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127 education to address expectations for manicured areas versus native plantings, as 128 was continually addressed with the natural slope at City Hall. Mr. Johnson agreed 129 that the University of Minnesota had good information available; as well as several 130 contractors that have assisted with those education efforts as well. Mr. Johnson 131 noted the success of incorporating a grass strip on the outside of natural plantings 132 to make the blend more aesthetically pleasing. 133 134 Member Heimerl suggested that education and outreach should clearly identify the 135 advantages of native plantings as it relates to water scarcity and suggested that the 136 city take a leadership position as stewards of public property and water quality in 137 educating residents for their private property versus the typical 1950 ideal of the 138 perfect manicured lawn. 139 140 Mr. Johnson advised that, while definitely more could be done and staff could look 141 into that further education and outreach, the city's website already had some 142 educational information available to assist with those efforts, as well as other 143 agencies with more information for the public to tap into. Mr. Johnson noted that 144 typically there were 1-2 articles issued annually from the city's Communications 145 Department about stormwater reduction through native plantings to mimic the 146 benefits using the City Hall example. 147 148 At the request of Member Heimerl, Mr. Johnson confirmed that the Community 149 Development Department monitored city code to ensure natural plantings were 150 permitted and evolved with new technologies and options (e.g. length of grass, sight 151 lines) to make it easier for residents to comply and differentiate between nuisance 152 weeds and natural plantings. 153 154 Member Wozniak suggested the same type of outreach and education for 155 commercial properties, questioning if they were aware of these options as well to 156 help reduce their annual maintenance and operating costs to enhance their 157 businesses by using non-traditional landscaping and thereby reduce runoff (e.g. 158 parking lots). 159 160 Mr. Johnson responded that staff tapped into educational information from the three 161 area watershed districts; but stated staff's interest in working with more businesses 162 to pursue that education. Mr. Johnson offered to work with the Community 163 Development Department to accomplish that, especially with cost benefit analyses, 164 etc. 165 166 Chair Cihacek requested that staff identify and bring back to the PWETC specific 167 sites on public property that could be transitioned from turf grass and the long-term 168 cost benefit analyses for each, especially those areas in the closest proximity to 169 lakes with existing phosphorus problems where the quickest tangible benefits could 170 be found. Also, Chair Cihacek asked staff to provide additional information on the 171 costs of the current mowing contractor for County Road C and costs to replace turf 172 grasses and/or install a combination of turf and native; not only for cost recovery Page 4 of 9