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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020_11_10 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes, November 10th, 2020 (Meeting via Zoom, 6pm—8pm) Attendees: Mitch Green, Sue Odierna, George Roniger, Karen Khor, Marc Karell, Mark Kramer, Karin Weisburgh, Kevin Crowe,Jason Rudolph and Eliza Pertz, Frank Owens, Arlene Novich, Michelle Lewis, Steve Altieri, Denise Dunn, Matt Thomas, Lisa McDonald, Steve Moser, Ursuline student Stella Gassman, Nicole Gassman, Mark Manley, Elizabeth Poyet, Patty Capparelli, MHS OCRA students Alexander Boswell and Ryan McIntyre, MHS OCRA teacher Joe Llberti, Notes of October 13th meeting were accepted with a requested change to clarify a part of the Boston Post Road portion of the notes. Mitch welcomed everyone to our Zoom meeting and introductions were made. Seeing that Patty Capparelli had joined us(Rye Sustainability Committee), he mentioned that we are hoping to work on the streetscape of Boston Post Road and requested that she can keep her eyes on this ongoing potential plan to get Rye involved. ToM Trees Arlene mentioned that she had tried to get a tree survey from Conservation Planner, Liz Aitchison. Steve A. said it was likely done prior to Liz'time and that Steve A would speak to Liz and they would dig the 1990's Tree Survey out of the files. Arlene said it would be valuable to see what the treescape had been like--for comparison purposes. The goal would be for the Town to achieve 40%tree coverage. Arlene also clarified with Sue and Steve A. that the Town has two arborists who work for the Town Highway Department and that they make up the Tree Committee, along with Liz and the Building Inspector. Arlene asked Steve A. if he thinks it would be helpful to have residents on the committee as it was in the past and he said it depends on the goals of the committee. Steve A. said it was sometimes difficult to keep residents on the committee and that much of the committee's work had to do with tree removal. Arlene recommended two very good webpages on the DEC's site regarding tree ordinances, getting tree grants, etc. and that we need to decide what to focus on regarding increasing our tree canopy—is it just public spaces (road planting strips,parks,public facilities and schools);or also private spaces(the interior of residential lots);and semi-public areas(private lot boundary zones along streets, areas at Houses of Worship and Clubs, Commercial areas including parking lots)? Michele added that her family has donated money to purchase trees. Steve A. said that the Town does have a planting program each spring and fall,some of the funds are donated,some part of budget. Perri McKinney is surveying her neighborhood, the Rockingstone area, and it would be helpful to have additional volunteers to survey their neighborhoods. Mark K. asked if Perri has a spreadsheet so any additional volunteers could use same process to survey trees. Elizabeth P. added that she can help with this, mentioning that the VoL has prioritized planting natives and that so many trees were downed from storm and they need to be replaced. Eliza P. asked if LEC could work with Collabs since both enviro groups have tree committees. It was agreed that a joint Collab-LEC approach would be valuable. 1 Mitch summed up by noting that Arlene has 3-4 people interested in helping on Trees and recommended they meet separately from Collabs'meetings. Steve A. will hopefully get the 1990's era tree survey to Arlene; Arlene can look into tree laws in various munis. It will be important to establish what we are surveying. Is it just location of trees,species, trunk diameter, "canopy size", height, age, location of nearby overhead utilities..or are there other data we need in order to have the right basis for action? Action Plan 1: Steve will follow up with Liz (Environmental Planner)for survey. Action Plan 2:Arlene to set up a meeting with those interested in helping her form a tree subcommittee. Action Plan 3: Sue is waiting on updated brochures (current tree donation prices)from Liz to start to promote the "Trees for our Town" program and our Tree City status through Facebook and NextDoor, and will talk to Nancy about newsletter mentions as well. OCRA(Original Science Research Action) MHS Students"Green"App Mitch explained that a few weeks prior, he, Michele, OCRA teacher Joe Liberti and students Alexander and Ryan met via zoom regarding an app the students have created to consolidate the Town's main environmental topics. This app,for residents of the town and the two villages, aims to show residents how to lessen their carbon footprint. The site is divided into five categories with each category containing sub- categories(ie:Rain Barrels are a subset of"Water Capture/Reuse");the app would direct the resident how to go further(ie how/where to purchase a rain barrel). The app uses Google's "Glide"software, which is easy to set up, easy to administer, and easy to modify, as it Matt asked how updates could be made, is there a "Group Admin?" Ryan mentioned that if we have the password, we can update. Also,Joe Liberti said the program will continue after the current MHS seniors graduate as he will continue it with incoming students. Matt also asked if push notifications are available to keep residents'interest for ongoing viewing. Joe said that is forthcoming. Mark M. suggested a geolocator would be helpful to note where certain types of trees are located. Mark K. suggested Native plants, Frank suggested we have an energy-related category(solar energy/low carbon building/transportation to go within). Joe Liberti thought it would be helpful for the students to create PDF's out of the pages and send to us so we can view. The Collaborative was extremely impressed with the app and the OCRA students'work on it so far. It is clear that the app will be an excellent"outreach and education"tool for the community. The OCRA students stressed that the app will work best if it can easily and quickly turn an inquiry into possibilities for user action —that while using the app as a reference is good, having the app enable users to lower their carbon footprints is the ultimate goal. Mitch recommended once students have tested the program out and we have categories/links/etc. set, the students present the app at a Town Board meeting—sometime early spring. Action Plan 1: The OCRA students will send Sue Odierna screen shots of the app as it is now, Sue will distribute to the Collabs Action Plan 2: The Collab has a "homework assignment":what should the categories on the app's "home page" be?Are they OK as currently written, or should they reference ongoing Collab programs such as "Love Your Food" or "Healthy Yards"?Should we make sure that Resilience, Sustainability and Quality of Life are somehow present on the Home Page?Should all Collab activities be accessible on the app, or should the app focus on "here and now" calls to action?Are five "themes"the maximum number for the Home Page, or might six themes be acceptable?All of these questions will be discussed,with the expectation to resolve the app's structure and key naming at the Collab December meeting. 2 5G Environmental Health Mitch reminded the group that during the summer, the Collaborative determined that the Town's wireless code needed an update. With Eliza's help, Collabs put together a model code, and forwarded this to the Town. TB has told Mitch they're interested in updating code, and that the Board will probably hire a Consultant to assist in Wireless Code updating. Eliza P found, and Sue distributed to the Collabs, the New Hampshire Legislature's study of 5G, which included a number of specific recommendations for state and local governments. The study concluded that 5G technology affects the DNA and that 5G should not be near schools, hospitals, nursing homes. Issue is these are likely the places that need the 5G technology most! Mark M. asked about link that references the report since it's not the original source. Action Item 1: New Hampshire State Legislature's study is attached. Please be advised before deciding to print entire document that it is 390 pages long! Action Item 2: Collabs to review the report, and we will discuss at our December meeting Healthy Yards Arlene reported for her and the HY team that they are working on a "Bee Team/Healthy Yard"video with students. LMC to edit and help them get out the video. MHS is the first school in NYS to raise bees and CBS has profiled them but now the HY team wants to combine it with the healthy yards program since a healthy yard leads to bees. Also,Arlene will be on a call with LEC leads and the group, "Bethlehem Tomorrow." They are working to change the NYS statute that says local municipalities cannot legislate regarding pesticides. Action Item 1: Arlene to report back on Bethlehem, NY's progress on changing the NYS law regarding pesticide regulation. Love Your Food Karen reported that the LYF team has submitted an amendment to NYS DEC which proposes repurposing the school portion of the grant, because school trips were cancelled due to COVID-19. The repurposing was approved by NYS DEC and a series of videos will replace the GNC field trips that 5th graders were supposed to go on. Also, the transportation funds that would have been used will be used instead to create a video on why and how to recycle food scraps at home,produced by our consultants(Tamar and Drew)and LMCTV. Karen expects this new video series will be completed during this school year. One benefit of this alternative programming is more people can see the video than would have gone on the school trips. Not approved was extending the grant's total length of time(fall 2022 finish), though that could still be approved as we get closer to the end of the grant. Mitch asked about reporting that NYS DEC might be asking for, metrics. Some of this has not been done as events have mostly been cancelled. Steve A noted that NYS is pleased that the Town is actively working on this grant despite the pandemic—as an example applying for amendments to the program. He said this is a good reminder to NYS that we haven't forgotten about the grant and are still working to use the funds. Steve A. also reported that there is more than enough money in the LYF budget from NYS that the Collabs can utilize,so the Collabs do not have to allocate the$3,000 funds we requested for LYF work in 2021. Action Item 1: The LYF Team will report on timetables for the various videos at out December meeting,with the goal to use the videos as quickly as possible for community outreach and education related to LYF and Food Scraps Recycling. 3 Action Item 2: Mitch will revise the Collab's 2021 Funding Request and allocate the LVF proposed funding to other priority projects Food Scraps Recycling Karen thanked everyone for supporting curbside trash pickup as that can help lead to curbside pickup of food scraps. She spoke about the online petition a resident created and their main points against switching to curbside(aesthetics, cans in street, Commission savings do not equal the high value of back door/side door pickup). Steve, in turn, explained the benefits--including greater potential to go to curbside food scraps pickup. He said change is hard!Residents didn't want to separate recycling from trash originally and carry to the curb but we all got used to it. Also the "high taxes"they pay to the Town are mostly delivered elsewhere, schools and county. As far as the aesthetics go,Steve A. said the sanitation workers can be trained to put cans further back off the curb so they're less likely to roll out onto street. Mitch suggested we use community based social marketing to effect change. Action Item 1: Mitch submitted a Collab memo to the LMJGDC regarding positive responses to resident concerns regarding curbside trash pick-up; the Collab is ready to assist the LMJGDC when called upon Action Item 2: the LMJGDC continues to discuss curbside trash pickup; the November 12 meeting featured a revised presentation by LMJGDC which clarified the magnitude of savings possible and the potential healthcare cost savings due to reduced WorkPlace injuries. 2021 Collab Goals and Budget Presentation to ToM Board Work Session Mitch reported that he presented the Collaborative's 2021 goals to TB during their work session. The Collab's budget lists seven goals: Under the category of Resilience: • Resident Emergency Backup Power • Increase Tree Cover/Native Plant Restoration Under the category of Sustainability: • Increase Food Scraps Recycling • Love your Food • Healthy Yards(including healthy clubs/community) • Repair Café Under the category of Quality of Life: • Boston Post Rd--complete streets and community character In speaking with Nancy, the Collab has been asked to focus on "bridging"the energy targets of NYS'Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act(CLCPA), and what the Town government, our residents, our Houses of Worship, our Clubs and our Commercial areas need to do meet the NYS targets. New York's goal is 70%renewable energy by 2030 and net zero-emissions by 2040. What can our Town do to help (includes residents, businesses,schools, etc.)?How can the Collaborative help us meet these energy targets? Frank and Michele said it would be helpful to establish benchmarks—get a sense of what the total amount of energy used is,since that's a simple way to say how much GHG that translates into. Michele reminded us of her past work on "greening the code"and could look into this again. Frank said to use the tie- in with schools and students to see how they can help to look into energy usage. California has many 4 programs, net zero for schools and such and he can research. Karen mentioned Bedford 2020(now 2030) since they've tracked their GHG and are very organized in terms of their steps—and they're local. Frank said he would reach out as he knows some folks on Bedford 2030. Changes in the single-family housing stock(e.g., "teardowns") were noted as creating a potential for new construction to follow a "greener"local building code which might"step up"toward net-zero requirements every five years as we get closer to 2040. Frank 0 suggested that next Spring's Hommocks Community Solar completion will be an opportunity to popularize this in the Town. Might there be an educational component to this,perhaps the creation of a video which highlighted the concept, objectives, approval process and implementation of the project?Like the RBI Video competition the Collab sponsored in 2018, this might be an opportunity for MHS's video club and environmental club to combine forces. Action Item 1: Frank to follow up with Bedford 2030, and to report at the Collab December meeting on how Bedford may be addressing the NYS 2030 and 2040 goals. And if time allows, Frank will also report on how California communities are addressing their net-zero energy targets. Air Quality and Noise—Leaf Blowers George R noted that the Collab and the Town still need to make progress on leaf blowers. George noted that Air Quality—Clean Air—was something that brings together several Collab efforts: Electric Vehicles, Trees, Leaf Blowers, lowering total GHGs. (Update—Steve M and George R discussed the existing ToM noise code, noting that adjustment to the detailed regulations could be made which would significantly reduce leaf blower noise and its impact on both Air Quality and ToM Quality of Life. And that these changes could be made even if regulations regarding gas leaf blowers remained,for the moment, as is). Action Item 1: George R and Steve M to report, at the Collab December meeting, on how the ToM Noise Code can be changed to reduce Leaf Blower noise. The meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm. The next meeting will be held on: Tuesday, Dec 8, 2020 via Zoom, details to come 5