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Town of Reading KEGEIVEU
Meeting Minutes TOWN CLERK
READIN- MA.
2123 JUN 29 PHRic-
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Climate Advisory Committee
Date: 2023-02-22 Time: 07:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Berger Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose: Bi -monthly meeting
Attendees: Members - Present:
David Zeek, Chair; Ray Porter, Secretary; Genady Pilyaysky, Member; Walt
Talbot, Member; Travis Estes, Member;
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
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 reviewed and approved for 2/8/2023
Presentation to the Select Board
• Dave did a great job in giving the presentation to the Board
• There was a lot of Information on the slides
• A lot of interest was Farmers Markets
• Fidel expressed support of the market and is willing to connect us to others
• Good to have our committee
Net Zero Plan
• Considerable evolution of climate actions have been taken since 2008 when the first
Climate Action Plan was established
• Create a page that summarizing the success since the initial plan (Ray)
• Date for initiating plan not established
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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes
Tree Plantings in Reading
• Gena looked over the Arlington tree replacement policy
• Looking to connect with the Reading Tree Warden to talk about town actions
• Travis to look at Arlington staff person about their tree replacement policy
• Creation of "special" trees (legacy trees)
• Tree planting policies often do not address native vs invasive species
• Goal is to define the value of trees as a carbon sequestration and responsibilities for
maintaining all trees in Town
Discussions with Other Town Committees
• Role in protecting trees
• Need to define the reasons for meeting. Is it to be specific to a single topic or look
more broadly for shared interests
Polystyrene Bylaw
• Laura Gemme issued an email saying that the bylaw is now in effect.
• Fidel wants to put together a "marketing plan" to promote the bylaw
• Help business identify whether they are using polystyrene and what are the
alternatives
• Have help with Town Hall to prepare graphics link to a website for additional
information
Heating/Cooling Survey for 2023
• Already received 2,875
• Walt processes the first 1,000 responses
• Significant decrease in the use of oil, and growth in the use of heat pumps
• There was also a strong increase in the interest in converting to HP for primary
heating
Goals of this Committee for 2023
• Current commitments
o Polystyrene ban
o Heating / cooling survey for 2023
• Green Community Application
o Previously lead through Town Planning
o Need to pass article at Town Meeting (fee contribution)
o RMLD to implement charging system
• Solar Installations on Town Building Roofs
• Heat Pumps Adoption
• Energy Stretch Code Adoption
• Transportation topics
• Create a survey of Town engagement and priorities (Travis and Genady)
Calendar of Coming Events
3/8 Climate Advisory Committee - Zoom
Next meeting 3/8/2023 at 7:00 pm
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