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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-11-29 Infrastructure Committee Minutes Infrastructure Committee Minutes November 29, 2016 ATTENDEES Councilors: Gibran Graham Joshua Plourde Dan Tremble Sarah Nichols Ben Sprague Joe Perry Staff: John Theriault Dana Wardwell Cathy Conlow Members of the Public: Greg Edwards Karen Marysdaughter Jim Frick, W. Broadway Elaine, Bangor AGENDA 1. Discussion: Single Use Bags Dana outlined the following from the memo: Jay Dresser attended the Infrastructure Committee Meeting on July 11, 2016 and requested the Committee consider a ban on plastic bags and styro-foam containers. The Committee requested research on the issue and present findings to the infrastructure committee. There are presently six communities in Maine that have restrictions on single use containers. Portland was the first city to pass an ordinance and most of the remaining communities used some of the language contained in the Portland ordinance. Should the committee wish to proceed with passing an ordinance restricting single use containers, the following questions need to be answered before an ordinance may be drafted; 1. Do we ban single use containers completely or discourage their use through fees? 2. If fees are preferred what will the fee be? 3. Will the store keep the fee or does it come to the city? 4. What single use products will be included in the restriction? 5. Will store size or per cent of sales determine which businesses will fall under the ordinance? 6. How much time will elapse between the passage of the ordinance and implementation? This is important to give stores a chance to deplete existing inventories. 7. What will penalties be for non-compliance? 8. Who will enforce the ordinance? Below is information that may help the committee make a decision on this issue. Staff does not have a recommendation and is looking for direction from the committee on how it wishes staff to proceed. Portland- Troy Moon- In Portland the ordinance went into effect on April 15, 2015 and charges a 5 cent per bag fee on both paper and plastic bags at stores with greater than 2% food sales. Things are going very well and they have had very few complaints. The business keeps the fee charged. Troy feels they got it right and would do nothing different if they had it to do over. Information on Portland’s program can be found at http://portlandmaine.gov/1451/Green-Packaging 1 South Portland-Julie Rosenbach- In South Portland the ordinance went into effect on March 1, 2016 and charges 5 cents per bag for both paper and plastic bags. They copied the Portland ordinance so there would be consistency in the area. The ordinance was accepted by businesses and a few individuals were unhappy early on but there have been no negative comments for some time. Early on some stores were charging for bags that did not fall under the ordinance particularly pet stores. Some of the pet store owners were upset that pet food was not considered food. One thing they may consider doing differently is having the fees retained by the city and put in a sustainability fund. York- Amber Harrison- In York the ordinance went into effect on March 1, 2016 and bans all plastic bags. Falmouth-Kimberly Darling- In Falmouth the ordinance went into effect on April 1, 2016 and charges 5 cents for paper and plastic bags in stores greater than 10,000 square feet in size. It has gone very well and it seems people kind of expected it and there was little resistance voiced. One thing they discussed and may do differently was exempting Maine made bags from the ordinance to promote jobs in Maine. Freeport-Peter Joseph- In Freeport the ordinance went into effect on September 12, 2016 and bans plastic bags and charges 5 cents for paper bags at stores with greater than 2% food sales. This item was debated for one and one half years and was finally passed by referendum through a citizen initiative. They have had no problems and are not doing checks or enforcement and it seems to be going well. There has been no real burden on staff but Peter wishes the debate period could have been shorter. Kennebunk- Barry Tibbitts- Kennebunk’s ordinance went into effect on October 14, 2016 and it bans all plastic bags. They gave businesses 4 months advance notice so they could use up existing stocks and they will not be taking action if businesses need a little longer to use up stock. They are not monitoring and as of yet have not even established fines for non-compliance. So far all businesses seem to be complying. Kennebunk has had very little negative comments from the public and they plan to revisit the ordinance in January or February Curtis Pickard-Retail Association of Maine- The Retail Association of Maine (RTA) does not support a local ban of any particular type of bag. RTA feel s this should be a statewide issue rather than individual municipalities. It is easier for retailers to deal with one rule rather than different rules in neighboring towns. If we are going to address the plastic bag issue they encourage us to follow the Portland model. RTA also would like to see more publicity so people realize major retailers collect plastic bags for recycling. Shelly Doak – Associated Grocers of Maine – Associated Grocers of Maine is opposed to a plastic bag ban. They feel it encourages people to use paper bags at 4-5 times the cost of plastic bags. In their opinion a fee on both is preferred. Shelly cautioned that we should be careful how we describe merchants that would fall under the ordinance. Consistency is very important so it is very clear what merchants responsibilities are. Michael Norton-Hannaford Supermarkets- Thank you for reaching out for information on reusable bags. You asked for information on two points: How effective was it when Hannaford offered a 5-cent incentive for customers who brought reusable bags? Also, how effective have large bag giveaways from Hannaford been in encouraging the use of reusable bags? The five-cent incentive evolved from Hannaford's early adoption of reusable bags. Our best information is that Hannaford was one of the first supermarkets in the nation to introduce reusable shopping bags for sale more than 25 years ago. As those bags came into circulation, we offered a 5-cent incentive when customers brought a bag. We believe the launch of that incentive did help influence people who were already inclined to take action. However, we also know that our usage rate flattened out and that the 2 incentive did not seem to have much impact in moving it forward. It was clear by around 2007 that shoppers were not motivated by the small incentive. A follow-on strategy to move usage forward was the aggressive use of bag giveaways. The Bangor Earth Day giveaway several years ago was one such effort. Hannaford also did aggressive bag giveaways in the Augusta market and in other markets in Maine and across our five-state market area. This strategy helped us move off a plateau in reusable bag usage to a point where we now have 15 to 20 percent of our shoppers in most markets bringing their own bags. Similar to earlier strategies, however, we believe it was primarily the customer's motivation and knowledge that caused the increase in adopting reusable bags. In other words, our strategies have helped remind and encourage consumers, but the decision to use the bags is driven most powerfully by the individual consumer and their interests. Against the objective of speeding up adoption of reusable bags, we believe these strategies -- and some additional strategies outlined below -- have been effective. But, we would not say that these strategies have the power to change consumer choices across all consumers. As we discussed, we believe local residents should decide on bag ordinances. In other cities and towns considering options, we have not taken a position on different options. We have been asked for information that relates to your interest in usage rates. The usage rate of reusable bags at Hannaford is high relative to retailers nationally. Efforts to remind consumers who are motivated to bring bags and to engage them in buying bags if they have not been part of a bag giveaway has supported the rate of shoppers bringing reusable bags to Hannaford. In addition, the introduction of a bag two years ago where the proceeds go to hunger relief has generated donations supporting more than 450,000 meals. A follow-on Hannaford Helps initiative that provides a $1 from every bag sold to local non-profits has generated $200,000 to date for local causes. Again, as with the other strategies you asked about, these innovations move incremental progress forward and ensure that we make it easier for the motivated consumer to stick with their use of reusable bags. That said, we are clear that these strategies do not have the ability to direct consumer choices across all consumers. In other communities the question has come up on whether we would unilaterally stop offering single-use bags. Our best assessment is that many customers who want the convenience of those bags would shop elsewhere if we took that action. If the goal is sustainability and environmental impact, our experience tells us that all types of bags and classes of retail trade need to be in scope because all have impact. But, as noted, we also believe those decisions on the design of any limits belong with residents and their elected representatives. Shaws Supermarkets – Theresa Eddington- Shaws did not voice an opinion but referred me to the Associated Grocers of Maine. The Natural Resources Council of Maine has a very good web site with much information on reusable bags. Go to www.nrcm.org / Projects & hot issues/sustainable Maine/sustainable Maine community toolkits/re-useable bag ordinance toolkit. Greg, Karen, Jim, and Elaine addressed the Committee with their support. It was the Committee wish to have a presentation at a future meeting. Councilor Tremble requested the Chamber of Commerce be involved. Vote: No Action Necessary 3 2. Discussion: Hancock and Newbury Street Signal Removal The traffic signal at the intersection of Newbury Street and Hancock Street included equipment that is fairly old and would require replacement in the not so distant future. The intersection functions under pre-timed operation and did not currently have vehicle detection to improve the efficiency of the intersection. Due to the age of the traffic signal, equipment upgrades to this intersection were discussed recently at a BACTS meeting. Because the amount of the traffic that this intersection services was believed to be light, BACTS conducted intersection turning movement counts to be used in evaluating whether this traffic signal was actually warranted based on the traffic volume criteria within the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The BACTS traffic counts were conducted on August 18, 2016 and found that the busiest hour of the day was between 4:00 – 5:00 PM. During this one hour period, only 25 vehicles used the Newbury Street approach to the intersection and only 3 of these vehicles turned left. The number of left turning vehicles in a peak hour is usually the traffic volumes utilized when considering the installation or removal of a traffic signal. The traffic volumes collected on Newbury Street were well below the volumes that typically are experienced when considering the implementation of a traffic signal. The Engineering Department would like the City Council to consider the possibility of eliminating this traffic signal. Additional traffic counts can be completed to provide further data for this consideration as well as public outreach to discuss the topic. A trial period of placing the traffic signal on flash mode could be conducted to determine if significant delays are experienced by motorists on Newbury Street. It was the desire of the Committee to follow up with a site distance review. Vote: No Action Necessary Meeting Adjourned. 4