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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023_04_11 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes—April 11, 2023 Attendees: Karen Khor,June Wallach, Sue Odierna, Mark Kramer, Mark Manley, Kevin Crowe, Karin Weisburgh, Arlene Novich, Robin Nichinsky, Mike Smeets, Melissa Hughes, Zach Hughes, Mitch Green, Sebastian Gold,Judy Caputo, Robin Nichinsky, Allen Reiter, Leo Tantillo (OCRA student), County Executive George Latimer Volunteers were welcomed to the meeting by Mark Kramer and the notes of the March meeting were approved. Mark asked how many were signed up for GridRewards and gave a brief explanation of the program. He suggested anyone interested sign up by the end of April to maximize benefits. ( https://www.gridrewards.com/) Meeting Discussion Efficiencies Kevin Crowe explained the importance of keeping to the schedule. He reminded speakers to let Karen and Mark know how long their presentation will be to keep the meeting running smoothly. Increasing Recycling Options, "Books" at Maxwell Avenue OCRA student Leo Tantillo, (working with OCRA students Charlie Masse and Colin Gilder) recommends the for-profit company, "Discover Books"for the Maxwell Avenue site. This is a company that provides a bin for people to donate usable or recyclable books. Currently, Bedford, Yonkers and Scarsdale municipalities are providing this service. Leo mentioned that this service would save the Commission money since books would not add to waste poundage. With County Executive George Latimer at the meeting, he was asked if the County would consider having this private company place a book bin at Valhalla. George responded that they would consider this, yes. Mitch Green asked if the company reports back to the municipality on how many books are donated or recycled. Leo said he would follow up on this. Update:student to meet with Town Administrator at Maxwell. Bike Lane&Complete Streets Volunteer Mike Smeets updated the group on his further progress. In addition to all three environmental committees, Mike has presented to the Safe Routes to School group as well. He reminded our group that the deadline for the SS4A grant(Safe Streets for All) is July 10`h and that this is a multi-municipal grant. Mike will be emailing Town Administrator Meredith Robson to get her feedback. Update: email sent and response from Town rec'd 4/24. EnergySmart Homes Campaign This Sustainable Westchester program can help households become more sustainable and help with energy bills at the same time. Though there is a financial obligation up front to switch, there are incentives and rebates available (see the SW site) to get started with the new systems. Through NYSERDA, residents can get a free energy audit and a customized report on their specific energy situation, along with potential improvements (examples include Geothermal, airsource, groundsource, rather than oil-based solutions). Contractors have gotten up to speed on these systems, adding details on rebates,financing, and tax credits to their estimates. For the Town to benefit(CEC and CSC points), we must sign up five residents—not sure of the needed timeframe to do so -- but since residents need to get a Building Department permit, this should be easily quantified. Pound Ridge and New Rochelle are taking advantage of this program and June recommends it for the Town as well. Upcoming April/May Events Karen mentioned the following upcoming events and highlighted those that still need volunteers: 1) Central School's Earth Day, Friday, April 21st 2) Native Seedling Planting, Kane Park, Saturday, April 22nd 3) Earth Day—LEC/Village of Larchmont, Constitution Park, Saturday April 22nd 4) Compost Giveaway Day, Maxwell Ave. Recycling Center, Saturday, April 29th Update: this has been postponed to Saturday, May 6`" 5) STEM-Tastic, Friday, May 12th—Collab's proposed recycling activity done pre-COVID Update: Collab will not run its recycling activity since the OCRA team working on improving recycling in Larchmont's Constitution Park already signed up to do a similar recycling activity. Updates on Trees Arlene reminded us about the Tree Walk scheduled for Sunday, April 30th. (Note: this has also been postponed —to Sunday, May 7t" ) Arlene went with June and Elizabeth to the "Power of Trees"event in Bedford, over 600 people attended. She said the speaker talked about the difficulty of municipalities enforcing tree ordinances. In several communities, there is apparently not enough oversight. Arlene and others zoomed with George Profus, Senior Forester of NYSDEC Region 3, who made the point that canopy trees are very important to reduce heat and consumption of energy. Also, he stated that shaded streets last longer; he reported that 16% of Westchester is made up of impervious surfaces. Tree Plantings by MHS Tigers MHS student Zach Hughes updated us on the tree planting project that he is working on with the NYS DEC. The DEC donates seedlings to high schoolers to encourage plantings and Zach is expecting 25 red oak seedlings (4"to 12"high)sometime in May. Liz needs to know where Zach and his fellow MHS student helpers will plant the trees, but she cannot help with the project itself. It was suggested to Zach that he and his helpers should tag or mark the seedlings so that there can be easy follow up for watering and monitoring. Collabs also recommended to Zach that he contact MHS Administration to see if the seedlings could be planted on school property so that trees will be there for the next generation; this is a "better story"than planting in the woods where trees will be more difficult to find. Comprehensive Plan Update The Consultants have sent the draft plan to the steering committee and to the Town Board members for their comments. The next meeting of the Steering Committee is April 18tn Note: The Steering Committee's final comments are in and the Town Board members are in the process of reviewing. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.