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Board -Committee -Commission -Council:
2023 MAR -8 PM 3 09
Climate Advisory Committee
Date: 2021-05-26 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose: Bi -monthly meeting
Attendees: Members - Present:
David Zeek, Chair; Ray Porter, Secretary; Celeste Kracke, Member; Denise
McCarthy, Member; Peter MacGown, Associate Member
Members - Not Present:
Jeff Everson; Member; Travis Estes, Associate Member;
Others Present:
Gina Snyder, Member Emeritus
Genady Pilyaysky
Morgan Kruegler, Guest/Resident
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Ray Porter
Topics of Discussion:
Meeting was held via a Zoom Conference Call
Welcome to Members and Guests
Review minutes, vote on acceptance
Meeting minutes for 04/28/2021 has been accepted as amended.
EV Charging Stations / Electrification
• Placement of EV stations at commercial locations
• Jordan's / Home Depot / REI / Calareso's / Burbank Y / Home Goods
• Golf Club, fitness centers, grocery stores
• Genady offers to look at time of stays for local businesses
• Reading/No. Reading Chamber for possibly interested locations
• Need to know who owns parking lot
• Different chargers have faster charging rates
Community Garden Grant
• Denise spoke with Wakefield DPW on their community gardens
• Wakefield Dept. of Recreation got a $57K grant from Jason Lewis
• Looking for locations - near Greenwood
• Held a public forum
• Issues: parking, walkability near rail line.
• Black Earth Compost - managing gardens
• Started last year, $50/year based on lottery
• Added signage this year
• Need to talk with the Town about locations
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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes
• Celeste to talk with friend who has worked on community gardens
• Boston Community Gardens has multiple sites
• Funding options for money beyond the initial grant need to be explored
• Develop a plan that can address location, costs and potential revenue.
Environmental Metrics for Sustainable Development
• Sustainable PowerPoint presentation as a start point
• GHG Inventory update for Reading
• Global protocol for community based emissions
• Maybe use student intern to take basic data
• EV use - RMLD charger rebates or Reading excise tax by vehicle types
• Solar panel use - municipal building
• Genady to follow-up with Tom , possibly invite Tom to attend RCAC meeting
Student Interns from HS Environmental Club
• Public Service Message (5 min segments)
• Data Collection (Environmental Metrics)
• Survey for Farmers' Market
• Wait for feedback from students to gage their interest.
Reading Public Library
• Amy Lannon to talk to us about using outdoor space around Reading Library
Farmers' Market
• Action Items from last meeting
• Success of a Farmers' Market depends on several factors
o Vendors (types and mix)
o Marketing and Promotion
o Parking
• Potential schedule for developing a Farmers' Market
o This year - scope for market (speak to vendors), BOH Restrictions
o Next year - start
• Look for vendors that provide refills of home use items
• Local craft breweries
• Local pickup of CSA shares
• Fresh Flowers vendors
• Regenerative farmers and meat suppliers (Lilac Hedge Farm).
Committee Membership
• Draft statement of committee roles
• Openings - 1 full member, 2 associate member
Postings
• June 3 - Zoom event on Gas Leaks in Salem
• National Grid Municipal Energy Efficiency Webinar Series
o June 8 - Commonwealth's commitment to clean energy
o June 22 - EV chargers and energy efficiency in building design
Next meeting 6/9/2021 at 7:00 pm
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