HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021_02_10 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes
Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative
Meeting Notes, February 10, 2021
(Meeting via Zoom, 6pm – 8pm)
Attendees: Mitch Green, Nancy Seligson, Sue Odierna, George Roniger, Karen Khor, Mark Kramer, Kevin
Crowe, Frank Owens, Arlene Novich, Michelle Lewis, Elizabeth Poyet, Sasha Nahr (Co-chair,
Larch Enviro Comm.), Nick Zuba, June Wallach, Lizzy Kaplan (College student intern), Emilia
Patigoso (MHS National Honor Society President)
New volunteers/participants: Meg Deshpande, Jacob Levitt
Mitch G welcomed everyone.
Notes of January 2021 meeting were accepted.
National Honor Society Volunteers
Amelia requested of Collabs that they let her know dates/times/number of volunteers needed for volunteer work
so she can get the word out to her NHS members. Karen offered to conduct a zoom “class” of about two to three
minutes long to give volunteers background on food scrap recycling and/or other Collab projects they might help
out on. Amelia suggested recording it so students could watch when they’re available if they cannot make the
live zoom.
Action Items: Collabs to send to Sue Odierna and Mitch by March 5 any and all suggestions for NHS volunteer
time Please use the handy form Sue created (attached to these Notes) to describe the opportunity and specify
the days and hours – thank you!
Cleaner, More Resilient Energy:
GHG Data
Mitch explained that he, Nancy, Mark M and Nick had a conference call re: getting out an RFP to various energy
tracking organizations to see how best to move forward on tracking our data. Nancy updated the group that Sue
and Lizzy are now working on renewing the Town’s Clean Energy Community (CEC) certification which the Town
receivse by acquiring points for various “high impact actions” taken and one of the actions is energy
benchmarking for municipal buildings. By creating a NYSERDA Energy Star portfolio manager account, we can
track our energy data AND also receive points towards this CEC certification. Therefore, Nancy felt it would be
best to hold off on an RFP and see if Energy Star can meet our needs.
NYS PACE Financing
Nick Z reported on the NY version of PACE Financing and discussed his concerns with the program. There is a
renovation limitation of 10% on a commercial property owner’s property’s appraised value (The CT program
allows 35%) which he felt was a drawback. Also, the Town is not completely without liability as EIC can sue the
municipality (though it’s not clear for what), so the Town Attorney will have to review the documentation.
Action Item: Nick will speak with his contacts and find out if there is any flexibility with the EIC portion, and
report at the March 9 Collab meeting
Community Solar
Mitch updated the group that he and Sasha had a call with Sustainable Westchester discussing the community
solar program in which residents who sign on get a 10% discount on their Con Ed bill simply by supporting
community solar. Nancy mentioned that this is a great program as one doesn’t need panels on their own home’s
roof and yet, can still promote solar power and also that the Town has a community solar project in the works via
the solar panels being built on the Hommocks Ice Rink roof which will be marketed to low and moderate income
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residents first. Frank mentioned that the developer gave a presentation to HMX students to explain the
community solar project going up on their roof. Frank also wanted to make sure Nina at SW has all the LMI
information she needs to conduct the outreach to those low/moderate income residents. Nancy assured him
that she does have a listing of appropriate housing options.
Grid Rewards
When a resident signs on to this demand response program, they receive messages from Con Ed to reduce their
power demand during high demand times (mostly in summer). If the resident agrees to using less power during
these times, they receive a rebate at the end of the year. The amount of the check is based on the amount of
kilowatts saved by not using the A/C (or heat). Sign-up deadline is March 31. The three enviro committee chairs
discussed the program and how they could potentially promote it, helped by SW who can provide blurbs on the
program.
Action Item: For both Community Solar and GridRewards, Mitch asked who could work with him, Lisa and Sasha
(LEC) and Ellen Silver (CFTE) on Community Solar and Grid Rewards (promoting programs). Mark M. said he’d
help out by creating a comparison chart of the different energy programs available and that he would
participate on a call with Lisa, Mitch, Lizzy and Nick with SW that was to occur later in week.
Update: The combined Collab – CFTE – LEC have had further discussions and have agreed to roll out a tri-
municipal combined Community Solar/GridRewards campaign as quickly as possible in early March. Time is of
the essence, sign-up period for GridRewards ends on March 31 and the benefits of Comm. Solar decrease the
longer sign-ups are delayed into the spring. Immediate action items, to be accomplished BEFORE the March 9
Collab meeting, are:
Collab to secure ToM Leadership’s endorsement of the joint campaign and agree that the ToM logo can be
used on campaign literature
Collab – CFTE – LEC to list up and agree on joint marketing channels, include social media, print media,
possibly LMC-TV, email blasts to environmental committee members, and special appeals to Houses of
Worship, Clubs and Service Organizations
Collab – CFTE – LEC to work with SW on registering our individual and collective participation with NYSERDA,
as required. We will supply the info; SW will do the legwork for us.
Collab – CFTE – LEC will work with SW to identify specific consumer-focused marketing collateral that will be
fine-tuned for our tri-muni program
Important note – the quicker we can get sign-ups, the faster the Collab / ToM can qualify for NYSERDA Rewards
dollars!
Strengthen Community Health:
Trees
Arlene N mentioned her group is close to choosing a name, that she has spoken with Ron and Michelle in
Scarsdale to get their “tree advice” regarding making changes to code and that she has been tasked with writing
a “white paper” which will be helpful in presenting to the TB how important trees are. Nancy clarified that the
paper should simply contain how many trees were removed/came down and how many were planted (in each of
the last three years) showing the net loss of tree canopy and then a few lines on why trees are so important. June
offered to help Arlene; Mitch liked her description of trees as “problem solvers.” Nancy also emphasized how
important it will be for Collabs, and resident in general, to come out and express their views during the
community outreach portion of the Comprehensive Plan meetings. Jacob L. asked if there is a program where
residents can earn money/get tax breaks to keep trees on their property alive and Mitch said he was aware of a
hedge fund that is involved in this as they can calculate the amount of money saved by having trees on property
and said he would look into this further.
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Update/Action Item: Arlene will send around the white paper draft by the end of February to then circulate to
the Collabs. Tree sub-committee has been named (drum roll please…) The Tree Team!
OCRA (Original Science Research Action) MHS Students “ToM Green” App
Michele updated us that Frank has reviewed some of the sections of the app, Michele feels some content is
redundant, content is still being added (Trees piece should be added). Michele to set up a call between herself,
Joe LIberti, Mitch and Frank. Though the cost of the program for the first two years is covered, who will cover the
cost afterwards? Collabs? Town? Michele asked Joe/students to write introduction to the program and also let
her know what cost will be. Frank mentioned it would be helpful to see the entire app in a page to get the big
view. Also would be nice to link to or list nearby locations that are related to the programs (ex: bike shops for
bike lane portion)
Action Item: Michele has communicated with both the students and Joe Liberti regarding progress and
content. Michele expects an update from the OCRA team in early March. Once this is received, Michele will
coordinate distribution to the Collab through Sue O.
Minimize Waste:
Food Scrap Recycling:
Karen showed the “We Compost” stickers for trash cans and/or car bumpers and explained the initiative to get
the word out through volunteers at Maxwell Avenue in March and through social media (Sue). Can also put
stickers with placement instruction inside the food scrap kits when residents purchase. Karen added that it is
unfortunate that we don’t have an updated list of names of food recyclers but that we can try and get residents’
info when they pick up a sticker at Maxwell or TC. There will also be a presence of volunteers at Larchmont
Farmers Market (starting in late April) to promote food scrap kits and other Collabs programs like Healthy Yards
and Love your Food. Discussion of a banner perhaps on the exterior of the Maxwell Office promoting the free
sticker or a weather-proof box containing stickers next to the food scrap cans.
Karen also suggested reaching out to real estate agents to give them an enviro brochure or kit of some type and
Laura W. has offered to design a brochure. Libby suggested we talk to the agents to get them on board and how
being a “tree-friendly” community is an asset for Larch/Mam’k, and a selling point.
Mark K mentioned the annual return of the Compost Give Back Day and proposed dates of April 24, May 1
and/or May 15. Mark also asked when Suburban will be taking the food scraps as this program was to begin in
January. Nancy reported that has been placed on hold while major sanitation issues are being discussed and
resolved including restructuring the Sanitation Commission.
Action Item 1: Need approval from Steve/Nancy for volunteers to hand out stickers/promote selling of kits
(Saturdays March 13 and March 20). Some concern about congestion on a Saturday and where volunteers could
safely be in place. Also, need direction from Steve/Nancy re: promoting Collab initiatives at Larchmont Farmers
Market. Update: Steve/Nancy approved dates of 3/8, 3/12, 3/13, 3/16, 3/20 for volunteers at Maxwell Ave.
Action Item 2: Need approval on Compost Give Back Day (April 24, May 1, May 15) to be held again at Maxwell
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Avenue. Libby emailed to Steve/Nancy/Sue to confirm dates. Update 2: April 24 is the approved date.
Action Item 3: Mitch suggested Karen ask Laura to call or email him to work out details of enviro one-pager that
shows how green we are
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.
The next meeting will be held on: Tuesday, March 9, 2021 via Zoom @ 6pm
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