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Town of Reading x' T�W�EIVEU Meeting Minutes READCLERK
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Climate Advisory Committee
Date: 2023-05-10 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; Travis
Estes, Member;
Members - Not Present:
Walt Talbot, Member
Others Present:
Karen Gately Herrick (Select Board)
Marlena Bita (RMLD Board)
Carol Ouellette
Ben Ream
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
None
Gas -Powered Leaf Blower in Reading (Carol Ouellette)
• Discussion about managing the use of leaf blowers by landscaping companies
• Possible approaches to mitigate leaf blower use
o Noise ordinance
o Limit time periods for leaf blower use
o Limit number of blower that can be used per site
o Increased use of electric leaf blowers
o Methods for creating healthy lawns
• quiet Clean program
• State programs being initiated but the timeline is not defined. (House Bill H868)
• Initiatives by cities and towns can be the catalyst for state laws.
• Preference expressed for a program the implements rules over time.
• Noise discussion has been happening at the Select Board.
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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes
• Various ways to approach taken to get started with incremental restrictions.
• Committee resources are limited and has completing priorities to reach Net Zero
goals
• Priorities educational efforts and look to approaching Town Meeting in spring of 2024
• Electric lawn mowers are also a viable option.
• Batteries are Interchangeable between various yard devices
Polystyrene Bylaw Implementation
• Ben Cares updating the Town Website to have information on the bylaw and
background material
• Second page will have the history of the bylaw development
Friends and Family Day
• Confirmed that the plastics sorting game would be our child activity
• Student poster about stormwater mitigation
• Community Garden poster
• Suggestion box to get to Zero Waste (referred to Select Board)
Bicycling Recycling Event
• Over 180 received
• Great support from all those that participated
• Great interest and support from RMLD
Funding Request from the Town
• Fidel prompted to ask for fiscal 2023/4 funding
• Cover expected expenses related to redoing the energy survey
• Provide an allowance for additional printing
• Estimated request of $2000
Required Training for Open Meeting Law
• Laura Gemme provided information about taken the training.
• Other training on Conflict of Interest
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)
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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes
Calendar of Coming Events
5/24 Climate Advisory Committee - ChatGPT - Zoom
6/10 Friends & Family Day
6/14 Climate Advisory Committee - RMLD Update, Committee Reorganization - Zoom
6/28 Climate Advisory Committee - Zoom
Next meeting 5/24/2023 at 7:00 pm
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