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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-01-07-SLC-min Town of Lexington Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of January 7, 2020 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held in the Hudson Room of Cary Hall. A quorum of six was present. Members Present: Cindy Arens, Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Todd Rhodes (vice-chair), Dan Voss (chair), Charlie Wyman Members Absent: Marcia Gens, Rick Reibstein Other Attendees: Joe Pato (Selectman), Mark Sandeen (Selectman), Ricki Pappo (Lexington GWAC), Mary Hutton (Mothers Out Front), Leah Rapperport The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm. 1. Police Station Update. Dan and Todd reported that the Police Chief and PBC updated the Selectmen recently. There are a number of issues swirling around the planning/design phase, some with significant cost implications: project delay, remediation, historic district issues, location (current location v. 173 Bedford St.), which result in a significant cost savings for the Bedford St. location and a higher overall cost in any case. Joe reported that the Board of Selectmen said they didn't want to see either the program or the integrated building design—the first under the newly adopted building policy—to be compromised. 2. Fermata Energy. Facundo Tassara of Fermata Energy provided, by phone, an overview of the company and the specific proposal they have made: the opportunity to install a two-way charging system at a municipal building as a pilot project to prove and showcase their product. They will provide the charger (including maintenance and repair), software, and reimbursement for the lease of a Nissan Leaf for two years; the town would be responsible for installation, insurance and registration of the vehicle, and lease payments beyond two years. The basic premise is that the car will, when plugged in, be available to shave the peak off building electricity use, producing savings that will be split 50-50 with Fermata. Mr. Tassara provided some financial estimates based on generic assumptions, and agreed that, if supplied with detailed numbers by the town (which Mark will supply), he will supply a customized financial analysis before our next meeting on the 28h. 3. Comments from residents. Leah Rapperport shared some thoughts about promoting solar canopies with drawings and photographs that could be displayed downtown, and shared some examples of ideas and artwork. 1. 4. Town Meeting Articles. Information about relevant town meeting articles was shared and discussed. There are several: • Article amending the zoning by-law to relax restrictions on solar installations throughout town. There was considerable discussion of this, including details, opposition, and its value and impact in both commercial and residential zones. Dan is providing the Planning Board with a primer on solar the following evening. • Climate emergency declaration. No one has seen the proposed declaration being offered by Sunrise. We agreed to invite them to an upcoming meeting. • Three citizen articles have been proposed to adjust zoning on Hartwell Ave.; two will relax zoning to encourage redevelopment, a third would impose solar canopy requirements. Mark suggested that the requirement should be paired with the incentives. • Cindy mentioned the Sustainable Development Guidelines that were prepared by a consultant for the Planning Board. Discussion focused on our desire to review them and offer comments, and the pathway they will take (timetable? Town Meeting?) to adoption. 5. 2020 Priorities and Presentation to the Board of Selectmen. Todd and Dan discussed the need to prepare for our required presentation to the Board of Selectmen, and first to identify our priorities for 2020. The roadmap Todd constructed was discussed as a template. It was agreed to focus our next meeting on recommendations from the sectors for 2020 priorities. Todd will send around instructions for format. Ricki noted that it would help the non-profits if the committee prepared a roadmap for each sector; Dan noted that the roadmap would make it easier to coordinate action by identifying projects the committee would work on and projects that GWAC or MOF might take the lead on. 6. GWAC. Ricki reported that GWAC was recently awarded a $10,000 capacity-building grant, some of which will be used to launch a Mass Energize site for Lexington. Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be on Tuesday, January 28 at 7 pm. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman 2.