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Home My WebLink About2022_05_03 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative 2022.0503 Collab Meeting Notes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes May 3, 2022 Attendees: Karen Khor,June Wallach, Robin Nichinsky, Mitch Green, Sue Odierna, Arlene Novich, Mark Kramer, Michele Lewis, Nick Zuba, Kevin Crowe, Elizabeth Poyet,Judy Caputo, Allen Reiter, George Roniger, Karin Weisburgh, Mark Manley, Sebastian Gold, Supervisor Jaine Elkind Eney, Administrator Meredith Robson New attendees: Lee Wexler,Judy Darksy,Judy Herbst, Perri McKinney, Dami (need last name) Co-chairs June Wallach and Karen Khor asked to approve the Notes of the April 2022 meeting and notes were approved. They welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Town Supervisor Jaine Elkind Eney and Town Administrator Meredith Robson. Jaine introduced Tiffany Zezula and Kevin Dworka from the PACE Land Use Law Center, our consultants on the Town's Comprehensive Plan. Guests Tiffany Zezula and Kevin Dworka—Comprehensive Plan Tiffany gave an overview of her background including that she has worked on several Comprehensive Plans in other Westchester communities such as New Rochelle and Tarrytown. She explained that the Comp Plan is a written formal document, adopted by local legislative body and that all of zoning and other land use ordinances are included and fit in with the Plan. Today's Plans are more thematic and less compartmentalized than in the past, a more holistic approach. Tiffany stated that three elements must be integrated into the plan: • Environmental, Social(Education, Community, Standard of Living)and Economic. The Project Approach is to: • meet with Boards and Staffs • engage the public • translate all into policies(which sets the foundation for potential changes) • 12-15-month process Kevin Dworka spoke about his part in the process, the Community Needs Assessment—walking/driving around Town. Inventorying what the community needs, lay of the land, compiling data, maps, documents, 2018 Local Revitalization Report. Kevin asked Collabs what specific environmental issues they were concerned about: Responses included: • Flooding • Commutation (Tiffany indicated a Traffic Study would not be done by them.) • Multi-Family Buildings and Energy Codes(both residential and commercial), Resilience of Buildings • How to make Boston Post Road more pleasant • How do we not "throw away"ideas that come out of the Comp Plan? • Noise, re landscapers/leaf blowers, especially with so many now working from home or hybrid working • What is the low hanging fruit?What are the long-term goals? (Kevin Dworka responded that the eComp Plan covers a long time period and that policies should reflect that. Within the policy are specific action plans, some with in a year(low hanging), others are pricey, risky legally/financially and take longer(for example a major infrastructure change) • EV Charging Stations for those in apt buildings, need a public education campaign for this 1 Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative 2022.0503 Collab Meeting Notes • Compost pick up at Curb • Teardowns The question was asked:based on pandemic changing much of our day-to-day living, how do we create a Comprehensive Plan when the last two years were so different? It was explained that the Town can change as situations(for example:health crisis, inflation, work habits) change. Plan gets modified, policies are designed to endure, but policies can be amended. Tiffany showed flyers and noted dates of May 4 and May 24 for the listening sessions. Conversation with Jaine Elkind Eney and Meredith Robson Discussion about timing of summer internship. Collabs offered assistance to the summer internship program via zooms, conference calls and occasional in-person meetings. Jaine mentioned they are interviewing candidates and that environmental issues will be addressed. Interested candidates should send resume to Jaine. Update: MHS student and frequent Collab-attendee,Sebastian Gold was offered the internship in the Supervisor's office starting end of June when school finishes. Sebastian was also able to work several days after school with intern Kat Warwick to get the lay of the land. We would like to thank Sebastian for taking on this role and also thank Kat for her hard work for the Town/Collabs for many months,working closely with Denise Dunn since the fall/ Discussion about eleven requests from Collabs re: Tree Code. Meredith mentioned that staff has made progress going through list. Jaine went through list, goal by goal. Said she would bring up a year-round ban of gas- powered leaf blowers again with the Town Board. Also, will look at potential NYS law and see progress on that. Wants to get through tree code before tackling leaf blowers. Discussed bike lanes/sharrows. Meredith mentioned it is a bigger concept, can make some policy recommendations re:comp plan. Native plants discussed—Liz working on planting natives wherever possible per new Town policy. Recycling receptacles by all trash cans. Meredith continuing to make sure this happens at Town buildings/offices. Curbside food scrap pickup on hold until Town and VoL determine how the Sanitation Commission will get revamped. Discussion regarding Maxwell Avenue Recycling Center hours to accommodate more residents/commuters and/or adding another location to drop off food scraps. Meredith and Jaine said they could take a look but the area outside Maxwell is not Town owned and unsupervised drop offs elsewhere could get trash and debris. Items like this are often left outside Maxwell after closing. Tree Code Policy—first draft from Town Attorney was 412012Z also looking at other municipality's tree codes. Next discussion at 5118122 Work Session of Town Board meeting. Public hearing to be scheduled following that. Nick Zuba requested a meeting with Meredith and Jaine re:PACE. To be scheduled. Update: This has been scheduled for mid-June Discussion about permeable paving/green infrastructure and that the EPA has grants available for this. Meredith said there are several green elements in the Town Center lot and in the Senior Center parking lot project. Discussion about phasing out oil/gas at Senior Center. Meredith mentioned this is a big deal, not something she can speak to now as far as when. May need a feasibility study. Discussion about Town potentially looking at carbon in the Town (a study?) Suggestions that Mark Manley, Nick Zuba and Marc Karell could assist on this. Discussion about Town better informing residents about backflow preventers. Jaine mentioned WJWW requires 2 Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative 2022.0503 Collab Meeting Notes this for pools, sprinkler systems, hot tubs and that the Building Inspector can post something to website. Concerns mentioned about Howell Park area with sewer backflow into basements. Discussion about a moratorium on cutting down trees, that new residents from NYC don't know how important it is to keep trees, that Town budget needs to spend more on trees as Scarsdale and Village of Mam'k do. Meredith explained that other municipalities are larger, have bigger staffs in these departments. She also mentioned that many sustainability initiatives are done here in the Town that most residents, even Collabs, are not aware of,such as the Stormwater improvements, Long Island Sound Watershed Intermunicipal Council, sewer work being done with neighboring communities. Debrief on Earth Month Events Mark K. thanked volunteers for their help for Compost Giveaway Day. We learned that 80%of those attending the event recycle their food scraps either in their backyard or through the municipal program. Town Cleanup for Earth Day was a success. Also mentioned is the upcoming Larch man t-Mamaroneck Pollinator Pathway Garden Tour in June. Meeting ended at 8:15pm. 3