HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024_05_07 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative
Meeting Notes — May 7, 2024
Meeting notes accepted from April meeting.
Attending: Mark Kramer, Sue Odierna, Hugh Collins, Karen Khor, Mitch Green, June Wallach, Arlene
Novich, Sebastian Gold and MHS"Slice" students
Review of April Events(Mark Kramer)
Various events were discussed:
• Compost Giveaway was a great success, with well over 100 cars of residents coming for free
compost. There was one issue regarding person who arrived,filled up their container and returned
for more. Need to emphasize for future events that this is one trip per resident/family—with a 35-
gallon limit. Perhaps a large sign as opposed to our current 8.5"x 11"posters would be helpful for
those that might miss this info on flyers.
• Mark also reported on the Doug Tallamy Talk/Pollinator Garden Tour at the Jay Heritage Center in
Rye. Room was filled to capacity, 100+people came to hear him and the excellent panelists talks.
Doug mentioned how nitrogen-based fertilizers are problematic for LI Sound (something we are
well aware of here in the Town as this issue was a passion of former Town Supervisor Nancy
Seligson and led to our participation in the Healthy Yards program.) Here is the link to Doug
Tallamy's presentation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEJcimuzg2Y
• Arlene Novich reported on the Tree Walk along "The Brook"in Larchmont Gardens that she helped
to organize. She noted the Walk went well, close to 20 adults and children attended, weather was
chilly but participants learned a lot and seemed to enjoy it. A big thank you to Jocelyn Kleinman,
Director of Education at Sheldrake,for leading the walk once again for our residents.
• Arlene and Mark further reported on our participation at Earth Day Celebration. Although no food
scrap kits were sold,several residents did sign the Healthy Yard Pledge.
• Arlene reported that the Farmer's Market booth was a joint effort with CFTE and the interaction
with residents was similar to prior Farmer's Markets.
Mark Kramer asked Collab youth member, Sebastian Gold, about his MHS OCRA group's recent initiative,
a lawn/window sign-designing contest that Chatsworth Avenue School 5th graders participated in which
had ended. Mark Kramer asked him to follow up with teacher Joe Liberti to f/w a photo of the winning
sign to all three enviro committees.
Comprehensive Plan Hearing on May 8th (Mitch Green)
Co-Chairs Mark Kramer and Mitch Green, along with Karen Khor created two documents that they felt
should be added to the Town's Draft Comp Plan as appendices as important and relevant to the five themes
of the Comp Plan. The documents list the many initiatives that the Collaborative and/or the Town have
accomplished since the 1990's as well as the varied list of reference documents,some of which stretch back
to the 1960s. The Collabs feel these documents are an instrumental part of the Comprehensive Plan and
give essential background information that ties together what the Town has accomplished. In addition, the
Collab has proposed a short addition to the text which provides a general overview of how the Town may
move forward from here toward developing a plan for implementation of the Comp Plan. The Collab hopes
these two documents and the short paragraph will be added to the Plan.
Note: The attached three documents were submitted to the Town Board on May 3rd as comments.
LMC Media "Studio on the Avenue" (Sue Odierna) Sue reminded the group that LMC Producer Dena
Schumacher reached out to her to say that LMC studio time is available for the Collab to create content to
promote initiatives,recruit volunteers, talk upcoming events,conduct a Q&A and more. LMC would handle
the technical/recording work and can also help with content. There was discussion about some of the
ideas that would be of interest to the public such as "Healthy Yards"and the new leaf blower Law as well
as EnergySmart Homes and programs that residents can utilize. Mitch raised the idea of interviewing the
mentors for the OCRA program and Mark expanded the idea to include mentors from the three
municipalities. After a list of proposed topics or themes is drawn together(June, Hugh, Mark, Mitch), the
proposal will be forwarded to the Town Board for approval before initiating scripts.
Next Steps:June, Hugh, and other Collab members will put together a "long list" of topics that might be
candidates for LMC use. The list will be prioritized based on ability to encourage residents to take action
on sustainability or resilience items that have meaning for them.With that"short list",the Collab will take
the next steps with LMC
Update--Leaf Blower Law-- Public Hearing(Mark Kramer for Allen Reiter)
Mark reported that the second public hearing on this issue would take place the following evening at the
Town Board meeting. Though the Collabs are disappointed that clubs and the Town(properties)are exempt
from the law, they are glad that there will be a stricter, year-long ban on the gas-powered leaf blowers,
effective next year.
Update: The Town held a Public Hearing on May 8th on the revision to the code to ban gas-powered leaf
blowers on residential properties. The law was passed and effective January 2025,gasoline-powered leaf
blowers will be banned all year long on residential properties. Until then,the law remains as is which is a
ban from June 15t through September 30tn
Update: Collab Website Homepage(Hugh Collins)
Hugh gave an updated presentation on how to improve the Collab homepage—make it more inviting and
engaging by adding more images and friendlier language. He also suggested we need to bring content up
to date and convey the sense of community better. Hugh came up with six categories,residents would then
click through to more specific ideas. Hugh asked Sue if the website requires a certain font.
Update: Sue spoke with IT and the font used on the website is "Poppins." (Modifications can be drafted
in any font, because they will be copied/pasted into the Poppins font when ready to finalize on the site.)
MHS Slice Club Presentation—Final Draft Collab Logo
As a reminder,several months ago, this MHS group working with Collab members June Wallach and Mark
Kramer were tasked with creating a logo for the Sustainability Collaborative. They came up with several
lovely logos, but then were asked to come up with something more "simple and clean" The suggestion
was that the tone needed to be flexible, since this logo will be used in different ways on different types of
items. Slice came up with a unique logo that they presented tonight and it seemed to be a hit.
With minor tweaks, this might be it. Based on the enthusiasm for the concept presented, the next step will
be to examine the details of the logo,including options where the text"Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability
Collaborative"might be placed-perhaps to the right of the logo, or perhaps around the logo itself
Once finalized, the Collab will send the final draft logo to the Supervisor, the Administrator, and the Board,
explaining the objectives of the design, how the logo works now, how it has the flexibility to work in the
future, how it relates to the Collab's emphases and relates to the Comp Plan's Themes.
Update on GOCAP—Karen
Climate Smart Community—several actions will expire in September, so would be good to submit for the
next period in July. Karen wanted to know if we will have an intern or interns this summer. Sue reported
that she's received three resumes but is waiting for Jaine's input on when to set up interviews. Sue has
suggested to Jaine that as college is ending for the year, they should get started before the interns are hired
for other positions.
Follow-up April Collab Discussion on Trees—Mitch
At the April Collab meeting, Environmental Planner Liz Aitchison and her husband Damon, a long-time tree
specialist,joined in a discussion of tree types, their attributes, challenges, potential invasiveness, and in
what conditions a particular tree type might thrive best. The discussion was lively, with a variety of opinions
expressed, and a shared sense that consensus could be reached with more discussion.
As a follow-up, Mitch prepared a two-part proposal: 1) revise and expand the Official Town Tree List into
four separate categories since trees needed/desired in a backyard are different than trees planted
elsewhere (such as parking lots or along streets); and 2) organize a meeting (or meetings) held to reach
agreement on these lists attended by four Collab members and Environmental Planner Liz Aitchison, Tree
Specialist Damon Aitchison, a representative from Engineering and the Town Arborist.
A copy of the proposal is attached.
Update: This proposal was emailed to the Town Supervisor,Administrator and the Board.We are awaiting
a response
Meeting adjourned 8:15pm