Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016_11_01 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2016.1101 Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes, November 1, 2016 Attendees: Mitch Green, George Roniger, Frank Owens, Steve Moser, Beth Radow, Marc Karell, Mark Manley, Neha Dhanik, Sue Odierna, Elisabeth Poyet(from Larchmont Environment Committee) Greetings and Call to Order Minutes of October 4th meeting were approved. Sustainability Collaborative/Sheldrake Event Sue 0—with help from Marc K, Mark M and George R--gave an update on the event. (Michele also attended the event, but was not in attendance at tonight's meeting to update;much thanks go to Michele though for creating our new lovely banners.) General consensus:it was a positive experience that The Sustainability Collaborative participated at the Sheldrake Environmental Center fall festival. Good exposure that the Town has an active environmental committee and nice idea to promote the quieter leaf blower and mulch mowing. The Highway Dep't did a great job explaining and demonstrating the mulch mowing. Rain barrels were displayed and discussed but not purchased at event. (One more has sold as of 2016.1120.) Flyers were distributed with leaf information including the Town's leaf blower restriction, love 'em and leave 'em materials, and info on landscapers who provide mulch mowing services. The adult attendees were more engaged in environmental matters than the attendees at summer concerts were, but that the festival was primarily a "kid event"and it was sometimes difficult to draw parents away from the children's'activities. Action Items: (Follow up from Oct meeting)Mitch suggested that a letter be sent to residents this coming spring to promote quiet leaf blowing and mulching. Sue will remind Mitch in January to get this initiative started. Michele L and Beth R to work on a raking program potentially involving high school students. Quality of Life and Sustainability—Leaf Blowers Beth discussed seeing gardeners at Town Court paying fines reduced by the judge from$150 to$75 for using leaf blower during prohibited times. Suggestion was made to change the current law so that the judge cannot reduce fines from$150 to$75. If not, the law will not be a deterrent, but simply become part of the "cost of doing business." Questions were raised about how to get a law passed requiring only low decibel blowers. Suggestion was made to reach out to the two villages to see if they'd work with the Town on a low decibel blower law. Action Item 1: Collab to draft and send a letter to the TOM Board, requesting that the current leaf blower law be changed to:a)make the minimum fine$150 for the first offense;b)remove a judge's ability to reduce the fines;c)consider progressively higher mandatory fines for further violations;d)consider placing the names of"repeat offender"gardeners on the TOM website;and e)consider a "three strikes you are out" provision so that repeat offenders face a fundamental consequence to continued flouting of the law. 1 TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2016.1101 Action Item 2: TOM to purchase, with 2016 Collab budget already ear-marked for this purpose, a gas- powered "Stihl"leaf blower to verify its effectiveness in a variety of weather and moisture conditions. Action Item 3: For the Quiet Leaf Blower Ordinance, a) the Collab will explain to the TOM Board the benefits and ease of enforcement of the quiet leaf blower ordinance, hopefully including a "show and tell"with the Town's Stihl gas-powered leaf blower, as compared to a typical non-labeled gas-powered version;and b) work with the TOM Board to pass the Quiet Leaf Blower Ordinance before Spring 2017. Action Item 4: Noting that the Village of Larchmont Committee on the Environment(VOL COE)supports the Collab's efforts toward a quieter and healthier environment, the TOM Collab should support VOL COE's efforts to align regulations to the greatest extent possible. Action Item 5: Beth and Michele are encouraged to develop a "raking"educational program for Spring 2017, which can be demonstrated at a variety of venues and events. NYPA/NYSERDA Programs including Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Regarding the NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities Program and its$100,000 grant program, open until 2019 but with funding for only 18 Grants,Sue 0 reported that the Town has submitted three of four completed high impact action items--Climate Smart Community Certification, Community Choice Aggregation and Unified Solar Permit. (As of this 2016.1120, all three have now been approved.) We need to complete one more new action in order to apply for a NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities $100,000 grant. The fourth action will likely be 1) the purchase of one electric vehicle charging station by the Town or 2) the completion by the Town of energy code enforcement training. The Energy Code Enforcement Training is in progress with the Building Department. For the charging station,Sue is working on a grant application with DEC for 80%financing on an electric vehicle charging station. Likely charging stations locations include the Hommocks Ice Rink, Town Center, or the Dept of Public Works. Once a fourth action is completed, the Town has 3 months to come up with an appropriate project for the$100,000 grant. NYSERDA consultant suggests that Nancy schedule a call with him to discuss options/ideas for this project. Marc K indicated he would like to be part of this call. Action Items Sue 0 will identify what is required to write the Grant Application. Mark M, Marc K and Mitch G have offered to assist with the Grant app as needed. Sue 0 to distribute Grant Application information to the Collabs. Nancy is following up with Steve to ensure Building Dep't staff have what they need to fulfill the requirements of the energy code enforcement training action. Energy Data--Wegowise Frank and Sue updated the group on Wegowise, the online tool for tracking utility data. Frank believes their application is a better alternative to EPA's Energy star program or the current program the Town uses, Facility Dude. Sue updated the group that she,Steve A and Nancy S had a conference call with Sarah Allen of Wegowise the previous week in which Sarah went over the proposal's costs($600/building/year)and what that includes. Marc K had questions regarding the formulas Wegowise uses to calculate greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. are they more up to date--and therefore more accurate--than Facility Dude's?)He also had concerns about the benchmarking accuracy if Wegowise looks at just four of the Town's buildings,saying our carbon footprint 2 TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2016.1101 won't be as accurate as it would be with a greater quantity of data, although the four buildings chosen would account for most of the energy used by the Town. Action Item 1: Marc offered to contact Sara Allen with questions. (Note: Marc/Sarah's communication revealed that Wegowise's methodology is more up to date than Facility Dude's and Marc felt the gas, electric and diesel factors were from respected sources. Action Item 2: Still to determine: is it of value to pay for four buildings at$2,400 per year, not including the Town's other buildings nor the fleet(they don't work w/fleet data) to get a carbon footprint that is not 100%? Frank suggested we start with the four buildings,see what we think and determine in a few months if we'd like to add on additional buildings. Further discussion after the meeting suggested that TOM have a "heart- to-heart"discussion with WeGoWise, emphasizing the benefits to WeGoWise of aligning with TOM, a sustainability leader in NYState. TOM was to work with WeGoWise top management to develop a more appropriate pricing structure for local governments like TOM in exchange to broadcasting WeGoWise's effectiveness in tabulating and communicating energy efficiency to taxpayers. Action Item 3: Collab agreed that, if TOM can come to a mutually acceptable agreement with WeGoWise, that Collab 2016 budget funds be used topay for 2017 WeGoWise monitoring,starting January 1. Resilient Infrastructure—Green Infrastructure/Town Center Parking Lot/Landscape,etc. Discussion continued from last month's Collab meeting regarding using 2016 Collabs funds to ensure that the Town Center parking lot consists of greener,prettier landscaping. Mitch suggested paying landscape architects a fee to give us ideas. Steve M felt they should also give us their ideas on what could be done in areas bordering school/TC, mentioning that what MHS staff and families see when they look toward TC is an important "part of the picture." Action Items Need feedback from Steve A and Nancy S as they were not at Collabs meeting. To be discussed at the December Collab meeting. Near-Zero Solid Waste TOM—Increase Recycling Efforts/Edit Sanitation Guide Neha reported that she is busy updating the Recyclopedia that Bedford 2020 originated--for TOM purposes. Mitch asked if a deadline of June 2017 was reasonable for her to complete the task and Neha thought that was acceptable. In the meantime, Neha is supplying Sue with recycling tips to post on Town's Enviro FB page each Wednesday. Sue is starting to post the weekly recycling/trash collection poundage also on Enviro FB page; this will be a Friday feature. Action Item 1: To educate the TOM Board on her efforts, the Collabs will support Neha's presentation to the TOM Board in January or February concerning her current efforts Action Item 2: Neha to advise TOM on the 2017 Sanitation Guide—how might we adjust the Guide to increase our recycling rate?What needs to be added to the Guide to help increase TOM's recycling rate? Action Item 3: As part of their continuing collaboration,Sue 0 and Neha to consider how to further publicize the TOM "Recyclopedia", how it might be included in educational programs at the schools, and how it might be featured at Spring 2017 Environmental Events. 3 TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2016.1101 Quality of Life and Sustainability--Biking Safety Mitch G and Steve M reported that Jonathon Orcutt has referred TOM to an associate of his, Mike Flynn, to provide additional consulting to the Town regarding bike lanes. Mitch will have Mike's proposal for planning and design of TOM bike routes within a week or so. Collabs agreed that 2016 budget funds should be used. Frank 0 suggested getting a TB member on board with the bike lane proposal. Mark M suggested we could change the way some Town roads are used. He mentioned that in certain municipalities, direction of traffic changes to suit cars, bikes, etc. Action Item 1: Mitch received proposal and Nancy/Steve have reviewed and agreed Action Item 2: Proposal will go to the TOM Board for approval and the next meeting, Dec. 7t. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm. The next meeting will be Tuesday, December 6th at 6pm at our regular meeting location of the VFW. 2016 Priority Initiatives—Task Force Leaders • Air& Noise Pollution George R • Walk-able, Bike-able Mamaroneck Stephen M • Improve Water Quality Nancy S, Michele L, Beth R • Maintain & Improve Infrastructure Steve A, Frank 0 • Improve Community Preparedness Tony G • Renewable Energy& Local Energy Frank 0, Marc K, Mitch G • Near-Zero Waste Community Mitch G, Steve A, Neha D • Education &Awareness Michele L, Beth R 4