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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018_12_11 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes, December 11, 2018 Attendees: Mitch Green,Arlene Novich, Sue Odierna, Marc Karell, Mark Kramer, Colin Goldberg, Katherine Pannell, George Roniger, Diane Neff,June Wallach, Elizabeth Poyet,Jeffery King, Mark Kramer, Karen Khor, Kristin Andersen, Steve Moser, Mark Manley, Minutes of November meeting were approved. January meeting to be held on January 8,2019. Sustainable Energy--Community Solar Sue reported to the group, on behalf of Steve Altieri that Steve A., Frank and Mark M. are very close to choosing a developer for this proposed community solar project on the roof of Hommocks Ice Rink(four developers had responded). Background is: electricity generated from the project will result in savings of 10-15%for those residents of the Hommocks Park Apartments that subscribe to the program. Any additional electric capacity will be offered to other low and moderate income residents of the Town. The panels will produce 500 to 600 kWh of electricity. The Town will receive between$8,000 and$20,000 per year in the form of a lease payment for the use of the HMX Ice Rink roof. Lease agreement to be created with developers. Frank has previously mentioned one of the issues is the agreement itself;a resident would need to read and sign a document that is about 15 pages long. Mobility/Complete Streets/Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations As Steve A. reported previously, the Town was approved for 4 NYS DEC grants for four EV Charging Stations. As a reminder, the planned locations for chargers are Hommocks Parking Lot, Town Center, Myrtle Blvd by parking garage, and Baldwin Ave/Memorial Park. Charging stations need to be installed. Cost to be maximum of$16K for installation. Steve A. to reach out to electrician to get the specs on what has to happen for each of the four charging stations to be installed. Following that,Steve A. to send specs info out to get contractors'pricing. Installation expected by end of January 2019. Each station can charge two cars. Initially, there will be no fees for charging vehicles as an incentive for use. Also, two electric vehicles are currently in use within the Town's fleet for parking enforcement and code enforcement. The Town was granted a$5,000 rebate for the leasing of the vehicles;leases to be sent to DEC to show proof of purchase. Sue reported that this month, Denise D. will begin participating in monthly interactive conference calls hosted by Sustainable Westchester's Ron Kamen in an effort to have a variety of communities share their EV data and experiences, ask questions, get advice. Also on these calls,SW to give updates on grants, events, EV growth, contests and contract opportunities. Sue also reported that Nancy had "e-introduced"MHS AP Enviro teacher,Sophia Andrews to Ron Kamen so that he could promote Sustainable Westchester's High School Electric Vehicle Video Contest. Today, he gave a presentation to over 100 AP Enviro 12th grade students regarding the contest in which they could win$5,000 for creating a video to inform people about electric vehicles. Sophia is hoping several MHS students will participate. Reusable Bag Initiative(RBI) Jeff reported that the Town Board endorsed the idea of a Reusable Bag Initiative law. Nancy and Town Attorney Bill Maker to have a conference call next week with New Castle Enviro Committee Heads Steve Wolk and Jennifer Mebes Flagg to review their law. Town Attorney will begin drafting RBI legislation in early January that will then go to the Town Board in the weeks to come. Sue reported that she reached out to the Community Resource Center Executive Director Jirandy Martinez to get her input as Washingtonville is the neighborhood with the most low income residents in the Town and the Board has concerns about the potential cost of 10 cent paper bags and/or the need for residents to purchase reusable bags. Jirandy liked the idea of us giving out free reusable bags at CRC events so that these residents wouldn't have to purchase bags. CRC has monthly community forums, CRC Civic Group weekly meetings with high school students, and a CRC middle school group that partners with Rye Nature Center, all potential giveaway opportunities. She also suggested we reach out to schools and ask how they would suggest we give out bags. They also liked the idea of a CRC screening of "Bag It"which is available with Spanish subtitles. She felt this would empower Spanish-speaking residents to feel they're part of the movement! Mitch suggested that he, Nancy,Jeff,Sue and Katherine get together in early 2019 to strategize. Sue and Nancy(and Katherine if available) will meet with Mamaroneck Ave School's "Green Tigers"committee to see how they can help with RBI first week of January. Action Items: Sue to order"Bag It!" and bring sample of printed reusable bags in to January Collabs meeting Action Item 2: Sue to set up strategy meeting between Mitch,Jeff, Nancy, Katherine, Sue Action Item 3: Mitch to contact corporate heads of CVS,Walgreens, Stop and Shop and Trader Joe's to explain prospective law and garner support and possibly even sponsorship?!! Action Item 4: Collabs—please think of merchants (local or corporate)that YOU have a relationship with who would sponsor some portion of the Town's purchase of 1,000 bags. We need a few thousand more bags to give away. Sue has cost details but total cost to sponsor would be approximately$1,200 for 1,000 bags. Action Item 5: Reminder to continue to do! Per Steve Wolk's recommendation below, please remember the following when you shop: "Thank all stores in town for supporting the Reusable Bag Initiative. Best to thank the manager, but even if you thank someone at the register that is good. If they hear it enough,it will get through to the manager and then corporate HQ.You can do this even if you haven't heard that they support it yet. If they say they don't support it,then people should act shocked and dismayed (but not argumentative,just deeply disappointed as you would really feel). It will have an impact." Food Waste Recycling Karen updated the group on current food waste recycling data. This past November, there was an all- time high record collection of food waste —a total of 17 cans per week were filled. Schools/Houses of Worship collection continues to grow which contributes to increased volume at Maxwell Avenue. Larchmont Temple has their food waste picked up from an Uber driver;they currently pay$25 two times per week for this service. St.Augustine's and FASNY along with Larchmont Temple are waiting for an offer from the Sanitation Commission to provide this service. Steve A. had said he'd offer less than the $50/week they pay Uber. Murray Ave School has had food waste pickup since springtime and Chatsworth and Hommocks are waiting for same. The target date to start pickup at HMX is March/April 2019. Chats would like to start in January 2019. Elizabeth P. and Mark K. both reported that the food waste cans in the front were full at the Yard this week when they stopped by to drop off. They suggested empty cans should be rotated to the front. Colin reported on behalf of the Village of Mamaroneck Committee for the Environment that they are at five cans per week in food waste at their sanitation facility. Karen then gave an update on the Food Waste Reduction Donation/Recycling grant. Beth, Karen,Arlene, June and Alana Mass(who has offered to help write the grant)attended meeting at Town Center with Nancy,Steve A and Sue. The grant awards a minimum of$1,000 to a maximum of$250,000 for a program that reduces food waste. Since the program seems to be more geared to reducing food waste at its origin, rather than recycling it into compost, the goal out of the meeting was to focus on prevention (as opposed to food waste recycling)and to include the schools. Mitch raised the question:could the schools order less food? Karen said there are guidelines out there. They also want to include "Food Rescue"—for example, how can food that is left over not get thrown out;can the schools offer a sharing table for kids to swap food brought in from home? Part of the grant could include a fee for a consultant to do presentations on the topic, it would be a good idea to do a food audit to see what happens in the cafeteria. Mitch thought maybe they should target one school(approx. 500 students)rather than the district of about 5,000. He suggested FASNY but Karen mentioned that MUFSD is actually ahead of FASNY in food waste efforts. However, Kristin mentioned that FASNY—as a private school—might be a better candidate since they control the food, caterer etc as opposed to public schools. Sue wondered if the DEC would be as likely to give grant money if the applicant was a private school. Mitch suggested finding out the maximum amount of points available and choosing project based on this;a project that is easily measureable. Karen to focus further with her committee on next steps in preparation for the January Collabs meeting. The grant is due in March 2019, awarded in April 2019 and is a three year grant. Noise/Leaf Blowers Marc K reported that he went to Rye's environmental committee meeting and they're looking over Kristin's document which, as a reminder, contains parts of each municipality's Leaf Blower laws(Villages of Mamaroneck and Larchmont as well as Town of Mamaroneck) with suggestions on how to make one better leaf blower law. Kristin reiterated that the reason we are discussing this ban on leaf blowers is mostly a health issue, though years ago the concern began as a noise/nuisance issue. Comments from Collabs included why are leaf blowers exempt from noise level regulations in the Town? Perhaps the Town Code could be improved? Kristin also reported on the Village of Larchmont Trustees'reaction to some of the suggestions. Reactions included: • Trustees didn't like the idea of inspection or certification for landscapers or decibel limits as they felt police aren't going to carry around noise checking instruments • would consider banning gas-powered leaf blowers and only allowing electric. But it would be very important that all three munis do same • like the idea of registering landscapers;there would be no additional fee to them since landscapers already pay a fee to county • thought that penalties to homeowner AND landscaping company should be in effect • VoL Police think$125 as a fine is too low;when Kristin met with them, they agreed on$250 • In VoL, only the Police can ticket because it's a criminal offense. Suggestion was to change to a civil violation so others can ticket(like building inspectors do in the ToM) Healthy Yard Initiative June is working on a communication plan to be reviewed with Sue as to the best ways to use Facebook and the website to get the word out--and other ways to reach our residents. (Update: Sue and June met in late December and June is working on website page layout for healthy yard initiative to send to Sue.) Arlene is working on getting the word out by doing community outreach prior to early-March launch. Outreach includes the Larchmont Library which would like to have a certified garden onsite. Arlene also went to an event at Rye's "Pet Pantry"store which focused on pesticide free lawns for best pet health. Katherine Desmond(VoM)is designing a one-page bookmark about healthy yards. There was a request for all of us to take photos of our healthy yards to show residents that no-pesticide yards can be beautiful and that lots of residents garden healthily. Action Item 1: June to send Sue communication piece(s)for website Collaborative Budget Update Collabs liaison/Councilman Jeff King reported that the Town Board will keep the Sustainability Collaborative's budget at$10,000 for 2019. Past history spending has continued to be significantly less than the $16,000 requested, so the Board will keep budget at$10,000. Meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm. The next Collaborative meeting will be Tuesday,January 8,2019 at 6 pm at the VFW/Senior Center in the large dining room.