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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-08-27-SLC-minSustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of August 27, 2024 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A quorum of seven was present throughout. Members Present: Cindy Arens (chair), Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Lin Jensen, Rick Reibstein, Todd Rhodes (vice-chair), Charlie Wyman Members Absent: Andy Joynt, Dan Voss Staff Present: Maggie Peard, Rosalyn Impink, Carolyn Kosnoff Other Attendees: Mark Sandeen, Joe Pato, Marcia Gens, Judith Glixon, Sally Bleiberg, Jeanne Krieger, Ricki Pappo, Tina McBride, Charles Hornig, Laura Rosen, William Woo, Paul Gromer Cindy called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm. Approval of past meeting minutes. The draft minutes of June 25, 2024, were unanimously approved as written. Comments from residents; emails to committee mailbox; new business. •Ricki Pappo shared that on September 10 at 7pm, LexCAN is hosting an evening with Mark and Cindy to answer questions about sustainability in the LHS project. Celis commented that at the PBC meeting, some folks were under the impression that more sustainability requires more money, and urged the organizers to make some basic facts available at the beginning of the meeting (the concept of life cycle costs, better buildings save money, etc.). On the subject of the high school, Cindy reported that SMMA will be coming to the next several SLC meetings to discuss sustainability, which requires moving meetings from our traditional 4th Tuesday of the month meeting time. Tentative dates are Sept 17, October 15, and November 5. •Cindy announced that she has shared the draft tree bylaw regulations received from Nancy Sofen, and if anyone has comments, please get in touch with Nancy. Cindy asked members to let her know if anyone feels discussion is needed at an upcoming SLC meeting. •Cindy also announced that at the end of the legislative session on Beacon Hill, the major climate bill did not get over the finish line, which was very disappointing. One controversial provision would streamline permitting for new transmission infrastructure (including new gas Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 27, 2024 infrastructure), but it had many other good provisions, including an update to the Mass Port charter to require consideration of climate impacts. Discuss Town Manager Applicants. Cindy explained that in the past the committee has had an opportunity to suggest questions for applicants for the Town Manager position, but Joe explained that at this point, the questions have been finalized. Maggie noted that one of the essay questions focused on sustainability. Mark explained that they are interviewing three candidates the following day, and may choose one, or may take more time to decide and may conduct additional interviews. Sustainability & Resilience Officer discussion and updates. Maggie reported on the following: •Evaluation of revenue and costs of Town public EV chargers. Town staff Rosalyn Impink and Carolyn Kosnoff were present to participate in this discussion. Maggie explained the background to this question and the draft memo she circulated. The Select Board last set the rate in 2021; since then costs have increased. Maggie walked the committee through the details, and explained that Select Board discussion is scheduled for October 7. The tentative staff recommendations are that (1) there is no need right now for more chargers for public use, but additional ones will be needed for fleet charging, and (2) the rate charged be increased to 35 cents/kwh. Some discussion followed. Cindy suggested the memo include explanation of how the town is billed for electricity differently from residents. Mark suggested including some of the history with Eversource, including the introduction of demand charges four years ago, and suggested including the current 30 cents/kwh charge as an option, as the state is imposing a rate change on Eversource that may save the town a significant amount of money. Maggie agreed to look into those potential savings to update the EV charger evaluation. •Waste updates: The compost pilot now has just over 3200 enrollees, with 800 spaces available. Maggie is talking with multifamily complexes, trying to arrange for centralized compost collection that would enable Black Earth to serve them. There was some discussion of restaurants and other businesses. The Waste Reduction Task Force is meeting on a more regular basis, including a discussion with Julia Greene (Mass DEP) about state technical support available for Pay As You Throw (PAYT). Lin mentioned that she has seen a data sheet for PAYT that showed an average 29% reduction in trash when PAYT is implemented, which 44% of Mass. communities have now done. •Dashboard. Maggie reported that Pearl has finished her fellowship and provided a complete dashboard before she left. Maggie is tweaking it now and will launch it next week. She has sent it to staff who participated in the Resilient Lexington Plan; comments are welcome by Thursday. Marcia remarked that the dashboard doesn’t reflect the value of eating lower on the food chain; Maggie replied that data is needed. .2 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 27, 2024 •Muzzey parking lot solar design. Maggie reported that Mike Cronin is arranging for a solar study including an assessment of the impact of shading from buildings, which hopefully can be coordinated with engineering plans for the parking lot reconstruction. (Maggie reported the following day that the redesign is being postponed until the study is completed, so solar can be integrated into the project if feasible.) The broader issue of making sure solar is considered in all parking lot construction projects was raised, and Todd offered to put together a draft policy. Celis suggested that it might be appended to the Integrated Building Policy, so there is only a single policy that covers municipal construction projects. Review of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program and recent Department of Public Utilities (DPU) rulings related to CCAs. Maggie’s report was paused as Paul Gromer had now joined the meeting. Paul provided an update on program numbers, the new DPU aggregation guidelines, and the new opportunity for low income solar through community choice. Paul noted that the number of residential and small business accounts are higher than they’ve ever been, while the number of large business accounts is declining, which they’ve seen elsewhere and was expected as program rates rise close to market and large businesses seek lower-priced contracts. There was some discussion about whether it would be useful to change the names of the options to clarify what they do and encourage enrollment in the greener options. Mark suggested that the timing of any changes to the names of options should be aligned with future updates to the program. There was further discussion about whether the rule change might provide low-income solar opportunities in Lexington. Maggie continued: •Plastic reduction bylaws outreach planned (SB adopted plastic drink bottle policy). Maggie reported that the ban on single-use plastic water bottles goes into effect on January 1. The Health Dept. is on point for enforcement; they say it will be easier to enforce if it’s included in regular inspections, which works well for food establishments, but doesn’t cover other businesses; for that, they may rely on complaints. A notification letter is being drafted that will go out in September. Cindy reported that the Select Board did adopt the policy proposed by LHS Envirothon to ban the use of municipal funds for purchase of single-use plastic containers. •Climate Leaders Program. Maggie is on track to meet the December application deadline; a few pieces still need to be pulled together, including the decarbonization roadmap. •BEU-D. Maggie will provide a longer update at the committee’s next meeting, but the data are all now in and Maggie is cleaning it up. The interactive map now has all 2023 data. Compliance stands at 86%, about what we achieved last year. Sustainable Lexington Committee Annual Report. Cindy reported that she has drafted and circulated the report, and invited comments from members once they review it. .3 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 27, 2024 Police Station Solar. Mark reported that Dan worked with a solar canopy producer who developed an alternative canopy design that would significantly reduce the canopy costs. Mike Cronin has shared the information with a member of the Historic District Commission (HDC) but it has not been formally considered. Dan has also identified a supplier with lower-cost options for battery storage. Separately, the Town Manager obtained a federal earmark for $1.2 million that could be applied to the cost of the system. GLB Bylaw education/enforcement update. Rick reported that the Town is bringing on someone to help seasonally with enforcement. He encouraged an approach known as “compliance assurance” which starts with a complaint log that then helps target enforcement, and includes outreach and education, which helps reduce friction over enforcement. Maggie noted that there is some discussion of whether the posted position’s focus on the May-September time period is the most useful and effective, with revisions under discussion. Related to both the enforcement of this bylaw and the plastic bottle bylaw, the group discussed the cell phone app that the Town is planning to implement to allow residents to report issues (e.g,. gas leaf blower use, plastic water bottles, potholes, etc.) directly to the Town. SBC/High School - LCCA and begin preferred option discussion. Cindy reported that the subgroup had a short meeting with the designers about life cycle cost analysis, emphasizing the importance of considering this early in the design process. There are 5-6 massing options under consideration, from renovating the existing buildings to an entirely new structure on the athletic fields; the goal is to choose one direction on November 12. Considerable discussion followed about the best way to provide timely input to SMMA. There is a focus group on sustainability scheduled for Sept. 4 and 5. SMMA will be meeting with the Sustainable Lexington Committee during our next three meetings, but changes to our schedule are necessary to accommodate them. Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee is scheduled for 6 pm on September 17, 2024. The committee voted to adjourn at 9:19 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman .4