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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-08-08 Cities for Climate Protection MinutesAugust 8, 2007 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program Committee Notes for August 8, 2007 (Next Meeting - August 23rd at Town Hall) Committee Meeting 7:00 PM, present were Michele Benson, Tracy Sopchak, Gina Snyder, Ron D'Addario, Joan Boegel,"Ray,Porter, and Stephanie Anderberg. Ben Tafoya attended part of the meeting. Welcome - Chair Gina Snyder opened the meeting, welcoming all present. Minutes -Members had not received the notes. Stephanie will resend. Ben Tafoya, Low Water Use Action Plan - The committee had a discussion with Ben on an Action Plan item regarding low (water) impact development. Ben mentioned that currently, developments are required to include landscaping in plans, for buffers, and the new idea is to consider how to incorporate less water-impacting designs into the landscaping. Under the new MWRA system that the town has switched to, our water rates tend to increase with increased usage, so there is a financial incentive to limit or reduce water usage. Our costs through this water source DO reflect environmental impact, whereas the costs associated with our previous source did not. It might be possible to get a LID bylaw but specific planting or landscaping ideas would only be suggestions. King County Washington has just implemented a bylaw which is enforced as part of site plan reviews. We would need to research other towns for models and tailor their bylaws to fit our situation and jurisdictional powers. The target would be any project which goes through site plan review through CPDC or goes through the ZBA process. CPDC has a small group of associate members who could help advise us on planning. Follow up on MBTA meeting at Wakefield - Gina is working on the comment letter and the committee discussed what to focus on. Suggestions were double-tracking, Orange Line extension to Reading, bus service improvements and double-decker commuter rail coaches on north-side lines. Stephanie also noted that she'd placed a request with MBTA service planning to examine 137 bus route stop locations in relation to development along Walker's Brook Drive. (based on a comment by Peter at the MPO meeting of July 11) Schools and recycling - Schools and recycling - Gina had e-mailed a link for the DEP Green Team for Schools program httff-//www.thereenteam.or I to Michelle Mini (copied to Joan) for consideration by the Recycling Subcommittee. Joan had already talked to someone at the DEP about the Green Team program last year and reviewed the website again. It sounds like a very good program but would require a teacher to act as the contact person at each school. There is an order form for free supplies such as signage and bins. The program also has an educational component. This program includes anti-idling elements and includes free pledge cards, and signage. Joan's daughter Julia is interested in starting an environmental club at her school - Coolidge Middle School - with friends, and she has some ideas on which teachers she could ask to help. Gina has also been contacted by several residents eager to help. So we might be able to start at one school or we could take it to our school dept contacts. Gina had a brief conversation about the school anti-idling campaign with Superintendent Schettini at the Reading Town Friends and Family Day in June. He had suggested that she work through the PTO presidents. Joan will continue researching the Green Team and will report back. She volunteered to contact John Doherty, Assistant Superintendent, to solicit his support and input on the Green Team program. We can also look into the Abitibi program, as a fundraiser for PTOs. Grant timeline and ideas -Ron will attend an informational meeting in Wilmington. Action Plan Prioritizing - Tracy went over current plan draft with the committee and illustrated that we don't have to wait for plan completion to begin implementing certain items. Some are already being implemented. There are three reasons why we would want to prioritize some items: 1. There is a strong proponent 2. There is a large environmental benefit 3. There is low effort required of the committee We should consider implementing the "low hanging fruit" now. The committee reviewed the table which ranked action items based on the 3 priorities above. For the next mtg, members should look through the table and consider if we've missed any proponents, benefits, etc. We should start to think about which to rank highly for early implementation. At the next meeting we can compare feelings % on which items would be best to start with. When looking at the table, also look to be sure nothing was missed. Next steps - Gina and Michele will attend CCP software training.