HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-10-23-SLC-minSustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of October 23,2024
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC)was held by Zoom conference.A
quorum of eight was present throughout.
Members Present:Cindy Arens (Chair),Celis Brisbin,Lin Jensen,Andy Joynt,Rick Reibstein,
Todd Rhodes (Vice-chair),Dan Voss,Paul Chernick
Members Absent:none
Staff Present:Maggie Peard (Sustainability &Resilience Officer),Mike Cronin (Director DPF),
Mark Barrett (PM DPF)
Other Attendees:Joe Pato (Select Board liaison),Sallye Bleiberg,Sophie Shaw (SustainabLY),
Tina McBride,Brielle Kissel Meade,Nishanth Veeragandham (SustainabLY),Mark Sandeen
(Select Board),Charlie Wyman,Andy Olderman (SMMA),Brenda Lam (SMMA),Martine Dion
(SMMA),Anoush Krafian (SMMA),Anthony Jimenez (SMMA),Jacob Greco (Dore and Whittier)
Cindy called the meeting to order at 6:33 pm and polled the SLC members to ensure that they
could be heard.
Past minutes were approved for Sept.17,2024 and August 27,2024 meetings.One minor
change was made to the minutes regarding the use of dishwashers for lunchware in the
schools.
After a request for public comments or new business,we discussed:
-Rick requested that we add artificial turf to the agenda for the next meeting.Lin
seconded and added a request to add guidelines for turf to the Integrated Building
Design and Construction Policy.
-Cindy mentioned that the Town is seeking input for the Bedford/Hartwell Complete
Streets plan and is having public meetings on Oct 24 and in Nov.
-We have received one application to replace Charlie Wyman’s position on the
Committee.
-Girl Scout Troop leader looking for projects (Serena Sherwin)emailed our group.
-The School Committee met to discuss plastic bottle reduction policy and will meet again
on Nov.12.
-Tina McBride shared her comments on the Bedford/Hartwell Complete Streets plan
about creating a dedicated bus lane and a separated bike lane.
October 23,2024
SustainabLY update:
-Sophie Shaw shared in the meeting chat the following update:
-We have been working on two projects,one to give a talk/presentation about
sustainability to the middle schools and the second one to try and pass some sort of
legislation within the town.
-Our lower schools talk is a bit further along:we have contacted both Clarke and
Diamond faculty about possible topics that we could discuss that would align with the
middle schoolers'science curriculum.We are currently leaning towards delivering a
winter presentation at Clarke and a spring presentation at Diamond,possibly about
renewable energy sources and/or composting.
-For the legislation project,the group is most interested in increasing the number of bike
racks at Lexington High School and/or increasing the number or recycling bins
throughout the town center.We are still working on how to draft these policies and would
appreciate any guidance on which committees would be best to contact about these
proposals.
Sustainability and Resilience Officer Update:
-Compost pilot has about 600 slots still available.Seeking to ensure that the compost
pilot will continue and will be incorporated into next year ’s budget.
-Beginning to lay the groundwork and share information on a ‘pay-as-you-throw’program.
Targeting possibly Fall Town Meeting of 2025 to make an amendment to the by-law
indicating that rubbish must have a place to drop off for free,to clear the pathway.
-Presenting draft municipal decarbonization roadmap to the Select Board next week by
Power Options (for buildings and fleet).This will be presented to the School Committee
as well.This roadmap is required for the state Climate Leaders grant program.
-Had CCA meetings with Peregrine to explore the option of community solar projects that
could provide a discount to low-to-moderate income residents.
-Based on a Select Board request,Todd and Maggie met with John Livsey (Town
Engineer)to develop a policy that requires solar to be considered for essentially any
infrastructure being developed in town.Draft policy would insert steps into the capital
budgeting process.
Police Station Solar:
-Getting ready to send out design documents and get an RFP going out Oct/Nov.
-There are still open issues on the battery side and interconnection application.
SMMA LHS Update:
-Reconvening after our Sept 17 meeting
-In the LEED process,we have the potential to achieve platinum.Some areas where we
could earn points that could bump the project from gold to platinum include:
-Heat island reduction (light-colored hardscape),Outdoor water reduction (i.e.no
irrigation);indoor water use reduction;demand response (very early planning
with eversource),renewable energy (extra points for PV system);reduced
embodied carbon.
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October 23,2024
-Sustainable Sites and Transportation
-Key elements of the design include:
-Bike storage and charging
-Battery storage location
-Heat island reduction
-EV charging stations
-HVAC -75 Year Life Cycle Cost Analysis
-PSR Incremental Cost and Payback Summary was presented to review two
scenarios:air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps.
-These are shown under addition/renovation and new construction scenarios.
-The estimated payback period for any scenario is immediate when including all
incentives (MassSave and IRA).
-Replacement Cost -air cooled equipment has a 15-yr life.
-Water cooled systems like GSHP are closer to 20-yr life.
-Thus far the LCCA indicates that ASHP and GSHP are equivalent without
consideration for IRA incentives.However,the LCCA is still not complete and will
have to be updated over time.Cindy noted that there are many influencing
factors that have not been shared or finalized,like heat loads,assumed COPs,
etc.
-It was noted that some of the pricing on slides were incorrect and need to be
updated.
-Solar PV Assessment
-Target PV for a Net Zero building includes 4%EV charging spaces.
Next step is to consider greater EV charging,such as 20%.Incentives
there as well.
-The initial design included a lot of uneconomic solar in various places.
The updated PV assessment including long span solar canopies should
be considered.
-ASHPs on the roof would significantly reduce the amount of space for solar.
-Getting Eversource approval for EV and storage interconnection is essential and
we need to make a lot of progress there
-Air quality meeting with Board of Health still to be scheduled.Cindy asked to be sure
that Mike Cronin,Mark Sandeen and herself were included.
-Next meeting with SMMA is Nov.5 in order to get one more chance to get information
ahead of the Nov.12 meeting with School Board Committee (SBC)
-Dan raised the notion that SBC will be looking to explain the rationale for narrowing the
design choices down to Bloom (new construction on new site)and Weave (phased new
construction on the existing building site).
-SLC may want to comment on the embodied carbon considerations of these two
options particularly regarding the materials used in the building design
-Ultimately,SBC is preparing to explain a rationale behind narrowing down to one single
design recommendation.
-Cindy asked for more detailed embodied carbon analysis as is required by the IDP.She
also asked to make sure that adequate submetering and energy and water (including hot
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October 23,2024
water)use measuring capabilities were included in the design for both tracking and
educational purposes.
Proposed Motion by Charlie Wyman
-The Tree Committee and DPW are working on an application for the Urban and
Community Forestry Challenge Grant.
-Urban Forest Master Plan is the next step to map out what the town should do in
the coming years to support the type of forest that the town wants and would
include public meetings and presentations with stakeholders,and analysis by a
consultant.
-Establish a recommended plan that would be presented for public comment.
-Ultimately,this plan would be presented for adoption to the Select Board.
-SLC was asked to approve a motion to ask our chair to make nonsubstantive
edits of support for the application and SLC unanimously approved the motion.
-The meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm.
-Next meeting is Nov.5 at 6pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Andy Joynt
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