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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025_06_03 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative/CSC Task Force 3�r p{MaMar0 2025.06.03 Meeting Notes sc c* TOWN OF MAMARONECK SUSTAINABILITY COLLABORATIVE .4r/ June 3,2025 SIStainabt.%t' Attendees: Mark Kramer, Mark Manley, Sue Odierna, Arlene Novich,Allen Reiter,June Wallach, Roger Weiss, Karin Weisburgh,Stephen Moser, Frank Owens, Margaux Cowles, MHS sophomore students Harper and Zella Approval of the Meeting Notes The Notes from the May Sustainability Collaborative Meeting were approved. US 1 Complete Streets-NYS DOT Open House Mike Smeets gave his Complete Streets presentation, entitled"Boston Post Road Repaving Briefing", which had been presented previously to the Village of Mamaroneck. Knowing that NYS would be repaving Boston Post(BP)Road in 2026, Mike saw an opportunity to get changes the community has wanted for a long time on this important corridor,namely bike lanes to enable students to safely ride to school as Hommocks, MHS and the Rye Neck schools, are all on BP Road, or just off it. For the last couple of years, Mike has been meeting with the three municipalities, the Safe Routes to School committees, the various school administrators, and PTAs in the community,reviewing this corridor's safety issues, the importance of making the road safer, and how we can add bike lanes and where. As NYS DOT is coming to Mamaroneck for a public open house meeting this week, Mike encouraged Collabs to attend and spread the word to their neighbors. He mentioned how very important it is to fill MHS on 6/5 for this event to show DOT how significant re-imagining BP Road is. Most of BP Road is five lanes wide, with no parking spots. Adding bike lanes would increase safety and increase bike riding. Mike expects the meeting to be in small working groups,not one person standing and giving a speech. He said he will follow up with municipalities and state representatives after the event. Originally, NYS'plan was to facilitate the "Complete Streets"model in the VoL part of BP Road only, due to statistically high accidents/damage in that corridor-the feeling was that the streets there are too narrow and would benefit from bike lanes. Mike convinced those at NYS DOT to consider a much longer part of BP Road. Update:The MHS Open House on June 5 was well attended,approximately 250+attendees. The tri- municipal environmental committees and the Town Board had members in attendance. The format of the open house allowed attendees to write comments on Post-it Notes and stick them on enlarged maps on tables at the appropriate location(s) from New Rochelle to Rye Neck. NYS DOT had staff members and their consultants on-hand to answer questions and take comments. Traffic surveys of key parts of the BP Road as well as accident locations were spotlighted on additional posters. NYS will follow up this Open House with a meeting in the fall. Mark Kramer's inquiry revealed that traffic surveys reported(bicycle and vehicles)were conducted in the late afternoon/early evening,not when schools were let out. Morning rush hours were not reportedly surveyed. If you wish to make comments,please either use the attached NYS Comment Sheet for the U.S. 1 Complete Streets and mail or email to Chris.hann@dot,ny.gov. Alternatively,your comments can be directly emailed to Chris.hann@dot.ny.gov without the form. Tree List Update-Arlene This tree list tells residents which types of trees can be planted in the Town. Many were removed from the original list. Some are not native,but the invasives were removed which was the Collabs'request. Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative/CSC Task Force 2025.06.03 Meeting Notes Comments included: the revised tree list is very long, not detailed enough, residents need to know which types of trees to put in certain areas. This should be on the website where the tree code is listed.June suggested that we add it to the HY page as well,and she suggested we could reformat the list to make it more readable. Tree Photography Exhibition-Arlene and Sue We received 16 submissions, about half from students and half from adults in town, beautiful tree photos, and they are up. They will be up for all of June, and Sue will see if submissions can stay permanently. Reception to be held on June 9t'from 4 pm to 6 pm in the second-floor hallway of Town Center. Refreshments will be served. Update: The Town hosted the Tree Photography Exhibition on June 9th. The Town Supervisor and three Town Board members dropped by. Several of the photographers also attended. Of particular note was the enthusiastic elementary school student who captured Dogwood tree flowers and was so proud to see his photograph on exhibit. Arlene,Sue and Mark intermingled with all in attendance. Please stop by next time you're in Town Center. Pollinator Garden Location Possibilities-Mark and Kevin Would it be possible to plant a pollinator garden somewhere within Memorial Park?Since pollinators are low maintenance plants, we wouldn't need to be concerned about watering them. Margaux and Allen volunteered to present the idea to Town staff. Kevin and other volunteers from LEC have planted more natives by the Mamaroneck Senior Center. Mark suggested we do a walk-through of Memorial Park to get a sense of where to plant. VoM Native Plant Giveaway The Garden Club of Larchmont hosted a plant swap today. Mark wondered if we should do this as well. Could we add this idea to the Repair Café? STEMtastic Mark,June and other Collabs attended the STEMtastic event at the Westchester Children's Museum. It was very well attended and June and Mark felt it was a very well-run event. Mostly elementary and middle school kids participated. High school students in large numbers volunteered to staff the event. Other Mark Manley asked how many solar panel permits were requested this year from our Building Dept. Sue to find out and let Collabs know. Update: From January 1 -May 31,2025,thirteen permits have been approved for solar panels. June reminded the group that Sustainable Westchester is promoting the Solarize program again,and people can check their website for details:https://sustainablewestchester.org/residentialsolarize/ Also,Sue has posted details to Town FB pages. The meeting ended at 8:00 p.m.