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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-24-SLC-minSustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of January 24, 2023 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A quorum of at least seven was present throughout. Members Present: Cindy Arens (chair), Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Lin Jensen, Andy Joynt, Rick Reibstein, Todd Rhodes (vice -chair), Dan Voss, Charlie Wyman Members Absent: Staff Present: Maggie Peard Other Attendees: Ricki Pappo (LexCAN), Tanay Dalmia (SustainabLY), Atreyi Basu (SustainabLY), Charles Hornig (Planning Board), Robert Peters (Planning Board), Marcia Gens, Tina McBride, Nancy Sofen (Tree Committee), Mark Sandeen (Select Board) 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 draft minutes of December 20, 2022, and January 6, 2023, were approved as written. Comments from residents; emails to committee mailbox; new business. ' Cindy warned us that authority to meet remotely may be ending and we may need to meet in person in March; she will let the committee know. Ricki announced that LexCAN has obtained a grant from Mass Save (with input and support from Maggie) to promote heat smart programs, particularly to low-income residents, and is looking to hire a part-time person in the 15-20 hour/week range. ' Todd mentioned that he had passed one email looking for MEPA contacts along to Maggie. SustainabLY. Tanay reported that they have met with Lex Zero Waste to explore common interests. Atreyi noted that SustainabLY has endorsed the tree statement. They have used their Instagram account to promote the Resilient Lexington survey and will add another post soon about trees. Sustainability & Resilience Officer updates: 1. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of January 24, 2023 Waste Reduction Task Force and other waste matters: Maggie reported that DPW is likely going with a new vendor with a five-year contract for $2.6 million and manual collection (automatic collection would have added $1.9 million to purchase bins town -wide). This is news to the task force, which has not met recently. Questions were asked about allowance for town -wide compost pickup, readjustment after two years, and more; Maggie will try to get answers. The consultant on the Zero Waste Plan is finalizing the draft report and is scheduled to present it to the Select Board on February 6. That evening options for a curbside compost pilot will also be presented. A subgroup is working on a grant application through EPA for a town -wide compost program to be phased in over three years; it is a nationwide program and very competitive. Todd asked about the discussions with Black Earth over use of Hartwell; Maggie reported that that conversation has gone silent, to which Cindy responded that she hopes the two parties are still willing to explore possibilities. Concern was expressed about the process for selecting a waste hauler, that the task force was left out of the final decision-making, and there seems to be lack of clarity on important details (e.g., can town -wide compost program and every -other -week pickup be inserted?). Cindy will send a note to the Select Board asking for answers to these questions before the SB signs off. BEU-D. No major updates. Maggie is waiting for a couple of final items from Eversource and National Grid to confirm that the process for building owners to get the information they need from the utilities will go smoothly. Heat pump promotion program with Abode. This is off to a good start. Thirty-two people have signed up and are connected with coaches and moving through the process. Outreach is continuing. ATM 2023 - Article to adopt municipal opt -in specialized building code. Preparations for ATM action on this are moving along. Maggie will be presenting this to the Select Board on February 6. 10 Communities FFF demonstration project. The state issued rules for the program at the end of December. The town's biggest decision is whether to apply with the existing bylaw the town enacted earlier, or adopt DOER's model bylaw, which is essentially the new code with removal of the mixed -fuel pathway and which offers better integration with the new code. We are waiting for additional guidance from DOER, and Maggie will circle back to town counsel for input. Green Fleet policy report update. Maggie circulated her report before the meeting. Town policy requires an annual report to the Select Board. This one is off -cycle, but by next year she will try to align it with the budgeting process. 2. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of January 24, 2023 Consideration to change MassSave Home Performance Contractor. Maggie reported considerable negative feedback on HomeWorks, our current Mass Save home energy assessment partner, and she is assessing alternatives. Climate and Resilience Plan Survey/kick-off. Maggie reported that the survey was recently released and she has received about 150 responses so far. As part of the planning process she'll be doing focus groups with a number of community organizations, which will continue in parallel with the working groups which kick off in mid-February. MassSave new construction and retrofit incentives for municipalities. Maggie reported that she recently met with Mike Cronin and Mark Barrett to discuss Mass Save's incentives for renewables and low energy use intensity in connection with the new high school. Maggie also confirmed that even though the police station was not able to take advantage of the highest level of incentives, representatives from Eversource were working on securing a lower level of incentives for it. Cindy noted that there might be some assistance available for certain existing town buildings (such as for measuring energy use). Other updates: Partnership with LexHAB/LHA to promote heating assistance, CCA, community solar, and MassSave audits/u ra�des: Cindy reported that this group wants to do more outreach with LexHAB and the Housing Authority. There are MassSave/LEAN programs that offer energy upgrades at no cost. If anyone else is interested in helping with this, let her know. Artificial Turf - sub -group review with Recreation and Health. Maggie has connected with Recreation and Health, and with the Board of Health with Rick's assistance. Conservation and DPW staff have also participated. For a meeting earlier in January, Rick and Todd had put together a list of concerns, and the group is meeting again this Friday to identify next steps in weighing a decision. The staff side of the working group met with Activitas and discussed the list, and Activitas is drafting a memo in response. Rick warned that this will be a long-running conversation and that we may have to stick with artificial turf at Lincoln because of the former landfill, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't examine and question the issue at other fields. Many meetings lie ahead; the hope is that the different interests will learn from each other and be positioned to make better informed decisions. Integrated Building Construction and Design Policy update progress. Celis updated the committee on the status of the proposed revisions. Discussion followed on next steps and the best way to reach consensus with the PBC and SLC and then move forward with other stakeholders (e.g. Tree Committee), eventually reaching the School Committee and Select Board. 3. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of January 24, 2023 Investigation of networked geothermal in Lexington. Andy reported his progress on several fronts: He and Ken Karnofsky met with Emergent Urban Concepts which has some expertise here; they think Hartwell may be a good opportunity. They identified three possible paths: a municipal enforcement route (regulations that require building owners to hook up); a utility route with mandated goals for getting to net zero as a pilot project; and a voluntary route, appealing to owners as a way to achieve a company's sustainability goals. They would like to get in touch with Greatland (owners of 12 Hartwell) to sound them out, and Boston Properties was also suggested. Andy also has come contacts in the engineering world he wants to explore, and has heard that HEET has a rough financial model for landowners. Maggie noted the initial conversations the town had with National Grid as part of an application for a pilot project, but those haven't gone far. Discussion continued about the nature of networked geothermal, claims that it can't meet a building's complete HVAC needs, and how much we might learn from tenants on Hartwell before committing resources to move this forward. EV School Bus transition. Todd reported that he and Maggie met Friday with school department and C&W staff. As Todd explained before, the new contract says we plan to transition to electric for some buses over the life of the contract. One question is whether to lease or buy, another is where charging stations might go. There are lots of considerations with each. Maggie reported that the school department is feeling a bit overwhelmed by the process and would welcome town assistance. Dan mentioned another consideration is the possible contribution of the buses as essentially mobile batteries (vehicle grid integration). Town Solaragmen analysis. Todd reviewed very rough estimates of potential solar energy generation by land use category, installed capacity, and the gap. There are challenges to refining the numbers, but then the question becomes how do we address these gaps. Tracer Lane Private Solar Farm Development proposal - review/discuss statement to Planning Board. Charlie reminded the committee about the location and basic details of the project and then walked the committee through the purposes and rationale for his proposal putting the committee on record as (1) opposed to the project and (2) interested in revisiting development regulations that make such projects as of right and which limit town review authority. Todd offered comments from the talking points he had circulated. Considerable discussion followed around solar and forests, concern for trees and the adequacy of development regulations town - wide, whether to take a position on this project when we haven't on other projects impacting large, treed lots, the sensitivity of the site given its proximity to the Cambridge reservoir, and other issues. The conclusion was that a task force of Rick, Charlie, Dan, and Todd will draft a letter to the Planning Board for consideration in February that will make three points: (1) purchase of the land for conservation by Cambridge and Lexington is encouraged; (2) if the Planning Board approves the project they should condition their approval with whatever 9 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of January 24, 2023 measures (to the reasonable limit of their authority) might improve the design and lessen the environmental impact; and (3) point out that the project raises important questions about trees and development that should be explored further in the coming year by the relevant committees in town (Planning, Tree, Conservation, Sustainable Lexington). Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be held at 6 pm on February 28, 2023. The committee voted to adjourn at 9:40 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman 5.