Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018_05_01 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2018.0501 Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes, May 1, 2018 Attendees: Mitch Green, Michele Lewis, Marc Karell,Arlene Novich, Sue Odierna, Karen Khor,June Wallach, Colin Goldberg (VOM), George Roniger,Jeffery King, Denise Dunn, Diane Neff, Mark Manley,Tony Gelber, Steve Altieri, Elizabeth Poyet(VoL), Beth Radow, Kristin Andersen (VoL), Matt Thomas We welcomed new volunteer Matt Thomas who learned of our group from participating in Town's spring clean-up in April. Minutes of April meeting were approved No Pesticide Initiative Michelle L and Diane N had met and discussed health risks of pesticides and how to initiate an education program to alert residents to dangers of pesticides. They would like the Town to emulate the "Healthy Yards"program in Rye. How do we spread the word about using fewer chemicals, no pesticides and reduced-nitrogen fertilizers? Mamaroneck Schools don't use pesticides on grass. Can ToM legislate same? We need to check with county and state. Is Bonnie Briar pesticide free? For PGA in 2020 at Winged Foot, can we convert them to pesticide free? How to address those who want a perfect lawn? • While a lawn may not look perfect, it will look good...and the upside will be less carcinogens in neighborhoods and fewer pollutants in ground water and running off into streams, rivers and Long Island Sound. • Check with "Save the Sound"for assistance since their activism involves keeping pesticides out of LI Sound(from lawn runoff) • There is economic value in being a "green community"re home values. Need to "sell"it to real estate agents. VoL is trying to package healthy lawns this way—a "Masterplan for a Green Community?" • Mitch G suggested a sub-committee be formed to investigate what a No-Pesticide Program ought to be and how to put it into action (to include Michelle, Diane, Matt, Elizabeth,Arlene, June) • Put info about healthy lawns in libraries, make marketing materials for all 3 municipalities to have bigger impact Action Item: Sub-committee on pesticides to meet and report back to Collabs at June 12th meeting Mobility/Complete Streets/Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations Denise D has offered to help the Town apply for NYS DEC grants for EV Chargers. This grant also offers $5,000 per electric vehicle leased. Locations for chargers being considered include Hommocks Parking Lot, Town Center, Myrtle Blvd by parking garage, and Baldwin Ave/Memorial Park. All chargers would be level 2 chargers. Denise has drafted the work plan section of the grant. Steve is getting estimates from electricians. The grant would pay 80%, up to$16,000, of the cost of equipment and installation. Via email, Frank raised the issue of high monthly "demand"charges incurred for day charging vehicles. Steve A will discuss with Sustainable Westchester contact to determine approximate costs. Solar chargers are preferable, but cost is very high, $80,000 to$100,000 per charging station. Town Board will need to decide cost to electric vehicle owners for charging. Action Item: Denise D to complete applications with assistance from Ron Kamen,Steve A and Nancy S. 1 TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2018.0501 Noise/Leaf Blowers George R reported that he, Kristin A, Marc K and Caroline L (VoM)had a tri-muni "Noise"meeting. They compared codes of the three municipalities,particularly Message, Restrictions, Dates, Fines& Enforcement. Message: Kristin reported that VoL emphasizes health problems along with ozone layer issues most, rather than annoyance of blowers. She suggests we downplay annoyance issues and focus on health problems from leaf blowers. (Noise=Stress=Increased Blood Pressure)Health hazards and Emissions information work better than annoyance. Restrictions: VoM bans ALL leaf blowers, while ToM& VoL ban just gas-powered blowers. VoM also restricts quantity of equipment used at a single time(1 machine per 5000 square feet, maximum of 3 machines per property) Dates:All three munis have bans ending September 30th, but VoM starts May 15th (VoL and ToM start June 1st) Fines: ToM violation ticket amounts are higher and they use code enforcement officials in addition to police officers. Summer Enforcement Collaboration & Education Program: VoL will hang a new banner in June at corner of Larch Ave and Boston Post Road reminding residents of leaf blower ban. The door hanger program initiated by VoL enviro volunteers(every home's door received a hanger with info about leaf blowers) and"Police Sweep"program that LPD initiated for a week last summer were both endorsed by members. Both programs will be repeated in VoL this summer. VoL emphasized the need to collaborate with and support the police, who are crucial to enforcement. VoL also noted that the police much appreciated positive recognition of their enforcement efforts—the Collabs recognized that this was an important "clue"to making these programs successful. Suggestion was for ToM and VoM to collaborate with VoL in implementing "Summer Sweep"increased ticketing also this summer. Thus, three weeks of strong enforcement would occur, without notification. Action Item 1: the Noise Task Force will draft a white paper/model legislation for Collabs to review at June meeting Action Item 2:ToM and VoM Noise Task Force members will reach out to their governments to explore whether ToM and VoM will collaborate in the Summer Sweep Program Action Item 3: Nancy S to reach out to VoM and VoL elected officials to invite them to June 12th Collabs meeting to discuss working together regarding Leaf Blowers/Noise Action Item 4: Discuss at TVS meeting in July 2 TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2018.0501 Community Solar Frank 0 and Mark M are assisting ToM in preparing an RFP for this project, which involves mounting solar panels on the roof of Hommocks Park Ice Rink and having the power generated supplied to the Hommocks Apartments(and possibly to a larger area of the Town as well)providing for lower energy bills, making the apartments more affordable. Frank and Steve A. have spoken to several developers, who are interested. The developers would engineer and install the panels, and then pay rent to the Town for the use of the Hommocks Ice Rink roof. Adding the 53 units of Hommocks Park Apartments to our"solar customer"group will not only make a significant increase in number but demonstrate that combining volunteer initiative and government resources can advance social equity in our community. The project timing is for the RFP to be issued by June 1st proposals would then be due July 15, a developer would be selected in August, with installation this fall. Food Waste Recycling June W. is finalizing the revised Food Waste Recycling presentation. The presentation is for use by volunteers to promote the food waste recycling program and raise awareness about its benefits. It is hoped that members will present to various community groups including scouts,schools, houses of worship, neighborhood organizations, etc. Karen K is compiling a list of organizations for volunteers to target. Close to 450 food waste kits have been sold to date. Karen reported that Hommocks Middle School has relaunched the Rocket composter. She and other volunteers have helped students separate food waste for the Rocket. More wood chips are needed for the Rocket to compost properly. There is already more food waste than the rocket can hold after only four weeks. It takes about six weeks for the rocket to "get going"and process food efficiently. Currently only about 10-15 gallons of food waste can be fed to the Rocket per day, but 15-20 gallons of food waste is produced per day. The Rocket should be able to handle 24 gallons per day of food waste at its optimal functioning state(after six weeks from start-up of rocket). Volunteers are currently taking the food surplus to the Yard. The food waste program with the Murray Avenue School began the week of April 30. The Larchmont- Mamaroneck Joint Garbage Commission is supplying two 35 gallon cans to the school to collect the food waste. The school will contact the Commission when the cans are full. The Commission will pick up the full cans and replace with empty cans. Steve A reported on the economics of a potential curbside pickup program. Suburban Carting now charges$400 per month to pick up food waste based on 10 cans of food waste a week. Suburban Carting could charge$80 per ton to pick up food waste in Scarsdale. Scarsdale is checking with other vendors, and negotiating with Suburban Carting, but this is very expensive. By comparison, ToM currently pays $28/ton tipping fee to the County. ToM/VoL Compost Give-Back Day: Steve A has ordered compost for our own compost give-back day—to be held on Saturday, May 12th at Maxwell Ave facility. Hours at the Yard will be extended for this day to 8am—3pm. Residents only can come to the Yard to pick up compost for free. Also, all food waste kits, recycling bins, and sanitation materials will be sold. Action Item: Steve A.to check with Lou/Highway and Elizabeth Paul in Conservation Dept to see if we have wood chip availability to donate to Hommocks Rocket Composter Action Item 2: Volunteers needed for May 12th give-away 3 TOM Sustainability Collaborative 2018.0501 Reusable Bag Initiative(RBI) The artwork design contest for the RBI concluded. There were 7 entries from Mamaroneck Ave School and 4 from Sts.John and Paul School(other schools were notified but did not submit.)Artwork was posted to Town Facebook pages and their designs will be used in promotional efforts regarding the RBI. The two winners(one from MAS and one from Sts.John and Paul) were each presented with a "Winner's Certificate"and a check for$50 at the May 2nd Town Board meeting by Nancy S. They will each have their designs printed on reusable bags once those are purchased later this year. Certificates of achievement were given to the other participating students in school by their teachers. In regard to the specific RBI legislation, Nancy suggested we propose the same legislation that Suffolk County recently enacted. Their law requires vendors to collect a five cent fee on any store-supplied paper or plastic bag. June and Gabrielle reported that pushback from businesses is very low with this model. Nancy reported hearing that the Suffolk County law changed the percentage of people using reusable bags from 6%(prior to the legislation) to between 60%and 80%three months after the law was enacted. The next step is to discuss the proposed law at the June 12th Collabs meeting (with the intent of Gabrielle presenting the proposal to the Town Board at their meeting on June 20th). She will have signatures from residents supporting the legislation. Gabrielle is creating palm cards to give to businesses that explain the paper/plastic bag fee and suggested we put student artwork on the reverse side. Action Item: Collabs to discuss RBI legislation based on Suffolk County model at June meeting. Action Item 2: Gabrielle to bring draft of palm cards for businesses The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 pm. The next Collaborative meeting will be Tuesday,June 12,2018 at 6 pm at the VFW/Senior Center in the large dining room. 4