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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-04-25-SLC-minSustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of April 25, 2023 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held in person and by Zoom conference. A quorum of at least eight 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: Atreyi Basu (SustainabLY), Tanay Dalmia (SustainabLY), Charles Hornig (Planning), Ricki Pappo, Marcia Gens, Jeanne Kreiger, Melissa Battite (Recreation) The meeting was called to order at 6:40 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 March 21, 2023, were approved as written. Comments from residents; emails to committee mailbox; new business. Todd reported three emails: a community asked about the home rule petition – Cindy offered to reply; another about the leaf-blower ban – Todd forwarded the email to Dan Koretz; and a student from Tufts inquired about the extent to which the Sustainable Lexington works with local golf courses to reduce water use - Maggie is following up. SustainabLY update: Atreyi reported that they’ll be erecting their library display the third week of May. Tanay asked for help in promoting their event with grades 4-6; there are 30 spots. Tanay also mentioned that he is graduating and this will be his second-to-last Sustainable Lexington meeting. Sustainability & Resilience Officer updates. Maggie reported: •On the waste reduction front, there will be a public meeting at the end of May for the draft zero waste plan to receive public comment. The compost pilot will launch on May 16 at 6 pm (sign-ups will begin that evening but the actual program won’t begin until July 1). The task .1 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of April 25, 2023 force successfully advocated for the inclusion of a “re-opening” clause in the newly signed waste hauling contract that permits the contract to be reopened to consider every-other-week pickup and other options. No word yet on the EPA grant application. •Article 27 at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting, the 10-communities fossil-fuel-free demonstration project, passed; the next step is to submit an application to the state. Lexington’s place is assured as soon as we navigate the application process. It will become effective sometime in 2024. •Maggie reminded us of the upcoming Mode Shift Challenge, in which the town is partnering with the 128 Business Council to encourage participants to shift two trips in a week in May or early June from car to other forms of transport (bike, walk, bus). •BEU-D: Training is scheduled tomorrow for reporters; about 25 owners (covering about half the affected buildings) are signed up. •All school solar canopy projects are online now except Diamond and Bridge. •LexCAN received a grant to hire a Clean Heat specialist. There are five strong candidates being interviewed this week. •Maggie walked the committee through a document outlining how the town is implementing its obligations under three recent Town Meeting resolutions requiring that the town take climate change, systemic racism, and full inclusion into account in all decision-making. Some brief discussion followed. •Maggie and Todd are working on the municipal building operation policy and will provide an update at the committee’s next meeting. Police Station solar project. Dan reported on the community meeting that took place immediately prior to tonight’s meeting. The goal is to go to Town Meeting for funding subject to design approval by the Select Board and the Historic Districts Commission. The community is looking for a lower canopy or a reduction in size; they are not opposed to solar, just expressing concern about the scale and industrial design. The design team is tasked with exploring their suggestions and coming back to the HDC with ideas, with the goal of including the solar project in the current construction cycle. Turf working group. Cindy reported that not much has happened because of Town Meeting, but they are meeting again on May 5. Integrated Building Design and Construction Policy. Todd reported that the current draft is being included in the bid documents for the next phase of high school planning. Todd also heard from Joe Pato that the Select Board authorized the Permanent Building Committee and Sustainable .2 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of April 25, 2023 Lexington Committee to make these edits, and he was told that the School Committee did the same. The next step is to put the full text in front of those two boards for approval. Sustainable Middlesex Carbon Countdown. Ricki asked if the committee would co-sponsor (along with many other organizations) the two components of Sustainable Middlesex’s Carbon Countdown program this year: a talk by Melissa Hoffer on May 16 and a talk by Senator Barrett and breakout sessions on May 20. No financial commitment is involved. The committee voted unanimously to co-sponsor the event and share news of it. Discovery Day, May 27. Todd reported that he has signed the committee up for a booth at Discovery Day. A discussion followed about who could help and what to promote; Todd will follow up. Letter to Healey Administration encouraging action on Low Income Community Solar through Municipal Aggregation. Cindy reported on the growing momentum to push the Healey Administration to encourage community solar for low-income populations through municipal aggregation. After a brief discussion, the committee voted unanimously to add our name to the letter. Town solar build-out gap analysis. Todd walked the committee through a DRAFT analysis that several members of the committee (Dan, Paul, and Todd, with help from Charles Hornig and Maggie) assembled to explore the potential for solar expansion in Lexington. Considerable discussion followed, particularly focused on the assumptions, values, and policy implications of the analysis. It was agreed to continue the discussion at the next meeting. Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be held at 6 pm on May 23, 2023. It will be held entirely online, it being agreed that the hybrid format this evening made communication with all members of the committee and public challenging. The committee voted to adjourn at 9:44 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman .3