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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-07-28-SLC-min Town of Lexington Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of July 28, 2020 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A quorum of eight was present. Members Present: Cindy Arens, Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Archana Dayalu, Marcia Gens, Todd Rhodes (vice-chair), Dan Voss (chair), Charlie Wyman Members Absent: Rick Reibstein Other Attendees: Stella Carr (Sustainability Director), Jeffrey Rhodin, Joe Pato (Select Board), Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Mary Hutton (Mothers Out Front), Ricki Pappo (Lexington GWAC), Jennifer Caruso The meeting was called to order at 6:02 pm. Todd read the opening statement requested by the Town Clerk, and all members responded that they could hear. 1. Previous minutes. The minutes of June 16, 2020, circulated previously, were approved as written. 2. Comments from residents; new business. None. 3. Sustainability Director Update. • Stella informed the committee that at a meeting held today with the Town Manager, Dep. TM Kelly Axtell, and representatives of the Dept. of Health, DPW, and DPF in response to the Toxics Use Reduction task force letter,they agreed to begin gathering an inventory of all products on the list and develop recommendations to bring all town departments into compliance. • Two new Nissan Leafs are being acquired for the Dept. of Public Facilities with grant funds, and design is underway on a sticker (identifying the cars as Town of Lexington electric vehicles) that will be used on others as the electric fleet expands. Work is underway on a strategy to electrify the fleet as vehicles come up for replacement. • A meeting of town officials was held to discuss allowable uses of the $30,000 not yet spent of the funds approved by Town Meeting for the second phase of the Getting to Net Zero study, and they asked for recommendations for its use so that it can be determined what falls within the scope of the article and what falls outside, with the understanding that the Town Manager is open to a warrant article to direct unspent funds to any uses not allowed under the previous article. Mark, Archana, and Todd will work with Stella to provide recommendations. 4. Meeting Norms and Operational Update. Celis explained that he'd like to initiate a discussion about norms for how we meet and function, with a view to making our meetings more efficient 1. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of July 28, 2020 and effective, and to ensure that immediate needs don't crowd out time for longer-term goals and projects. He suggested several steps we could take to do this, including circulating presentations, reports, and draft documents ahead of time. Discussion underscored the value of sub-quorum groups working on issues and bringing recommendations to the full committee, and the desire to have a repository (Slack?) where documents could be placed for easy access (Stella will look into this). We agreed to carve out another 15 minutes at the next meeting for further discussion. 4. Sustainable Landscaping. Charlie explained that a working group (Charlie, Marcia, Archana, Ricki, and Sara Bothwell Allen) has been exploring the potential for a program to promote sustainable landscaping on private and public lands in Lexington as a way to address some of our goals in the Land Use and Natural Environment sector. The group has been talking with a number of folks here in town and with other towns and programs around Massachusetts and elsewhere. The possibility of a collaborative effort with the Field and Garden Club, GWAC, and Citizens for Lexington Conservation is being explored, along with other potential allies (Conservation Commission, Tree Committee, DPW, etc.). Projects might include demonstration gardens, garden tours, information disseminated by website, advocacy on public lands, etc. There was some supportive discussion and clarifying questions, and the issue of whether some of these ideas might be pursued at the police station was discussed. Stella will look into whether DPW currently has policies in place to support sustainable landscaping on Town property. 5. Solid Waste Master Plan. • Cindy reminded us that the committee recommended a resolution on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to the Select Board earlier in the year,just before the pandemic shut everything down. DEP has reopened the comment period on the Draft Solid Waste Master Plan to gather input(1) from environmental justice communities, whose vulnerability to the pandemic has highlighted, on the burdens of waste disposal on those communities; and (2) on waste management and recycling costs, which were growing severe even before the pandemic hit. After some discussion, it was agreed that Cindy will prepare a draft for the committee to discuss and approve at a meeting on the 181h, so that it could go the Select Board on the 24h. Joe recommended that Stella check with DPW and coordinate with Cindy in case the town has already submitted comments, so that the two sets of comments are complementary and not conflicting. • Mark noted that the worst air quality in the state is in Haverhill and Chelsea; Haverhill is just downwind of the waste incinerator in North Andover that burns Lexington's trash, highlighting the relevance of environmental justice to our actions. • Cindy noted the two vacancies on the Waste Reduction Task Force and encouraged committee members to refer good candidates to the openings. • Mark said that regrettably the Colonial Times mistakenly reran a column from 2019 with inaccurate information encouraging folks to send their paper and cardboard to Black Earth, resulting in more than they could handle. • The town has not applied for the Recycling IQ grant; it's not clear why, but the Select Board members said they had heard nothing and regretted that they had not been informed. 2 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of July 28, 2020 • Mark noted that the Board's comments on the SWMP could include encouragement to the state to foster location of a true glass recycling facility in Massachusetts, one that reprocesses recycled glass to be used as glass, not landfill liner. 6. Discussion of Natural Gas ruling from the State Attorney General and RMI training update. Archana explained that the Attorney General (AG) has rejected Brookline's gas ban as being in conflict with three state laws, but the AG clearly is sympathetic to the intent and encouraged a legislative fix. Joe Pato, Mark Sandeen, and Jim Malloy spoke with the Arlington Town Manager and began to explore what would be a multi-town initiative for legislation to permit gas bans. It was agreed that the RMI team of Mark, Ricki, Mary, Lin, and Archana would discuss a recommendation, to be reviewed at the Sustainable Lexington meeting on the 18'h for forwarding to the Select Board for their Aug. 24 meeting, to pursue cooperation with other towns on this approach. 7. Letter in support of Department of Public Utilities investigation of a Natural Gas Transition Plan. Mark reported on the AG's petition to the DPU requesting an investigation into the transition for gas companies to move away from gas as we decarbonize, and the Sierra Club letter in support. Mark thinks it's clear that the petition is linked to her rejection of the Brookline gas ban. The DPU is not all that interested in pursuing this, so a show of support would be helpful. After some discussion, it was agreed that a letter from Lexington officials in support of the AG's petition is the best option (it may be too late to sign on to the Sierra Club letter, and a separate letter from town officials may have greater impact); the RMI team will prepare a draft for the August 18 meeting. 8. Updates. • Peregrine Emissions Model. Archana, Mark, Todd, and Stella will provide feedback to Paul Gromer on what we'd like to see in his final Getting to Net Zero update. • HeatSmart: Cindy reported that she presented the program to the Select Board and they were supportive. HeatSmart coaches are reaching out to the program to say we're ready to apply. • Sustainable Development Guidelines. We're not clear on the status. Cindy and Stella will coordinate on comments. • Police Station. Meeting tomorrow; updates expected on design, cost, etc. Select Board has suggested the town needs more time to digest the plan and proposed postponing the vote to the Spring Town Meeting. • School Solar Canopies. Moving ahead. Marcia asked where trees are being cut down for canopy installation; Stella will inquire. • Electric School Bus Feasibility. The team, Superintendent Hackett, and Asst. Superintendent Coelho had a conversation with Eversource about potential locations for charging stations. The current contract with C&W runs until 2022. Todd reported that Dr. Hackett would like a significant number of electric buses in the fleet, more than just a few token ones. • August is Water Quality Month. Stella reported that the town will be launching a campaign for water conservation. 3 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of July 28, 2020 Composting: Cindy reported that 38 new compost customers have been added in the last few weeks, bring the total of Black Earth customers to 924 (there may be a few subscribers to other services as well). Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, time to be determined. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman 4