2021-05-25-SLC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of May 25, 2021 endorsed our participating in Cities Race to Zero; EVIP grant obtained for charging ports; working on obtaining a Tesla 3 or Y for the Town Manager's office, which after three years becomes a PD Detective vehicle (other town have given strong positive reviews). Stella walked us through the Cities Race to Zero process. We need to choose one goal to commit to; Stella highlighted several she thinks are good candidates, and committee members are encouraged to send her their thoughts soon. 5. Update on AMP's Solar Alternative On-Bill Credit(AOBC) Opportunity. To help clarify the issues involved with the AMP Project, Dan spent some time exploring options for how the town might generate within its borders sufficient electricity to meet municipal needs of 10-12 million kWh/year. He presented as a focus for discussion the possibility of converting 10+/- acres of forest to solar farm to generate an additional 4+/- million kWh/year above and beyond current or planned generation at Hartwell, schools, and municipal buildings. A long discussion ensued. Rick and Charlie explained their concerns about the AMP project (adverse impacts of losing forest; lack of a thorough alternatives analysis; cutting forest in another town to meet Lexington's needs; ramifications of dividing environmental advocates). Celis expressed concern about entering into an AOBC that would lock the town into a 20-year contract without a more thorough examination of the pros and cons. Todd pointed out the need for a general discussion about what kinds of projects we're interested in and would support, so that staff and committee members can focus on projects most likely to be recommended to the Select Board. He will put it on the agenda for the next meeting. After further discussion and comments from each committee member, the committee voted 5- 0 (with one abstention) not to recommend the AMP project to the Select Board. 6. Review of the Sustainability Plan Sector priorities. Stella explained that she's inclined to restructure her memo to the Select Board to be less about priorities and more of a general update of what we are working on and that will feed into an overall work plan. Todd noted that the list is very much a bottom-up approach, which is useful, but which needs to be tempered by a top-down approach that calls out the items that will make the greatest impact. Stella will refresh her memo and circulate it for further comment, after which she will forward it to the Town Manager. Ricki reported that the Clean Heat Alliance that worked on Articles 29 and 45 is still very much alive and hopes that improved energy standards for the Hartwell corridor will come back to Town Meeting in the fall. Todd mentioned that the Town Manager had expressed his desire to pull the parties together after Town Meeting to talk about the issues that caused 45 to be postponed, and the committee agreed that it would like to participate in continued development of Article 45 in its role as advisory committee to SB on policy on building emissions and sustainability. 2.