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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-12-03-HATS-min Hanscom Area Towns Committee (HATS) DRAFT Meeting Minutes December 3, 2015 HATS Members. Peter Braun, HATS Chair and Lincoln Selectman, Steve Ng, Concord Select Board, Michael Rosenberg, Bedford Selectman, Joe Pato, Lexington Selectman. Other HATS Representatives: Margaret Coppe. Others in attendance: Amber Goodspeed, Massport; Mark Sandeen, Chair of Lexington Sustainability Committee; Tanya Paglia, Regional Planner for MAGIC/MAPC; Mark Mullins and Dave and Suzy Enos, Bedford Energy Task Force; Allen Whitney, Concord Sustainable Energy Committee; John Snell and Jennie Morris, Lincoln Green Energy Comm., Terry Gleason, Janet Powers, and Christine Dudley-Marling, Bedford; Kay Tiffany, Lexington; Jane Hotchkiss, Concord Introductions and Announcements Mr Braun opened the meeting at the Lincoln Town Offices at 7:30 p.m. He offered condolences for the recent murder in Israel of a recent graduate of the school where Mr. Rosenberg is a longtime member of the senior staff, noting that this is the second such tragedy suffered by the school community in the past year. Mr. Rosenberg said that he appreciated the sentiments. Climate Change/Sustainability: A Roundtable Discussion of Thoughts and Activities of the HATS Towns and Other Municipal-Related Organization (Moderated By Mark Sandeen, Chair of Lexington Sustainability Committee) Boards and committees have been encouraged to take climate change into account, which stimulated holding today's discussion. The discussion was turned over to Mr. Sandeen to talk about the problem of climate change, hear from the representatives from each town, have a discussion of MAPC and MAGIC resilience program efforts toward regional cooperation and a panel discussion about collaborative efforts. There was a brief presentation of region storm history and impacts related to 100-year storm predictions to include the floods of 2010, hurricane Irene in 2011 , hurricane Sandy in 2012, winter storm Nemo in 2013, showing a chart the clearly shows the storms are getting larger and more frequent due to changes in polar vortex impacting the jet stream keeping the cold weather more stable Data since 1957 shows that the northeast is getting hit harder than anywhere in North America (and the US more than the rest of the globe) and the increase in rain impacts our local stormwater infrastructure and building designs. Bedford Initiatives - Mark Mullins, Chair of Energy Task Force - Other groups include Transition Town focusing on recycling, Mothers Out Front, Sierra Club, St. Paul's Church Sustainability Committee, Lane School, Bedford High, Unitarian Church, Middlesex Community College. Energy Task Force stated we have a designation of a green community and goals include reducing energy consumption by 20% and are at 12% now (at 22% savings since 2007). Briefly reviewed recent and ongoing projects and how incorporating sustainability as well as being involved in environmental initiatives (see slides). Concord Initiatives - Alan Whitney, Chair of Sustainable Energy Committee - Developed master plan and gave a brief overview of Concord sustainability related groups to include Concord Climate Action Network, independent grass roots organization, Mothers Out Front, high school groups and church groups. Concord CAN has a newsletter that gets published and distributed. The Alfred H. Sawyer Trust Fund in the amount of $1 .7m assists in successfully reducing energy and improving sustainability Also requesting town funds for this purpose. Discussed solar challenges and other grants and initiatives (see slides) Lincoln Initiatives - John Snell, Lincoln Green Energy Tech. Comm. - Working with the State to reduce carbon emissions and showed 2008 GWSA data. Passed energy bylaw, worked with Architecture 2030, and gave an overview of initiatives as a green community. Reviewed budget and infrastructure needed to install solar PV and buy renewable energy. Lexington Initiatives - Mark Sandeen, Chair Lexington Sustainability Committee - Lexington is blessed with lots of volunteers and Lex GWACS association and have a very active League of Women's Voters organization that both ran community engagement sessions regarding what climate action could be taken. Mothers Out Front has recently come on board and they also have Save Tomorrow (started as 3rd graders and are now in 6th grade) campaigning as well as interfaith and green corridor groups. Work to engage the community in a climate action plan to assign priorities and analyze data for areas of greatest impact. Conducted vulnerability assessment and biggest vulnerabilities are electricity and water infrastructure. Also looking at minimizing carbon emissions (greatest for electricity and looking at Community Choice Aggregation), addressing natural gas leaks, installing solar systems and building green schools and better buildings in general (see slides). Tanya Paglia, MAPC - They are working with 13 towns in a MAGIC Climate Resilience plan in the region (which includes 101 cities and towns). They meet monthly and decided climate change is the No 1 priority Working on developing an overview plan and the beginning stages will include data gathering, GIS mapping and a vulnerability assessment. Will incorporate public input to include public stakeholders and make recommendations. Reviewed reporting, key terms, vulnerable groups, history that brought us to this point, impacts and challenges. Discussion was opened for questions and comments. Discussed aggregating choice of energy source by opting in; PVs on parking lots and public space; utilities integrating consumer options; outreach by Selectmen; Air Force PV plan, gas leaks, billing and infrastructure, MBTA response, participation, data collection and conversion to energy efficient vehicles. Future implementation and cooperation was discussed as well as providing aggregated usage data by Town on an ongoing basis Everyone was thanked for attending and participating and the hope was expressed that the discussion could be hosted again in a year. Video and presentation will be available on the HATS website at hanscomareatownscommittee.com. MassPort/Air Field Community Advisory Committee — Status Report Amber Goodspeed, Massport, was asked regarding quorum requirement for CAC. Forty members have been chosen from towns, and the bylaw committee meets on a regular basis -- the Concord Rep. is on the bylaw subcommittee and they will meet again on 12/11 The Lincoln Rep. said the full committee tried to meet in late Sep. but was unable to achieve_a quorum - they were going to see if quorum totals could be reduced to avoid this problem in the future. The Subcommittee is working on this. There has been an increase in air traffic noise complaints in certain Boston-area communities due to recently revised Logan flight paths, which are being addressed via the Logan CAC that predates the MassPort CAC.an exponential increaso in traffic noise at, t Logan on. - - - , . - - - - - e . - ie . e . :e. meeting on thic is ,je This is the pre existing Logan related CAC Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) Update The next meeting is in 2 weeksand ilt was reported that the 2014 noise level is the lowest since measurements beqanit has cvcr been. Regional Transportation and Related Concerns Rt. 2 Updates (Crosby Corner and 1-95 Bridge Projects) The temporary bridge over 128 is in place, but there are lane restrictions at certain times. The Crosby Corner project will slow down due to the winter. Much of the landscaping is in place, to be completed in the Spring. The new secondary roads have been named Mr Ng will share a link regarding MBTA's census survey. Schedule changes were announced with little notice and no input from affected communities. This is being addressed by the Legislative Delegation. Future Meetings and Main Agenda Items Jan. 28 - Nancy Nelson of the Minuteman National Park, potentially Lt. Gov. Polito, although her staff cannot confirm meetings beyond six weeks in advance. Feb 25 — MassPort CEO Thomas Glynn March - No meeting April 28 — New Chair to be voted in formally (Concord is next in line) Other potential topics. Task Force Update, MBTA/Traffic Redux, Lt.Gov., Legislators; new Colonel in the Fall Minutes — October 22, 2015 Meeting There were no comments or edits to the minutes. Mr. Braun asked for a motion to approve Mr. Rosenberg moved to approve the 10/22/15 minutes as is. Mr. Pato seconded the motion. There was no discussion. Vote: Approved 4-0-0. Adjourn Mr. Rosenberg moved to adjourn. Mr. Braun seconded the motion. Vote. Approved 4-0-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:36pm.