HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06-13-SLC-min
Town of Lexington
Sustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of June 13, 2019
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held in in the Harris Room of
Cary Hall. A quorum of six was present.
Members Present: Celis Brisbin, Marcia Gens, Rick Reibstein, Todd Rhodes, Dan Voss,
Charlie Wyman
Members Absent:
Other Attendees: Paul Chernick
Joe Pato (Board of Selectmen)
Mark Sandeen (Board of Selectmen)
The meeting was called to order at 6:15 pm.
Todd reviewed the Sustainable Action Plan for the committee, and discussion followed on how
to organize ourselves and move forward on implementing the plan. The plan talks of sectors,
programs (ongoing), and projects (time-limited, with a discrete end point). The ultimate goal
with each project: identify a gap or need, move it forward to identify a solution, implement the
solution, and hand off to town staff.
We discussed how to move forward with the different sectors, organizing task forces for each;
how the task forces can make progress in between meetings in gathering information and
developing ideas and strategies, while using SLC committee meetings to provide updates, seek
advice, and request decisions and actions. The importance of the Open Meeting Law was
stressed.
At this point Selectmen Joe Pato and Mark Sandeen joined the meeting. Mark announced that the
BBRS (the Mass. Board of Building Regulation and Standards) heard from several communities
(including Lexington) and has assigned staff to develop a net zero stretch code. Our letter
objecting to inclusion of the burning of biomass in the RPS calculation has also been received
and noted.
The committee then provided feedback on Mark’s draft comments on H3846, Speaker DeLeo’s
bill providing $1 billion to communities for climate change adaptation.
Following that discussion and Mark and Joe’s departure, the committee returned to its planning
discussion. Committee members were asked to name two or three of the ten sectors described in
the SAP that are of particular interest to them and which they’d be willing to focus on. Answers
were:
Marcia: food; waste; water; land use and environment
Celis: buildings, energy; public safety/emergency preparedness
Todd: transportation; water; economy
Paul: energy; buildings; food/soil
Rick: toxics-waste; public health; toxics-emergency preparedness
Charlie: waste; land use and environment; water
Dan: energy, public safety; buildings
Dan noted that some sectors already have robust infrastructure, including staff and committees,
devoted to them, while others less so, and the SLC’s approach to each might be different,
providing support and context for the former, while taking a more active leadership role for the
latter.
The importance of being involved in critical decisions and being present at the meetings where
those decisions are made, was emphasized. It was agreed that for the June 25th meeting, each
sector team should reach out to relevant stakeholder groups and identify if any decisions are on
the horizon that affect the sector, would need approval by the BOS and/or have an impact on
sustainability goals. Teams should also begin thinking about how to establish a baseline for the
sector and begin to identify potential goals/projects.
Todd noted that National Development would like to meet with us, as their MOU with the Town
requires consultation regarding their proposed Bridges and Waterstone developments on
Watertown Street. Celis has done an initial review and noted improvements are possible. They
will be invited to attend an upcoming meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlie Wyman