HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-05-23-SLC-minSustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of May 23, 2023
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A
quorum of at least five was present throughout.
Members Present: Cindy Arens (chair), Lin Jensen, Andy Joynt, Rick Reibstein, Todd
Rhodes (vice-chair), Dan Voss, Charlie Wyman
Members Absent: Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick
Staff Present: Maggie Peard
Other Attendees: Atreyi Basu (SustainabLY), Tanay Dalmia (SustainabLY), Dora Liao
(SustainabLY), Joe Pato (Select Board), Mark Sandeen (Select Board),
Charles Hornig (Planning), Marcia Gens, Tina McBride, Ricki Pappo,
Gerry Yurkevicz
The meeting was called to order at 6:04 pm. Cindy referenced the opening statement requested
by the Town Clerk and all members present responded that they could hear.
Approval of minutes. The draft minutes of April 25, 2023, were approved as written.
Comments from residents; emails to committee mailbox; new business.
•Joe reported that the Select Board was looking at the potential for applying fees for pickup of
mattress, white goods and bulky items as a result of mattresses being banned from trash by
DEP. However, they have decided not to at this time, and are learning towards going to
Town Meeting just with an amendment to the general bylaw language regarding a "suitable
place or method for free public disposal for the inhabitants of the Town to deposit ashes,
cinders, papers and other refuse and rubbish” and a long-term waste reduction plan.
•Ricki noted that the 4th grader who spoke at Town Meeting would like to do more, and asked
if SustainabLY could help.
•Todd said there were no notable emails raising new issues.
SustainabLY update: Tanay reported that the event at the library went well, with a number of
different interactive stations and good attendance/participation. This is Tanay’s last meeting, as
he will be graduating shortly, and the committee thanked him and wished him well.
SustainabLY’s new member, Dora Liao, introduced herself and received welcomes from the
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Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of May 23, 2023
committee. Atreyi reported that they had their last meeting of the year the day before and are
looking for more high schoolers. She also said they’d be happy to help engaging the 4th grader.
Sustainability & Resilience Officer presentation and updates. Maggie reported:
•BEU-D: The official deadline has been moved to May 31 to sync with water bills. So far 21
connections have been made through Portfolio Manager, encompassing 25 buildings, in
addition to 30 Town buildings, out of a total of 120.
•Clean Heat Outreach Specialist hire: LexCAN and the Town partnered on a grant to hire a
Clean Heat Outreach Specialist, and Andy Joynt has been hired.
•Fossil-fuel Free Pilot: The state has issued the final regulations, opening the door to the
application process, and everything points to Lexington being one of the 10 chosen.
•Upcoming Noise Bylaw education & enforcement: The Town will be hosting an educational
event Thursday night on the noise by-law (both current seasonal restrictions as well as
eventual ban) to help with the transition.
•Launch of compost pilot: Sign-ups went live on May 17, with over 1,000 on the first day. The
list currently stands at 1,537 (out of 2,000 total authorized).
•Upcoming Zero Waste Plan meeting: This will be held tomorrow evening to introduce and
seek input on the draft Zero Waste Plan for the town. It will be a hybrid meeting, with both
in-person and Zoom break-out rooms.
•Home Performance Contractors: There have been a number of complaints about
HomeWorks, the current MassSave contractor that the town partners with to conduct home
energy assessments. Some discussion followed about why we partner with a particular
contractor and what we need in one (capacity, willingness to invest in promotion of the
program). Maggie will explore options.
•Resolution Framework: Maggie briefly reviewed it again, focusing on changes since the last
meeting. It is now being circulated to committees, with the next step being to bring it to the
Select Board. The question of whether to incorporate the Climate Emergency Resolution as
well was brought up earlier; she explained that it is less actionable but should be referenced.
Tina noted that the Climate Emergency Resolution was championed by young people and
noting it is another way to demonstrate that we are listening. Following discussion, it was
moved, seconded and voted unanimously that the Sustainable Lexington Committee supports
the framework that Maggie and Hemali have assembled.
•Climate Action Plan GHG Inventory: The Climate Action Plan working group meets again
on June 7 to generate implementation blueprints for climate actions. There was some
discussion about the methods, purposes, and uses of the greenhouse gas inventory. Mark
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Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of May 23, 2023
explained that the purpose has always been to guide the actions we take as a community and
provide a baseline against which to measure progress.
•Existing Buildings Operations Policy (EBOP): There are four documents which were
circulated to the committee before the meeting. Maggie walked the committee through the
metrics document. Some questions and discussion followed. The next immediate step is to
continue to circulate it among staff. Eventually the path to follow might be similar to the one
used for adoption of the Integrated Building Design and Construction Policy, with an ad hoc
group that might include members of the Select Board, School Committee, Sustainable
Lexington Committee and staff assembling to polish the document and recommend its
adoption.
Other Updates:
Police Station Solar and Storage: Todd reported that the Select Board has discussed it, the HDC
has previously voted in favor of the current design (it was a vote of the sense of the commission,
not a full certificate of appropriateness), the Dept. of Public Facilities has been working with
residents on other designs, and there have been several design charrettes. The latest version from
the architect, which is both shorter and a more cantilevered system, will be presented to the HDC
on June 1, and needs approval by July 7 to be folded into the current construction contract. Todd
presented a motion that was discussed and slightly amended. It was then moved, seconded, and
unanimously voted:
The Sustainable Lexington Committee strongly supports the approval of a police station solar
canopy and energy storage design that satisfies the following criteria:
•Generates sufficient energy to the Police Station for the building to at a minimum be
net-zero (i.e., the annual energy generated by the solar system – rooftop and canopy –
is equal to the expected annual energy consumed by the building).
•Includes electric battery storage to address peak electricity demands from EV fast
chargers and support building resilience.
•Can be designed and constructed within the budget approved by Town Meeting.
•Fits within the Town’s construction schedule so that infrastructure and footings can be
installed in 2023 so that full construction can be completed in 2024.
It is critical that the Town maximizes the amount of solar installed on impervious surfaces as
part of Town projects. There are limited opportunities to install solar on impervious surfaces
in town. Therefore, the Town needs to get as much of out of each opportunity as possible to
reduce the amount of solar that may need to be placed on green spaces in the future.
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Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of May 23, 2023
Integrated Building Design and Construction Policy. Todd explained that the IBDCP now goes to
the Select Board on June 5 for review and approval, and then the School Committee. The June 5
meeting may be a joint meeting.
EV school buses. Todd explained that the $350K in funding for Lexington may be on shaky
ground; the schools need to make a change in their contracts that would allow for the earmark,
which will otherwise expire in 2026. The next question to address is where the charging stations
should go.
Discovery Day: Todd has obtained our permit and there was a brief discussion of logistics.
Library HVAC improvements. Cindy reported that the library is starting an upgrade of the lower
level, which will include a move to heat pumps for that level. The library director and chair of
the board asked that Cindy report this to the committee.
Statement of Concern for Lexington’s Trees. Charlie reported that the statement has been signed
by almost 1,000 individuals who live and/or work in Lexington and endorsed by 24
organizations, both public and private. The group presented to the Select Board Monday evening
and were well received. No specific commitment was sought at that time; the tough decisions
will come at budget time and when draft amendments to the tree bylaw are presented.
Continuation of discussion on Town solar build-out gap analysis. Todd walked the committee
through the working group’s updates. Considerable discussion followed, focusing primarily but
not exclusively on the question of what our goal should be, if any, and next steps.
Discuss possible solar requirement/bylaw suggestion to Planning Board. Lin briefly introduced
her interest in exploring this, but because of the lateness of the hour, discussion was postponed to
the next meeting.
Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee
will be held online at 6 pm on June 20, 2023.
The committee voted to adjourn at 9:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlie Wyman
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