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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-26-SLC-min Town of Lexington Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of January 26, 2021 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A quorum of nine was present. Members Present: Cindy Arens, Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Archana Dayalu, Marcia Gens, Rick Reibstein, Todd Rhodes (vice-chair), Dan Voss (chair) Members Absent: Charlie Wyman Other Attendees: Stella Carr (Sustainability Director), Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Mary Hutton (Mothers Out Front), Ricki Pappo (Lexington GWAC), Lin Jensen. The meeting was called to order at 6:08pm. Todd referenced the opening statement requested by the Town Clerk, and all members responded that they could hear. 1. The committee approved the minutes from the December 22, 2020 and January 8, 2021 meetings. The committee also agreed to drop the standing agenda item "Meeting Norms" from future agendas —the structure of the Zoom meetings and document repository on the Town website have addressed the prior concerns. 2. Community Comments: • Lin Jensen recommend that the committee sign a letter in support of the DOER. The timing was too short for a letter to be presented to the Select Board, so the committee determined that past letters would need to be sufficient. 3. Sustainabilty Director's Report: • Met with student"Sustain Us" groups and discussed approach for involving them in SLC meetings. Sent out survey to local businesses to support the Green Business program. • Established a Zero Waste landing page on the Town's Sustainability Office webpage Working with a cross-functional group within Town staff on a Sustainable Procurement Policy. Stella with share a draft of the policy with the committee once it is ready for review. o Cindy recommended looking at policies from the State of Washington Working with the Toxic Use Reduction task force to review Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) for currently purchased materials and to look for opportunities for improvement. 1. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of January 26, 2021 • Will work with SLC sector groups to help set Sustainability priorities for the coming year. • Looking at opportunities to promote water conservation. • Discussed the Town policy regarding electric vehicles. Stella identified that she has shared the policy with Jim Malloy. The policy recommends the consideration of EVs when new vehicles are purchased. 4. Review of Hartwell Innovation Park (HIP)—Design Guidelines • Marcia identified that the Sustainable Landscaping group is recommending that the SITES program be in included in the bylaw/standards to drive landscaping choices at Hartwell. • Cindy reported that she has heard concerns regarding the "LexLEED"branding of the building performance checklist. • Todd walked the committee through the latest version of the Design Guidelines. 1. Stella commented that the document focuses mostly on building layout and design and is fairly high-level. 2. The committee and guests discussed the Design Guidelines broadly. Comments included: ■ The importanance of promoting an integrated design strategy that includes sustainable design practices should be highlighted at the very beginning of the document and not left to the last section. ■ The bylaw and "LexLEED" checklist should be referenced in the Design Guidelines. ■ The guidelines should include: reduction in the use of toxic materials, better language to address lighting on Hartwell, and all utilities should be buried. • Paul made edits to the Design Guidelines during the meeting. • Cindy, Celis, and Todd offered to build on Paul's edits to reflect the comments made by the committee and send the recommendations to the Planning Department. 5. Electric School Bus Feasibility • Todd provided an update on activities to assess the feasibility of transitioning the diesel school buses that support Lexington Public Schools (LPS) to electric buses. • Todd will be presenting to the School Committee on February 2. There are three options being considered: 1. Require in the next contract(starting in mid-2022) that the bus service provider include electric buses in their fleet at no additional cost above diesel bus costs. 2. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of January 26, 2021 2. Lease electric buses and charging stations from a third-party, at a price below what LPS currently pays for diesel buses, and make them available to the bus service provider for use in Lexington. 3. Acquire electric buses and charging stations and make them available to the bus service provider for use in Lexington. • Each of the options presents specific costs and benefits. The objective is to have an approach identified by the time LPS releases their RFP for bus services in the fall of 2021. 6. Emissions Model—Peregrine Energy • The committee voted 6-1 in favor of accepting the energy use and emissions model report provided by Peregrine Energy. • Questions were raised regarding the request for results to be presented per-capita and per-sgft. Todd said he would follow up with Peregrine on that request. 7. Clean Heat—Article 31 • Cindy reported that she plans to present the article to the Select Board in mid- February. • The Clean Heat website is up and running. • Outreach activities include: o Planned meeting with the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) o Discussions with local builders o Presentation to First Parish Church o Clean Heat/Net-Zero design webinar through the Cary Library Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be on Tuesday, February 23, 2021, at 6 pm. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 pm. Respectfully submitted, Todd Rhodes 3.