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Home My WebLink About2020-08-18-SLC-min Town of Lexington Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of August 18, 2020 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), Charlie Wyman Members Absent: None 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) 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 July 28, 2020, circulated previously, were approved as written. 2. Comments from residents; new business. None. 3. Sustainability Director Update. • Stella asked the committee for feedback on logos for her office and on decals for town electric vehicles (beginning with the two Leafs the town is acquiring). Discussion followed. • Stella asked for feedback on the proposed vehicle replacement policy, and asked for volunteers to help hone the policy for formal adoption. Todd and Celis offered to help, and Mark agreed to provide guidance on appropriate language. • August is Water Quality Month, and the town is participating in a national water conservation campaign; committee members were encouraged to visit the website, take the pledge, and encourage friends to do the same. • Ten minutes are reserved on the Select Board's agenda Monday evening for presentation and discussion of town comments on the state's Solid Waste Master Plan; Stella and Cindy will coordinate. DPW is pulling together some numbers to contribute to those comments; they may not have them ready by Monday, but can provide them soon after so that the Town Manager can incorporate them into the letter. See the Director's monthly report (circulated previously) for additional details. 4. Update on Micro-Grid proposal for the Stop&Shop/Walgreens area. Mark described what a micro-grid is and explained that Eversource has offered to build a micro-grid for the town, 1. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 18, 2020 encompassing the cluster of buildings around the fire station (fire station, Stop&Shop, Walgreens, health care offices, and food shops), including solar canopies in three places. The total solar capacity would exceed those buildings' current loads. This would require a change in state law, and Eversource is asking for support of the legislative change. Considerable discussion ensued around the ramifications of Eversource undertaking the construction and owning the solar canopies. It is anticipated that the Select Board will ask Sustainable Lexington for advice. The matter was referred to our energy sector team (Dan, Paul, Celis) for further discussion and a recommendation. 5. Meeting Norms and Operational Update. Celis explained that Archana, Cindy, Stella and he have been looking into the potential for a system that would allow us to share and collaboratively edit documents to facilitate their review and adoption at committee meetings. The question of whether this might run afoul of the Open Meeting Law was discussed, with Joe explaining that comments could be sent to a non-committee member (Stella) who could edit a document, but his understanding (and Select Board practice) is that a quorum of committee members collaboratively editing a document outside a meeting is not permitted. Celis suggested that a repository for documents that the committee and the public would have access to would still be useful, and he proposed to work with others to explore that option and will update us next month. 6. Solid Waste Master Plan. Cindy explained that the comment period for the state's update of the Solid Waste Master Plan has been reopened to gather input(1) from environmental justice communities (whose vulnerability 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. She reviewed a draft letter for the Select Board's approval that calls for: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, a total food waste ban, protections for environmental justice communities, and planning for the impacts of COVID- 19 on our waste stream. Some discussion followed, a few edits were suggested, and the committee voted to endorse the letter and convey it to the Select Board. Cindy and Stella will coordinate on Monday's presentation. 7. Review proposed presentation to the Select Board regarding a multi-town initiative to address natural gas infrastructure. Archana walked the committee through a draft PowerPoint presentation for the Select Board on the need for large-scale electrification in the coming years. The presentation makes two asks: a letter of support to the DPU (see next agenda item), and that the Board make common cause with other towns to seek legislation permitting local gas bans (of the kind passed by Brookline and rejected by the Attorney General). Members of the committee offered feedback, and Joe recommended meeting individually with members of the Board before the public meeting. 8. Review proposed letter to the Department of Public Utilities in support of the Attorney General's request for an investigation into a transition away from natural gas. The DPU has opened an investigation pursuant to a request from the Attorney General, and it is proposed that the committee ask the Select Board to submit comments during the public comment period that underscore the rationale and importance of the AG's request. Committee members offered comments and suggestions. Neither this letter nor the previous presentation are on the Select Board's agenda for Monday, and once Town Meeting begins in October, it will be hard to get a 2 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 18, 2020 spot. Joe will renew a request for a spot for these two items, and if they are scheduled to come up before our next regular meeting on Sept. 22, the committee will hold a special meeting to consider and endorse them. 9. Town Meeting Warrant Articles. Citizen articles for the fall town meeting are due by August 20. Charles Hornig's article on solar will be on the warrant; the Planning Board is holding a new round of hearings on Town Meeting articles within their purview beginning Sept. 9. 10. Select Board review of progress towards goals. The Select Board will be conducting their annual assessment of performance against goals on Monday. It was suggested that the committee offer a summary of its contributions; Joe advised that it be short, and Todd will put together 1-2 sentences. Other committee members were asked to forward any thoughts to Todd asap. 11. Updates. • Sustainable Landscaping. Charlie explained that they continue to make progress and are about to reach out to potential partners. A more polished version of the proposal was circulated before the meeting, and the committee was asked if members had any concerns before we proceed down this path. No comments were received. • Peregrine Emissions Model. Todd had nothing to report, and said he needs to follow up with Paul G. • HeatSmart: Cindy reported the disappointing news that MassCEC has decided to redirect funds away from the HeatSmart program for the foreseeable future. Cindy would still like to move forward with some kind of program and explore what they can do without the expected funds. She will be working with our partners (GWAC, MOF) to sort out options and next steps. • Sustainable Development Guidelines. Cindy sent our previously assembled comments to the Planning Board. • Police Station. Celis reported that the schematic design has been finalized, but the Select Board has decided to pause the process while the community conversations around race and police procedures continue, with the expectation that the project will be brought to the Annual Town Meeting in the spring. Solar canopies in the car park are being explored to provide the preferred on-site renewable energy. Several people commented on the important contribution that the integrated building design policy has made to the process. • School Solar Canopies. Footings are in, and the canopies should rise in the next few weeks. • Electric School Bus Feasibility. Eversource has been provided with a list of potential sites for recharging stations, and we are awaiting their response. 3 Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of August 18, 2020 Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee will be on Tuesday, September 22, 2020,time to be determined. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman 4