ordinances for--
  • [01:05:37.19] JEN LAWSON: Yeah, in a commercial development, the city would like to work with you. So a business, for example, we'd like to work with you on that.
  • [01:05:43.77] JASON FRENZEL: And then a couple other resources for that. The county's Rain Garden Program is fantastic, the Master Rain Gardener Program is accepting applications right now, until they fill up in the next couple weeks. The Stewardship Network is a local nonprofit that does a lot of work on this. As well as, the local Wild Ones is huge. And those would all be great interactions. Sabra, do you have a comment about that?
  • [01:06:08.53] MATTHEW NAUD: Just a moment, Sabra, if you have one. Let's get the mic.
  • [01:06:13.24] SABRA BIERE: People who live in subdivisions may have actual rules within that subdivision about how they can garden, and what their yard can look like. So if there are bylaws in a subdivision, they need to check those.
  • [01:06:26.86] JASON FRENZEL: Yep, thank you.
  • [01:06:27.52] JEN LAWSON: Thank you.
  • [01:06:30.50] MATTHEW NAUD: Any more questions, just come right back here.
  • [01:06:35.96] AUDIENCE: Hi. I wanted to know if there any city regulations regarding Greywater, if you're interested in doing a Greywater system on your property, as a resident?
  • [01:06:47.97] JEN LAWSON: I could actually take that question, as well, I suppose. We do have several Michigan Plumbing Code requirements that you would have to work with the city's plumbing inspectors. And it really does depend on the system. I do know that it's not looked upon favorably. But that's looking at older technologies.
  • [01:07:05.38] And so looking at some of the newer technologies that are available for Greywater recycling, the city plumbing inspector is interested in working with someone on that endeavor. He and I had a discussion just before Christmas, about this, actually.
  • [01:07:20.53] JASON FRENZEL: My sense has been that, in the last 5 to 10 years, a lot of the regulations throughout the states have been shifting. But that's slow.
  • [01:07:27.94] MATTHEW NAUD: Yeah, there's a couple of architects that are looking to build a totally off-the-grid building. And we've been starting to talk to them about what kinds of codes they would bump into. And what kind of flexibility we may have working with the code.
  • [01:07:41.42] So we'd be happy to talk to people about that. So I would just suggest, if you're interested in doing something like that, talk to us early. Don't do it the week before you need the permit, and have your toilets work. So give us a little heads up. But we're certainly interested in pushing the envelope on some of these things. Some we have some control over, but, for example, we can't have a stricter building code than the state.
  • [01:08:06.45] So we would have required a lot more energy efficiency in Ann Arbor homes a lot longer ago, we're precluded from doing that. We also can't regulate pesticides in the city, based on state law. Alice.
  • [01:08:22.08] AUDIENCE: Thank you. I have a couple of things are interrelated, but one is when Dan talked about the public assets and mentioned city buildings, I think we should extend that to city owned property, open land, such as some of the sites that we are now seeing going under transition from use to use.
  • [01:08:47.22] And I noticed, also, that we had a lot of talk about the technological ways of addressing stormwater management and water quality. Those lands, and others, whether their public or private, can also accommodate other things than pipes. And I wonder how much we're looking at less technological-- well, I guess impervious pavement would be technological-- but things like supplemental systems, wetland restoration, ponds, day-lighting, and so forth, for filtration and so forth? So I didn't hear anything about that. I wonder what else might be going on?
  • [01:09:35.81] JEN LAWSON: I alluded to that in kind of an all encompassing umbrella term called low-impact development. And that really does incorporate wetlands, prairies, wet prairies, riparian land management. And so the city does look, and we incorporate a majority of that into stormwater solutions.
  • [01:09:54.33] I can probably speak for myself, as well as the philosophy for Systems Planning, I'd rather see the water stay where it falls and soak into the ground, rather than pushing it into a pipe.
  • [01:10:06.38] MATTHEW NAUD: You might want to talk about, the folks here may not know some of the actual projects we've done. Or developers, like [? 1618 ?] Main Street. There's a new proposal for a development on Main Street where the Fox Tent and Awning is.
  • [01:10:21.96] And there's a very large rain garden that's been designed for that site, to have most of the water on that property infiltrate. The new City Hall building, the new Police Court's building. Do you want to talk about that?
  • [01:10:36.52] JEN LAWSON: Sure. The new Police Court's building, the large Silver building, as well as all of the land surrounding the existing City Hall, is what we lovingly refer to as zero run-off. So every drop of rain that falls stays there. We either reuse it, we allow it to infiltrate, we use it as art. But all of the wetland plants that are surrounding the building utilizing all of that storm water that does fall onto the property.
  • [01:11:05.18] So that's one example of where we're using municipally owned properties to address stormwater. And we certainly have looked through the CIP Process at upcoming municipal building issues, or problems that need to be addressed. And we've tried to incorporate stormwater where possible.
  • [01:11:21.87] MATTHEW NAUD: And I think we're developing a new Green streets policy. We've tried a bunch of these things, and we're trying to better integrate it. Get our engineers who build streets to think about each and every street rebuilding project, where can we infiltrate water there.
  • [01:11:37.15] There's a sense that, well, we can just infiltrate everywhere. We should put pervious pavement in. And a good chunk of our neighborhood is full of clay. And if there's clay there, the water is not going to get down into the groundwater. So you really have to look at the soil specific areas.
  • [01:11:51.77] But I think the stormwater site, we've got examples of a easy street, and a number of other projects. So if you want more examples, and maybe that's something we need to do, is a better map of the Green projects that we're doing throughout the city, and highlight those.
  • [01:12:08.34] JEN LAWSON: I can speak to the next few major road projects that are coming up, that you'll see a construction barrels on Forest Ave, Forth Ave, downtown, Madison, those will all have stormwater improvement, as well as stormwater quantity management techniques, including infiltration, but looking at street trees, how much water they soak up. Looking at rain gardens, bio-infiltation, and infiltration ditches, as well.
  • [01:12:34.63] CRESSON SLOTTEN: And Miller Avenue.
  • [01:12:35.51] JEN LAWSON: I'm sorry, Miller Ave is another one. And there was a rain garden installed when we did Dexter. You'll see in the Vet's parking lot, the rainwater that falls on Dexter actually stops in the parking lot and infiltrates there, in a rain garden.
  • [01:12:48.10] And the skate park is another good one, which is zero runoff. We have all of the storm water falling on the skate park we'll be kept there on site and treated.
  • [01:12:59.93] MATTHEW NAUD: More questions?
  • [01:13:00.98] AUDIENCE: I have a questions. This is kind of like for Dan Brown. Environmental question. It's not really on-the-ground storm water, exactly. What about the impact of horizontal hydraulic fracturing on our local climate? That's really changing our state landscape, if, indeed, the whole lower peninsula is a target for the natural gas companies to do horizontal hydraulics fracturing. What kind of impact is that going to have? And what should we do about, anyway?
  • [01:13:35.12] DAN BROWN: So yeah. So in terms of climate impacts, so if there were any climate impacts, it would be hard to draw a line between what they do in Michigan, on that, to climate impacts in Michigan. In terms of groundwater contamination, other things of that nature that people are looking into and seeping into water supplies, those kind of things, I think the research is still going on in that.
  • [01:14:09.20] I know the Graham Institute right at U of M has been doing a lot with that. But in terms of climate impacts, in terms of altering the behavior of the physical things in the climate, there would be no difference doing that in Michigan, or doing it in North Dakota.
  • [01:14:30.45] AUDIENCE: Well, I know. But I mean, well, it won't-- won't it increase, though? Because it would be an accumulating effect. If North Dakota is doing it, fine. It's not fine, but then if we're doing it here, too, isn't it just going to increase the effect? The total effect if it's done everywhere, rather than just in North Dakota?
  • [01:14:53.74] MATTHEW NAUD: Is your question the fact that it's a carbon fuel, and we're just going to be using more carbon fuel?
  • [01:14:58.02] AUDIENCE: Well, right. If we're just emitting more carbon.
  • [01:15:00.04] MATTHEW NAUD: Right. I just wanted to clarify what the question was.
  • [01:15:03.37] AUDIENCE: And water pollution, too. Water pollution, well, actually, and my other really big concern is water use. Because each horizontal hydraulic fractured well is several miles deep, hits the shale, and then goes horizontally for a few more miles. And each well takes between two to eight million gallons of fresh groundwater. And that's mixed with thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals.
  • [01:15:27.74] And that is pumped on into the well. And most of it, like over 50% of it, just stays down there. And what comes to the surface is just hauled off and stored in another injection well. So we're taking two to eight million gallons of fresh water out of our groundwater supply for every single fract well we do in the state. That's got to have some kind of impact on our groundwater supply.
  • [01:15:55.64] That's my concern. My concern is, I know it's not happening right next to Ann Arbor, now, but we are part of the whole state. So what should we be doing in Ann Arbor, if anything?
  • [01:16:07.22] DAN BROWN: So I will defer to do with the Graham Institute has to say about that. I will say, in terms of water supply, our region is particularly resilient compared to the rest of the country. I think we're pretty reasonably well protected, compared to areas where water is more scarce.
  • [01:16:34.77] But yeah, I would encourage you to check out what the Graham Institute at U of M has to say.
  • [01:16:40.90] MATTHEW NAUD: Yeah, because the Graham Institute is the place looking at fracking for the governor, under the state, right now. So that's happening. I think the broader question is, we don't have really good Federal Energy policy, we don't have good state energy policy, at this point. And should we be incenting, spending dollars on carbon-based fuels, with potential risks to groundwater, when the cost for wind, the cost for solar, some of these things that don't pose those same risks, are equal to or less than.
  • [01:17:16.45] I mean , natural gas is incredibly cheap right now, which is why there's this band wagon. And Michigan also stores natural gas. If you don't know it, we have a large kind of salt domes in the middle of the state, that when gas is cheap in the summertime, we pump it underground. And then bring it back up and use it in the wintertime.
  • [01:17:35.32] So differentially, Michigan has cheaper natural gas than other states. So it's just a weird part of the way our geology is here. But next question.
  • [01:17:47.51] AUDIENCE: My name is Alice [? Nemanousen, ?] and I have a question about the demographic changes in Ann Arbor. As we heard before, the baby boomers are getting older.
  • [01:17:57.90] MATTHEW NAUD: That's me.
  • [01:17:58.60] AUDIENCE: And that means that the baby boomers and all the population, we only, not getting older, but we'll also have difficulties in our functioning. There'll be decreased hearing, decreased vision, decreased mobility, decreased cognition.
  • [01:18:14.44] And that has major implications for city like Ann Arbor. We know that Ann Arbor has been elected as one of the best cities to retire in. So that's great. And it is a great city to retire in. However, Ann Arbor has not joined efforts to become an age-friendly city. And that means an age-friendly city were active aging is promoted. Where aging in place isn't promoted.
  • [01:18:40.11] Where all these sources are accessible for everybody, including people with hearing and vision loss. So my question, actually, to each of you is, how you go on to prepare for us, for all of us getting older, and to become a real age-friendly city?
  • [01:19:00.53] MATTHEW NAUD: That's a great question. And I think our third forum is going to deal with aging, in particular. But I'm not going to stop that from having a--
  • [01:19:09.93] AUDIENCE: No, because there's still emergency procedures.
  • [01:19:11.74] MATTHEW NAUD: Absolutely. I just wanted to give a little teaser that those of you interested in that issue, please come back in March. So who wants to start?
  • [01:19:21.92] DAN BROWN: Well, so I can say, in comparison to other cities in the region, Ann Arbor is really leading the charge in doing things that will protect vulnerable populations, aging populations, low-income populations. So they're really looking at the tree canopy. And Matt can say a lot more about that.
  • [01:19:47.99] So you're looking at increasing the tree canopy to provide heat relief. Ann Arbor is comparatively very good about providing cooling shelters, and emergency management, things like this. So in terms of protecting vulnerable parts of the Ann Arbor population, I think Ann Arbor's doing a very good job. And as those risks increase, we'll have to continue to do a good job.
  • [01:20:16.76] MATTHEW NAUD: Rick, you want to talk a little bit about emergency management?
  • [01:20:20.09] RICK NORMAN: Yeah. We have, actually a small consortium several months ago, where we're looking at functional needs where that population is located, and what kinds of services they might require, in terms of emergency response. So the first step in that, of course, is identifying who they are and where they are.
  • [01:20:39.54] And we have been looking at that, actually, as a group of emergency management within the county. So that's in place. And I guess I would also like to reiterate that our integration of warning systems, giving you multiple sources to find your information on disaster and emergency information, we work with the Red Cross all the time on shelter and shelter locations, where those are relative to the population.
  • [01:21:07.99] And with the integration of warning systems, we hope that that's accessible to everybody. There's multiple choices from broadcast television, down to our specialized systems, and radio. So that integration is also assisting people, as far as any in place they want to go to get information, it should be available.
  • [01:21:31.10] MATTHEW NAUD: Cress, I'm wondering whether you might want to talk about transportation, crosswalks, signalling?
  • [01:21:34.90] CRESSON SLOTTEN: I was just going to say, I'm going to put in another plug for the April session on transportation. And I think that's a very appropriate session, as well. That part of the Areas Assistance Planning is our transportation programs. And in particular, what comes to mind is the various mobility, transit in particular, comes right to mind, as to how do people get around?
  • [01:21:53.89] Come into our community? Move within the community? So that those systems can be sustained for every one of the community, regardless of their mobility issues, their socioeconomic situation. And so that's something that's very prominent in our group and the organization, as well. And so I think at both March and particularly even in April, on transportation itself, is going to be a key item to get into some specifics on that, as well. So that's very much in our forefront.
  • [01:22:26.25] MATTHEW NAUD: Jen, Jas?
  • [01:22:27.22] JEN LAWSON: I can kind of make an interesting statement. Water, the way the city manager's water systems-- and I kind of look at those four different systems. We have drinking water. We have stormwater. We have a wastewater, or sanitary system. And the forth system is the river, our natural water systems.
  • [01:22:49.78] It's the community as a whole. And so when we think of the different populations, my focus, and really the focus on water infrastructure management is providing human and health services on all of those water systems for our entire population.
  • [01:23:07.52] So we do, certainly, make sure that we follow all state and federal regulations for drinking water. We make sure that sanitary systems are functioning properly and looking at capacity issues. Stormwater, from a flooding and human health standpoint. And then the river kind of ends up being a little bit of everything, because our drinking water comes from the Huron River. 85% of our drinking water comes from Barton Pond.
  • [01:23:31.48] And we also use that river for recreational opportunities. I'm not sure what the age limit is on the Cascades, for example. But I will tell you that I went kayaking with my 90-year-old grandfather this summer. Not on the Huron, but it's certainly recreational opportunities for multiple age groups.
  • [01:23:54.94] MATTHEW NAUD: Do you want to touch on this?
  • [01:23:57.44] JASON FRENZEL: Well, not directly about your question, or my area of expertise, at all. But we do have 18 or 35 hospitals in the community, which is nice. Actually, I have family from throughout the state who come down to Ann Arbor for our hospital systems, which is always nice to have visitors.
  • [01:24:16.04] But as a community grows and changes, we are continually facing, as good as any organic organization, has to change to deal with those growth patterns. And I see some work in the nonprofit world, and the volunteer managers world, and, as we interact with the large organizations to try to build new networks to respond to any number of things, including, perhaps, the things that you are bringing up, not a solution as of yet. But definitely work in that direction by good people that are full of good heart.
  • [01:24:54.78] MATTHEW NAUD: I'm going to put in one last plug. We're going to have about six more minutes, but I'm going to take a plug for Ann Arbor Transit Authority. These are script tickets for A-ride. So my mother-in-law lives with me. We had to buy a new house, find a place for her to live.
  • [01:25:07.77] She has memory loss, and the Turner Senior Resource Center has a memory loss group that she goes to three days a week. At 9:15 in the morning, an ATA cab, from A-ride comes and picks her up. They give her this coupon, and for $3 dollars they pick her up, and they walk her into the memory loss place. And I don't have to leave my job to do that.
  • [01:25:28.55] At 3 o'clock, they pick her up and they drop her off at home. Again, she doesn't have to carry cash. So we have some of these systems in place. So when I moved to Ann Arbor I had no idea they were there. But you look around and you find out these services, this allows my mother-in-law to live with us, because of these services that are here in the city.
  • [01:25:49.37] So just put in that plug for the A-ride system for anyone with elderly or disabilities, it's a great and easy system to use. So next question. Bonnie Bona.
  • [01:26:01.27] BONNIE BONA: Actually, I'm just going to do a quick followup on the previous question. This spring, the Michigan Planning Association posted some conferences on aging in communities. And a couple of our planning commissioners attended, and related to the timing for the sustainability talk in March is, we're bringing that conference to Ann Arbor. And I don't know the exact date. But I believe it's before.
  • [01:26:29.20] AUDIENCE: February 20.
  • [01:26:29.99] BONNIE BONA: So I just wanted to make sure everyone knew about that. So they want, the ARA wants to come here, too. Because they want to see what we're doing.
  • [01:26:38.91] MATTHEW NAUD: That's great. Thank you, Bonnie. OK.
  • [01:26:42.35] AUDIENCE: This is really quick.
  • [01:26:43.43] MATTHEW NAUD: It's OK.
  • [01:26:45.27] AUDIENCE: With regard to city land, is there any plan to reduce lawn mowing? Some of our parks have so much lawn. And I work for County Parks so I know heart that could be to confront that issue. But I see these giant zero turn mowers spewing fossil fuels. And I know that they're probably emitting, really, really terribly, compared to a car. And I just think, wow, that's a lot of lawn . And lawn's really impervious, right? I mean, I don't know what the runoff rate is of lawn.
  • [01:27:17.67] MATTHEW NAUD: It's more impervious than other spaces, for sure.
  • [01:27:20.75] AUDIENCE: Than other vegetation. I mean it's pretty darned impervious for a Green space. And I just wonder, places like [? Exuma ?] have done, certainly, they have done programs growing, not mowing, where they really promote, hey, we're doing a great thing for the environment by moving less lawn.
  • [01:27:36.71] JEN LAWSON: We've taken an interesting approach to that. And I'll use two specific examples. We do have to balance recreational need. And so we do have a lot of soccer fields, a lot of ball fields that the community does use. I mean, I don't know if you go down to ball fields any time in the summer, it's really difficult to get on, because we've got multiple leagues. Kids leagues, adult leagues always using the mowed area of those recreational fields.
  • [01:28:02.32] But the two examples that I'm going to bring up, the first is Vet's Park. In my short tenure here at the city, I think we've put in five rain gardens just in Vet's Park. And by putting in those large area of square foot rain gardens, we're not mowing it. And we're looking at it.
  • [01:28:20.16] And so it's a stormwater benefit, and that's really why we put those rain gardens, but that is an area that doesn't need to be mowed. We've also reduced our mowing cycle. And so I believe it was once every five weeks, and now it's every seven weeks. Or maybe it's three to five. Don't quote me on that, per se, but I know that we have reduced our schedule.
  • [01:28:41.10] The other one is kind of from another recreational standpoint. Over at Leslie Park Golf Course the-- I don't know how many of you are golfers in the audience-- we used to mow right up to the creek. More golf. More place for your ball to land. And we had some issues with bank erosion.
  • [01:28:58.48] And so through a drainage project, we are doing a flood plain enhancement, where we are almost, by a quantity of four, widening the flood plain and reducing that extremely large area out of mowing. And if you're familiar with the golf course, they're out there three times a week mowing, really mowing it short.
  • [01:29:21.84] That entire flood plain area is going to be native and maybe burned once a year, once it's established. And so from a golf course management standpoint-- and that's a, I mean a half mile stretch-- we are reducing it, reducing that mowed area from a turf grass standpoint.
  • [01:29:38.76] So those are two examples I know personally, in my short tenure here, that we've looked at how can we reduce it. Not know not only from the lawn mowing standpoint, but from stormwater improvement, as well.
  • [01:29:52.84] MATTHEW NAUD: OK, with that--
  • [01:29:53.69] JEN LAWSON: Wait! I've got one little plug I want to do. I don't know how many of you saw this little handy test tube looking do-bobby out front. This is actually your own personal rain gauge, because I know many of you might water your lawn. Or many of you might want to know how much rain falls in any given rain event.
  • [01:30:13.94] I would ask each of you to take one of these. Plop it in your lawn, and keep track of it. Make sure the dog doesn't carry it away. But inside is a little tidbit of information, including an opportunity for you to send us your observations of stormwater behavior on your property.
  • [01:30:33.96] As many of you may know, if we get an inch of rain on the north end of Ann Arbor, we only might get 1/2 inch of rain on the south side. And we are monitoring and tracking that through our Stormwater Calibration Project.
  • [01:30:45.50] So there's a QR code on here, as well as a little email. I would love to have some on-the-ground information. Or if you just want to use it to monitor how much irrigation your lawn might be using, as well. So thank you.
  • [01:30:59.03] MATTHEW NAUD: So with that, thank you. But also than k our presenters. And thanks, so much for coming out tonight.
  • [01:31:04.02] [APPLAUSE]
  • [01:31:11.22] [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • [00:00:00.00]
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January 9, 2013 at the Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

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Sustainable Ann Arbor