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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-06-24-SLC-min.pdfSustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of June 24, 2025 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A quorum of at least six was present throughout. Members Present: Cindy Arens (chair), Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Lin Jensen, Andy Joynt, Todd Rhodes (vice-chair), Kavitha Venkatesan. Members Absent: Rick Reibstein, Dan Voss. Staff Present: Maggie Peard (Sustainability & Resilience Officer), Melissa Battite (Director, Recreation Department). Other Attendees: Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Joe Pato (Select Board), Ricki Pappo, Jeanne Krieger, Marcia Gens. Cindy Arens called the meeting to order at 6:05 pm. Approval of May 27, 2025 meeting minutes: •May 27, 2025 meeting minutes were approved unanimously. New Business: •Maggie Peard made the committee members aware that: !CCA prices are expected to increase by 5% due to an ISO New England rule change. She will forward a memo to the committee. !Verizon has filed a permit application for a hydrogen fuel cell on Waltham Street. A brief discussion confirmed that the fuel cell technology in the application is same technology presented to several SLC members several years ago by Bloom Energy. A committee sub group will work with Maggie and gather more information to potentially bring it back to the committee. •Cindy Arens provided the following updates: !Mass Energize is working on a competition to engage high school students to come up with clean energy engagement programs. Students will required to reach out to local clean energy advocates and staff members. !New SLC Liaisons are Bob Creech (Planning Board) and Alan Levine (Appropriation Committee). !Current legislation priorities include: Zero-Carbon MA is looking to expand the number of communities involved in the Fossil Fuel Free program (currently 10 communities); Governor’s bill. !Cindy recently attended a Heat Health meeting and met someone at Mass CEC working on vehicle-to-grid chargers who could be a good resource. •Rickie Pappo commented that: !SLC should consider the “Solar For All” program. !LexCAN’s advocacy committee meets weekly and SLC members are invited to participate. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of June 24, 2025 •Todd Rhodes requested that at the next meeting the SLC should discuss a strategy for Town-owned EVs and a depot to charge and maintain them. His understanding is that LPS was planning to use state provided funds for EV buses to purchase a small EV school bus and charge it at the DPW. 1.Planning Board Proposed Regulations •The Planning Board is considering amendments to regulations including amendments to 176-9.3.2. to remove the LEED Core and Shell Checklist and the SITES v2 checklists from the major site review process. •Cindy presented a list of questions that could be considered as an alternative. •Maggie discussed the approach with Abby and agreed that a separate form with a list of questions could be added into the Major site plan review process. •Andy asked about transit options. Cindy said that transit is covered elsewhere in the regulations. The same is true for bicycle parking, which the bike committee is pursuing, and issues related to stormwater, noise, light, etc. •Lin suggested that the sustainability requirements be added to the site plan review requirements in section 9.3., Required Submittals, and in 9.2.1, Preapplication Review. Her concern is that what is stated in plans does not always show up in the final product. •Todd recommended putting the questions in a form, saying that the regulations could require that the form be completed by the applicant but that the actual list of questions could be modified, as needed, without requiring a change to the regulations. •Kavitha asked about the intent of asking questions about items that are not required. Cindy commented that it can be helpful to encourage the proponents to think about these issues. •Celis provided some background about the use of the LEED checklist saying that benefit of LEED is that the criteria are specific. Cindy added that a lot of LEED items are already covered by existing bylaws. •The following motion was proposed: The Planning Board’s Site Plan Review regulations should require the submittal of a form that provides a narrative of sustainability actions that proponents intend to take for the project including answers to specific questions. Cindy, Celis, Lin, and Maggie will work on the wording of the proposed questions. SLC members voted 6-0 in favor of the motion. 2.Hanscom North Airfield Project - Notice of Project Change (NPC) •Cindy presented a draft letter for public testimony for the NPC that concludes that a full environmental impact assessment needs to be completed before any expansion of hangers at the Hanscom Airport could possibly move forward, including the current proposed change. •The following motion was proposed: To send the letter to be submitted to MEPA for public comment. Copying the Select Board, local legislators, the Governor, and Rebecca Tepper, at a minimum. SLC members voted 6-0 in favor of the motion. .2 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of June 24, 2025 •Cindy noted that the final Environmental Impact Report for the project is expected by end of summer/early fall and that SLC should expect to also review that and make comments. Mark requested that future comments consider the impact of the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels. 3.Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) •Mark Sandeen presented his analysis of the energy and environmental impact of generating Jet A- equivalent fuel using Power to Liquid technology and referred to a state Working Group that is reviewing this technology. •He identified that it would more than double electricity use in Massachusetts and increase air emissions. Even if the electricity used to create SAF was all from solar, the technology would still create 45% of the current Jet A emissions. 4.Update on topics presented to the Select Board 4.1.Capital Solar Integration Policy (CSIP) •The Select Board provided a lot of feedback on the policy. The positive feedback was that the policy would encourage early discussion about these projects. •The were questions about who are manages the process and make the final decisions. •Mark recommended piloting the policy before making it official. •Joe commented that the Select Board didn’t have much time to review the policy and he expects that they will provide more feedback later. •Maggie is still assessing how best to make edits. 4.2.Waste Reduction Task Force •Maggie and Dave Pinsonneault provided the Select Board with the proposed updates to solid waste regulations and proposed bulky item, white goods and mattress pickup fees. •The board asked questions about exceptions to the limitations, and about the fee schedule for bulky items, etc. They also discussed if there were ways to implement the program over time to give residents time to adapt, though the Select Board were generally supportive of the proposed regulation changes, including reducing the allowed number of trash containers to be reduced from six to two. •Maggie is expecting to go back in July for approval. •Regarding Hybrid PAYT, the Board asked about making the process for paying for the excess as seamless as possible, dealing with exceptions, etc. They also commented that the name “Hybrid PAYT” needs clarification, more simplified explanation. 4.3.Solar CCA program - Low Income Community Solar addition •The proposed program to provide discounted solar energy to low-income residents via the Town’s CCA program was presented to SLC last month. Progress was made with Town Counsel, the solar developer and CCA supplier. .3 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of June 24, 2025 •The Select Board was generally supportive. Doug Lucente asked about including moderate income customers. Discussed that that would be unlikely because it is a state program and the term “moderate income” in not well defined. •Maggie and Town Counsel will continue to work towards finalizing details so that the CCA program can be updated. Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee we be held on August 26, 2025. The committee voted to adjourn at approximately 8:30 pm. Respectfully submitted, Todd Rhodes .4