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Home My WebLink About2024_08_06 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative �o{Marnarono 2024.0806 Meeting Notes ,�o� c,F TOWN OF MAMARONECK SUSTAINABILITY COLLABORATIVE 2024.0806 °%If/ AUGUST 2024 MEETING—NOTES S4staina;\c Attendees: Mark Kramer, Karin Weisberg, Mark Manley, Colin Barrett, Frank Owens, Mike Smeets,Arlene Novich,Jake Levitt,June Wallach, Karen Khor, Mitch Green Approval of the Meeting Notes The Notes of the July Collaborative Meeting were approved Complete Streets&Biking Update—VoM and the BPR Mike Smeets updated the group on current"emergency response"activities on Mamaroneck Avenue near Mamaroneck Avenue School(MAS). In the limited time available before the new school year starts in 30 days, NYS DOT,Westchester County and VoM are collaborating to make the three intersections closet to MAS(Hillside, Nostrand and New Streets) safer and make pedestrians more visible by removing parking spaces at corners and creating waiting zones to make pedestrians more visible and reduce the width of traffic lanes that need to be crossed. Mike also updated the group on overall status of activities by VoM,VoL and ToM to prepare for full engagement with NYSDOT regarding the Boston Post Road (BPR) repaving in 2026- 2028. Of the three munis,VoL is farthest ahead, having already received their SS4 Grant;VoM expects approval of its grant application in September.The Town intends to submit its SS4 Grant application by the end of August.The scope of NYSDOT's work is likely to expand, and may include the entire length of the BPR from Rye to New Rochelle. When asked"what can the Collaborative and its members do to help?", Mike suggested: show up for meetings,write emails in support of key activities,join"BPR Planning Meetings"as they are set up. Update: Mike will address the Town Board on Wednesday September 4. ToM Storm Water/Storm Sewer Presentation to the Board Mark Kramer updated the group on the presentation by an Engineering Consultant(H2M)to the Town Board on what has been studied so far and what are likely next steps.The Board and the Consultant had identified 12 areas and from those, 15—20 projects whose goal is to increase the capacity of the existing Storm Water system to reduce surface flooding due to Storm Sewer inability to handle the increased intensity and flow rates that we now experience. Not all projects can be fast tracked or completed at one time. Comments included: 1) by using only a 24-hour time frame for projections to calculate how"solutions" should perform, it is likely that millions of dollars may be expended and yet fail to solve the problem that occurs with intense shorter duration rainfalls; 2)that if new storm sewers and/or culverts were built only at the sides of roads,this construction will end up destroying many older and taller trees,thereby reducing our tree canopy and making our problem worse; and 3)that the Consultant seems to be relying only on "grey"(i.e., concrete) infrastructure, ignoring the reduced costs and tree-canopy enhancing advantages of "green infrastructure" 1 Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative 2024.0806 Meeting Notes It was noted that the Consultant's draft report has not been made available to the public,and further noted that the Town's Coastal Zone Commission,who have an intense interest in this report, have been unable to receive the report either. How will ToM pay for these projects?The strategy seems to be to apply for infrastructure Grants through the State.And it is possible that the Engineer is much farther along in these"grey concrete"solutions,which may reduce the likelihood that the current direction can be changed. A Tree for George Arlene Novich reported that she will get together with Liz Aitchison once she is available to sort out the details for the tree in honor of George Roniger. This will likely occur after Labor Day. 110 Trees Planted in Spring 2024-list of locations&types No new information has been forwarded to the Collaborative.We will continue to request this information. Repair Café&Upcoming Events Kevin Crowe and Katherine Parnell continue to recruit"Repairers"for our October 20 event.There will be a Repair Café Team meeting in early September,with a status report at our September 10 Collaborative meeting New Sustainability Collaborative Logo—Approved! Mark Kramer reported that the ToM Supervisor has approved the logo,specifically the version with the words"Town of Mamaroneck"above,and"Sustainability"below the multi-color graphic.The new Logo is on page 1 and will be across a variety of media,electronic and otherwise Upcoming Events in September in collaboration with VoM at Harbor Island Saturday,Sept 21 —Monarch Festival—Mark K and Sue 0 will reach out to VoM to find out details Saturday,Sept 28—Drive Electric ToM/VoM/VoL at Harbor Island—the Collaborative will find out the details and will organize participation—having local resident electric cars on-site is a key objective. Interns and Mentors—CSC&CEC actions during the School Year Mark K and Mitch G reported that,as a result of their July 31 meeting with ToM Leadership,that the Town will use available funds from a previous CSC"Award"to fund a part-time Intern to work with Sue on CSC/ CEC application prep.Sue 0 will consider the types of candidates that will be available and advertise for candidates.This is an important step forward for the Town in recognizing the quantity of effort required and at the same time recognizing that purely volunteer support is unlikely to produce the results that Town hopes for. At the same time, Mark K and Mitch G will work with existing,and former, and hopefully future, Collab members to create a group of specialist Mentors who will be available to assist the Intern and Sue on a focused,targeted, limited-time basis.This is the same approach that the Collaborative and Joe Liberti have worked together on for numerous projects over the last half-dozen years.Aligning expectations and objectives is essential. Update:EV Chargers for Multi-Family Housing Mitch G reported that a meeting between Town Leadership and the Washington Square Neighborhood Association (WSNA)will be scheduled for September and that the Collaborative will be invited to attend and introduce the work we have done on"EV Chargers for Multi-Family Housing." 2 Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative 2024.0806 Meeting Notes Update:Solar on ToM Properties Mitch G reported that Town Leadership reacted positively to the Collaborative's update on Solar Opportunities for ToM-controlled properties.While Town Leadership reaches out to Sustainable Westchester on some questions regarding the"sample economic analyses"prepared together with the Solar potential studies, Collab members should contact private sector developers interested in working with the Town on one or more of the sites. Mark Manley, Frank Owens and Nic Zuba have been asked to assist. It doesn't have to be all business:Collaborative get-together this Fall The Collab considered a variety of ideas for a"social gathering of related parties"for this Fall. Out of these, the priorities are:A)get-together of ToM-related volunteers,commission members, board members,ToM staff and Town Leaders as a way of promoting better mutual understanding and finding ways to support each others'priorities; and then perhaps B)a joint get-together of the VoL-ToM-VoM environmental committees to meet and greet,share insights and find issues on which collaboration will benefit all.We will report on next steps at our September 1 o Collab meeting. 3