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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-24-SLC-min Town of Lexington Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of November 24, 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), Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Jeffrey Rhodin, Mary Hutton (Mothers Out Front), Ricki Pappo (Lexington GWAC), Lin Jensen, Jon Himmel (PBC), Jessica Zhu, Valentina Gambino The meeting was called to order at 6:03 pm. Todd referenced the opening statement requested by the Town Clerk, and all members responded that they could hear. 1. Previous minutes. The minutes of October 27, 2020, circulated previously, were approved as written. 2. Comments from residents; new business. • Jeff Rhodin told the committee about the Hayward Score website that can help one assess indoor air quality at home. Would we want to sponsor and promote it in town? Jeff used the Awair air quality monitor recommended on the site and it identified a problem he was unaware of. • Jon Himmel reported that the police station project has been placed on hold by the Select Board, with Fall 2021 the earliest it might come to Town Meeting. 3. Sustainability Director's Report. See Stella's written report. She commented on several items: • Stella introduced this evening's guests: Jessica Zhu and Valentina Gambino. Both are volunteers working with Stella; Jessica is helping with the youth engagement initiative, and Valentina is working on the green business survey and checklist. • For youth engagement, Stella has drafted modifications to the committee's charter (she will send around later) and a summary titled Sustain Us. She is seeking to open a dialogue with the youth climate leaders. More to come. • A webinar about the Homeworks Mass Save program has been scheduled for January. • Another webinar, explaining the upcoming Community Choice changes, is scheduled for December 10. A press release about the changes will be issued next week. 1. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of November 24, 2020 • She is working with the Chamber of Commerce and the town's waste task force on a waste reduction webinar scheduled for January 13. • Stella reminded us that the Hartwell Rezoning Initiative community meeting focused on Sustainability is scheduled for December 7. The Planning staff would like to meet with Sustainable Lexington to discuss the draft by-law, which they plan to circulate next week; the committee concluded that 9 am on January 8 would work for most members. • Finally, Stella reported that Lexington has been awarded the SolSmart bronze designation, and she has begun working on upgrading to silver. Reaching gold will be a heavier lift. 4. Westview Cemetery building - discussion of how best to apply the Integrated Building Policy now that the decision has been made to proceed with the project. • Celis and Jon Himmel explained that the Westview replacement building is now moving forward again after long delays. The design process began before the Integrated Building and Construction Policy was established so the Permanent Building Committee (PBC) is requesting input from the SLC on how the policy should be applied to this project now that it is active again. Celis has met with the PBC and with Sustainable Lexington's building team, and he prepared a number of questions and recommendations which he walked through with the committee and Mr. Himmel. Topics covered included the appropriate ASHRAE standard to use; high-efficiency air source heat pumps; location of air intake for building; evaluation of the site's PV potential; the appropriate generator to use; stormwater and landscaping goals; vehicle charging stations;possible reuse of the original structure; and reducing toxics in building materials. • There was considerable discussion. Jon suggested the letter be addressed to the Dept. of Public Facilities. Jeff suggested the current ASHRAE standard be used for simplicity; Celis replied that the standard in effect at the time of construction would not be difficult to meet. • Todd confirmed that there was consensus within the committee on a letter as Celis proposes to edit it, and at Jon's suggestion, a paragraph will be added clarifying the need to adhere to the other items in the design policy and to complete the LEED Lexington form, as the specific points of Celis' letter are not the committee's only interests. 5. Update on RMI training and Natural Gas reduction plans —discussion of Home Rule Petition being proposed for 2021 Annual Town Meeting. Ricki reported that a group of the natural gas reduction advocates met with the Arlington leaders, and have determined that the best route is to recommend a Home Rule Petition to the Select Board and ask them to place it on the warrant for the spring Town Meeting. The petition would grant Lexington the authority to do what Brookline voted to do, and which Arlington has just voted to request. The deadline is December 4 for asking the Select Board for their support for an article for the spring; they will decide on all requests on or around December 8. The committee is fully supportive. Archana, Cindy, Ricki, Mary, and Todd will work on the proposal to the Select Board, which has a number of 2. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of November 24, 2020 components; a draft will be circulated on December 1, and the committee will meet on December 2 at 6 pm to consider and vote on it. 6. Vote to receive the Emissions Model Final Report and discuss next steps. Todd learned that almost no one on the committee had read the final report, which he circulated on November 14; everyone agreed to review it before the next meeting and we will vote to accept it then. 7. Update on plans for communicating Community Choice changes to residents. Stella reported that she has been working with Peregrine on this. A press release is ready to go, changes are being made to the website, and a tax bill insert has been prepared, the design of which Stella shared; one side of it promotes the New England Green option. 8. Commercial Building Design Guidelines and bylaws —status following approval of Article 16 and opportunities to provide input. Cindy attempted to clarify that part of the agenda on January 8 with Planning staff will be to discuss the site plan review regulations that our vote on Article 16 referenced. Stella recommended that we focus on the bylaw and design guidelines, which she believes is what the Planning Dept. will issue in draft form next week, and focus later on the regulations. Todd recommended that everyone engage with the Hartwell Avenue project community meetings, especially the one focused on Sustainability on December 7. The draft bylaw will be available around the 1st, and we will discuss it at our next regular meeting on Dec. 22. 9. 5G wireless design standards —Impact on tree trimming and removal. Rick reported that a number of communities around the country are taking action to gain control over the location and installation of the small cells needed for 5G networks. Communities are constrained by what they can control under federal law, but not nearly so much as the companies would have us believe. Key is having a clear process in place, and he recommends that we work on this. Mark reported that Town Meeting just adopted an amendment to the zoning bylaw for 5G wireless facilities, and the Select Board is now weighing draft regulations (Mark and Doug Lucente have been assigned the task of bringing a revised draft back to the board, with the goal of having something in place by April 1, roughly when approval of the by-law amendment is expected from the AG's office). Mark asked the Tree Committee to research best practices for tree trimming and removal, concerned that much more cutting may be done than is necessary. Rick encouraged the Select Board to develop a process that will control placement to the extent the law allows. 10. MBTA service reductions - Letter being drafted by the Transportation Advisory Committee. Todd explained the proposed cuts and the concerns of the Transportation Advisory Committee. Mark agrees with the concerns, but has additional ones: for the Silver Line the T is proposing to purchase its most expensive buses ever, which will rely on diesel fuel, and he would like to see the T encouraged to acquire electric vehicles as new equipment is being added. The committee voted unanimously to endorse both the TAC's letter and Mark's addendum, and Todd will send a note to Joe to this effect. 3. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of November 24, 2020 11. Meeting Norms and Operational Update. As Celis needed to leave, Cindy reported on the progress their task force (Cells, Cindy, and Archana) have made towards creating a central repository of documents for the committee and the public that will pass muster with the Open Meeting Law. She gave the committee a tour of a Google Drive with meeting documents organized in folders by date; the drive can be edited only by a clerk of the committee (Cindy for the moment) or subquorum of committee members, and by staff(Stella), with read-only access for the rest of the committee and the public. The drive is owned by a new gmail account, sustainablelexington@gmail.com. Everyone was very pleased and thanked the task force for their work. 12. Additional updates: • Cindy asked about a letter to the BBRS in support of the EZ Net Zero Stretch Code, but Todd explained that because the deadline for letters of support is November 30 and the Select Board is not meeting before then, and no one else is authorized to send such a letter on behalf of the town, no letter will be sent. • Rick asked about community solar and whether there is something more we can do to encourage it. Stella replied that she had a meeting just yesterday to explore how it might fit into community aggregation. Paul Gromer has met with a solar developer active in the low-income market. Paul reported that Temple Emunah's new canopy system (250kW AC) will send half of its energy to the temple and half at a discounted rate to low-income residents. • Charlie reported that the conservation land acquisition that the committee endorsed last month passed Town Meeting overwhelmingly, and thanked the committee for its support. If all goes well, a closing is anticipated around April 1. • Cindy reported that LPS Green Teams got the schools to start composting in their kitchens, and that at last count 984 Lexington residents are now Black Earth customers. The town's waste reduction task force is making a presentation to the League of Women Voters on December 4. Next Meetings: The committee will meet next on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, at 6 pm. to discuss the submittal to the Select Board in support of a Home Rule Petition to authorize Lexington to adopt a gas ban. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the committee will be on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at 6 pm. The meeting was adjourned at 9:28 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Wyman 4.