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Environmental Specialist Ryan Johnson updated the Commission on sustainability. <br />Chair Ficek asked for more information on the 132/Lexington project. <br />Mr. Freihammer reviewed the project with the Commission. <br />Chair Ficek asked what the reluctance was of the businesses when asked for their <br />comments. <br />Mr. Johnson explained the biggest thing the City ran into was the businesses were <br />mainly tenants. Staff was going door to door and the businesses that were leasing <br />space had some interest and would try to work with the property owner. There was <br />interest at the local level but the business could not make the improvements or did <br />not want to make the improvements because the tenant would not see the actual <br />benefit in the end. He indicated Roseville has a lot of those types of buildings where <br />the businesses are leasing. <br />Member Joyce asked if there is a building code on the wind source and is it <br />residentially feasible to do that. <br />Mr. Johnson explained what they would be signing up for wind source is to buy <br />into a wind farm that the utility company built. A resident could buy a certain <br />number of blocks that would reduce the energy use from the fossil fuel side. <br />Member Joyce indicated he has seen some turbines in St. Paul and wondered if <br />Roseville has any restrictions on them. <br />Mr. Johnson thought the City did have some building codes that would make <br />putting up the turbines a little more difficult. He indicated staff made the whole <br />solar permitting side as easily as they could through SolaSmart but he did not know <br />if the City has ever been approached for actually doing any kind of windmill on any <br />of the properties in the City. <br />Member Misra wondered if there was any way to leverage the success on those <br />businesses to draw more people in and use those businesses as examples. <br />Mr. Johnson explained staff will be getting the final numbers in from Xcel and will <br />report back to staff about the audit results. Once staff gets that information then it <br />will be promoted to all the businesses. <br />Member Hodder thought the City newspaper, the City news, there is a business <br />section in there that might be a good place to highlight those successes as well. He <br />thought that was a good source of information City wide. <br />Member Hodder asked how the solar gardens were working and if it was similar to <br />wind source that is done. <br />Page 2 of 4 <br />