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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-11-29-SLC-minSustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of November 29, 2022 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A quorum of at least eight was present throughout. Members Present: Cindy Arens (chair), Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Lin Jensen, Rick Reibstein, Todd Rhodes (vice-chair), Dan Voss, Charlie Wyman Members Absent: Staff Present: Maggie Peard Other Attendees: Joe Pato (Select Board), Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Ricki Pappo (LexCAN), Tanay Dalmia (SustainabLY), Atreyi Basu (SustainabLY), Andy Joynt, Tina McBride, Marcia Gens, Jeanne Krieger, Mike Cronin (Public Facilities), Charles Hornig (Planning Board), Robert Peters (Planning Board), Jon Himmel (PBC), Dave Pinnsoneault (Public Works), Christine Dean (Recreation), Melissa Battite (Recreation), Christian Boutwell (Recreation Committee) The meeting was called to order at 6:02 pm. Cindy referenced the opening statement requested by the Town Clerk, and all members present responded that they could hear. Approval of past meeting minutes. The minutes of October 25 were approved as written. Comments from residents; emails to committee mailbox; new business. •Todd reported on the email inbox. The Cub Scouts asked again if someone from SLC could attend a January 26 meeting to talk about being involved in town government. Todd has let them know that he will attend the meeting. Rick offered to help if needed. Todd also responded to a request from another town for information about our heat pump program. •Cindy announced that Andy Joynt was appointed by the Select Board to the open position on the committee the evening before. Because he hasn’t completed the open meeting law and ethical training required, he cannot vote this evening, but hopefully will be fully qualified by the next meeting. Everyone expressed their warm welcome. Sustainability and Resilience Officer updates: •High performance building policy update: Maggie introduced us to the current versions of the two documents she circulated by email (the guidance is new), reviewed some highlights, .1 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of November 29, 2022 and noted a few things that have been modified since our last discussion. These include the inclusion of ground-mounted solar and not just building-mounted solar in reporting, air quality details, additional detail on toxics, pesticides and IPM, and trees. Issues that were brought up by committee members and discussed: accounting for stand-alone solar (i.e., energy sent to the grid) v. behind-the-meter solar (i.e., energy used by the building) and the recommendation to stay aligned with the approach used for BEU-D; concern about use of artificial materials that can be proven later to contain toxics v. natural materials (e.g. grass v. artificial turf).- Mike Cronin clarified that this policy is focused on Facilities not on fields, and the committee member commented that maybe there should be a parallel effort for DPW and Recreation; current and desired indoor measurements of CO2 and particulate matter. •Waste: trash and recycling; food waste; zero waste plan: A new waste contract continues to be discussed with the task force. DPW is reviewing various proposals, some of which are not at a workable price point, and they are exploring how to bridge the next year while looking ahead to larger waste disposal changes in the year following. Questions were asked about how to counter the perception among some residents that materials separated from the other waste for recycling are not, in fact, being recycled, and about the pilot Black Earth composting program in DPW’s Program Improvement Request budget, which will target about 700 new customers in addition to the 1300 existing ones. The draft of the Zero Waste Plan has been received from the consultant and is being reviewed by the task force. •BEU-D: the town’s reporting guidance is being finalized, and Maggie is planning a training program next year for affected owners. •Heat Smart: The town’s heat pump program is about to launch, with eight volunteer advisers/ coaches now trained and ready to go. Maggie hopes to have it live in a week or so. •LexHAB: Maggie and Cindy are working with LexHAB on a two-session event for LexHAB residents on how to lower energy costs through a variety of available programs, including community solar and hope to eventually expand it to the Lexington Housing Authority and other eligible town residents. •Green Fleet Policy: The policy was adopted in 2021 and calls for maintaining an inventory and preparing a transition plan. Maggie has begun to work on both. •Climate Action Plan: The branding committee has completed its work, and there is a logo and tag line: “Resilient Lexington: Our Pathway to a Sustainable Future”. SustainabLY update: Tanay reported that they have been researching possible projects, including the application to the library, and are brainstorming issues they want to promote or advocate for, such as small business composting, electronic waste recycling, and single-use plastics. Integrated Building Construction and Design Policy. Celis reported that they have met with the Permanent Building Committee to present the current draft and are getting good feedback. Over .2 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of November 29, 2022 the next month the goal is to meet with Jon and Chuck and determine what would work best for moving the document forward. New turf fields proposed for ATM 2023 - concerns about PFAS content. Cindy explained that the Lincoln Park playing fields are targeted for renovation, and there is concern about PFAS and artificial turf. Melissa explained that the three rectangular fields at Lincoln Park are nearing the end of their useful life. Recreation will be asking Town Meeting for replacement of the Lincoln 1 field with another synthetic field. Considerable discussion followed about the costs of synthetic vs. natural, the challenges of a former landfill site, the greater intensity of use possible on synthetic fields (and the value of higher use given that the high school fields will be offline during high school construction), concerns about runoff contaminated by materials used in artificial fields; and the greater heat index experienced on artificial fields. A 2019 memo the Town’s field consultants was referenced that addressed concerns about PFAS in artificial turf and the inability to accurately measure it at the time, which Cindy will circulate to the committee. Melissa invited members of the committee to attend the CPC meeting next week. Cindy asked who might be willing to attend the meeting and prepare beforehand; Rick volunteered but said his time is limited, and Cindy left open a call for another volunteer. Town staff were thanked for attending. High School Building Committee Update. Dan reported that the committee had a good discussion at their last meeting and will be meeting again in January, and would welcome any communications from anyone with questions or concerns. Lin asked if any thought has been given to how to dispose of whatever is demolished or deconstructed. Mike explained that they haven’t yet; Dan added that it’s important to raise these questions about building outcomes now because the time pressure will be enormous once we’re in the MSBA pipeline. Transition to Town ‘Solar Buildout Plan’ from assessment of the Town's solar potential. Maggie reported that, following on Dan’s analysis, the Town Manager will bring the question to the Select Board of whether we want to undertake more analysis and planning. Dan noted that it’s also well within our responsibilities to bring it to the Select Board ourselves. Update on facility projects: •Mike reported that the solar hot water project for the town pool passed at Town Meeting and they have started to design the project, with a heat pump for back-up. They expect to be sending it out for bids by January and hope to have it up and running before the start of the pool season Memorial Day weekend. •All the school solar canopies should be connected by the end of December. The fire station array is now operational, and the police station solar canopy design will go to the HDC Thursday evening, with the goal of having a final design ready for Town Meeting. .3 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of November 29, 2022 Annual Town Meeting 2023 - Article to adopt municipal opt-in specialized building code. Cindy explained that the new stretch code will become effective for residential properties on January 1, 2023 (with an additional phase-in for HERS ratings in 2024) and for commercial properties on July 1. Adoption of the new specialized municipal opt-in (sometimes called net zero, but isn’t quite), requires Town Meeting action. She and Maggie have met with building staff to improve understanding of the new code. After some discussion, it was voted unanimously to ask the Select Board to put an article on the Annual Town Meeting warrant to adopt the new specialized opt-in code. Investigation of networked geothermal in Lexington. Cindy explained that a lot is happening on networked geothermal around the country and we should try to move this forward in Lexington. Hartwell is a promising location with interest from the Town Manager. She and Maggie have been discussing this with Ken Karnofsky, who couldn’t join us this evening. She asked if someone on the committee would be interested in working on this and exploring ways the town could help move this forward. Andy volunteered. Some discussion followed about possible business models and the challenge of working with the utilities. Mark noted that there is the potential for significant grants from the federal government. Tree Statement of Concern. As an FYI, Charlie explained that a group of tree advocates, including Rick, Marcia, and Ricki as well as himself, have been meeting to discuss how to raise awareness of the importance of a robust tree canopy in town as a defense against the localized impacts of climate change, and how to build political support for measures to do more. They have written a Statement of Concern that Charlie circulated to the committee a few days ago, and will be presenting to committees, organizations in town, and the general public in the next few weeks/months. A few questions were asked, and it was agreed to put it on the agenda for the next committee meeting. Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be held at 6 pm on December 20, 2022. The committee voted to adjourn at 9:06 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman .4 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of November 29, 2022 .5