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Town of Lexington
Sustainable Lexington Committee
Minutes of Meeting of August 27, 2019
A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held in in the Hudson 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: Paul Chernick
Other Attendees: Joe Pato and Mark Sandeen (Selectmen); Ingrid Klimoff, Diane
Biglow, Charles Hornig, Melinda Walker, Holly Sweet
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.
1. The minutes of the July 30 meeting were approved as corrected.
2. Ingrid Klimoff asked the committee to support denser housing development in Lexington,
and more specifically to support mixed-use development along transit corridors, 2- and 3-family
units throughout town, and two accessory apartments/lot as of right to reduce our carbon
footprint and lower housing costs. A lengthy discussion followed.
There is a Special Permit Residential Development Committee working on some of these
issues.
The committee is generally supportive of higher density along transit corridors.
Concerns were expressed about how to ensure affordability of any provisions that
increase density, so as not to just increase the supply of high-priced housing.
Joe put the question to the committee as: Does a sustainable future call for a change in
how we develop housing, and are there particular objectives reflecting our goals that
we’d like to see incorporated into any proposal?
It was proposed that as a committee we develop a statement of support for smart housing
development, which is consistent with the Sustainable Action Plan (SAP) and look at
how we can support this initiative. Seconded and approved. Todd will do first cut of
statement.
3. Mark explained that Bill McKibben spoke at the high school and challenged the students
to hold a climate strike on Sept. 20, a day of worldwide action. The strike will be held on the
football field at 10 a.m.
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Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 27, 2019
After some discussion, Rick drafted a statement of support that was seconded, discussed and
approved by the committee:
The Sustainable Lexington Committee supports the plan by Lexington students to gather
th
on September 20 in recognition of the danger of climate disruption to the environment
and the shared fate of the Commonwealth. We ask that the town provide all necessary
support for this action, including cost-free police protection, and excuse of absence from
classes. We commend the students for their initiative and understanding of the need to
take responsibility and encourage adults’ support and participation so that their message
of hope and constructive action can be heard even more broadly, as it must be if
prospects for a healthy future are to be preserved.
4. Dan provided an update on the Integrated Building Policy. A near-final draft was sent to
the Board of Selectmen last Monday. A meeting is planned to review the policy document,
which requires two small edits and review of a couple of new paragraphs proposed by the
Permanent Building Committee.
5. Dan provided an update on the Sustainability Director position. There was some
discussion of whether the job title should be Director or Manager, with the Town Manager
concluding that “Director” will be needed to attract suitable candidates. Next step: Warrant
Article for funding the position at fall Town Meeting.
6. Dan reported on the Solar Energy Task Force. The Task Force has not been directly
involved in the work of the consultants. The arrays need to be sorted out. Energy storage for the
site planned. The good news is that we are in Block 2 (of 8), which has higher compensation
levels. Eversource has agreed to let us put 1MW of solar on Hastings, and we only need 700kW
to be net zero. Construction at the LCP facility is complete, so the design and implementation of
solar arrays can now take place.
7. Holly Sweet reported on the work of the Noise Advisory Committee in drafting a
proposal to limit noise generation by lawn care activities.
Considerable discussion focused on the details: times of year, hours, and different
restrictions on residents and contractors.
Celis expressed concern about whether pushing contractors to go electric would result in
idling diesel trucks while battery packs are being recharged, and asked whether other
stakeholders, especially landscapers and the enforcing agency (Lexington Board of
Health), have been consulted.
Melinda expressed concern about restrictions on contractors serving limited mobility
residents.
Todd attempted to summarize the discussion: the committee in general very much
supports the basic thrust of the proposed restrictions, but the devil is in the details and
how to craft it, and requested that members communicate questions to Holly that she can
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Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 27, 2019
take back to the advisory committee; these include hours; months; diesel issue; strategy
of starting with a more limited set of restrictions, health and safety issues; value of
meeting with the Board of Health and commercial lawn care companies. Advice was
offered to start first with lawn care companies that can work and are working with similar
restrictions.
Holly shared her email address: hbsweet@comcast.net.
8. Todd described the need to bring SLC priorities to the Selectmen this fall and reviewed
the process he proposed in his August 20 email. Each sector team during September should
develop a list of ideas and evaluate them on SAP criteria for impact of the idea (environment,
resilience, health and wellness, economics) and probability of success (town control,
implementation, effectiveness). Be ready to discuss progress at our September meeting, with an
early October meeting planned for the sector teams to put their ideas on the table and begin the
process of identifying overall priorities.
Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be Tuesday,
September 24 at 7 pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlie Wyman
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