HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-05-09 Cities for Climate Protection MinutesMay 9, 2007 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program
Committee Notes for May 9, 2007 (Next Meeting - May 23rd at Town Hall)
Committee Meeting 7:00 PM, present were Michele Benson, Gina Snyder, Dan Blodgett, Joan Boegel, Tracy
Sopchak, and Stephanie Anderberg
Welcome - Chair Gina Snyder opened the meeting and welcomed all present.
Minutes - Gina corrected minutes to read "Gina responded to EOEA" not "Cambridge Alliance". Joan
added to the thank you notes section that she is writing to Nexgen. A motion was made and seconded to approve,
as amended, the meeting minutes of the April 25 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Anti-Idling Policy - Gina presented a draft taken from Cleveland Ohio and adapted to Reading and Mass
General Law CH 90 Sec 16A. Edits to Gina's draft included taking out some references to "remove keys from
ignition". It is likely that some vehicles need accessory power while parked and working (for example, flashing
lights) without idling. The text was also edited to reinforce that vehicles should be off when parked for more than
30 seconds. The committee discussed whether to include text about idling in inclement weather, for warmth, and
how the state limit of 5 minutes is still the maximum in this case. Regarding the text on vehicles and pieces of
equipment that are "town owned" we also added "or contracted". Gina will make the suggested changes and send
the draft to Peter.
Action Plan - Tracy met with Gina & Michele on May 2 to talk about how to bring transportation action
items forward into better format, consistent wording and voice, and how to make the text more thorough and more
pertinent to Reading.
We want to have more concrete steps like (for example) we will draft a policy on anti idling enforcement, to get
that started, and then we enlist the help of town department/employees for follow-through. Then we can bring a
draft to Peter with indications of where key partners can be identified for each item, to help us get an idea of how
to gently bring it up with other departments, etc.
There was some discussion of whether to aim for us to talk with department heads or to ask Peter to do it.
Possibly, some of us could sit in on a department head meeting to help convey how much we could appreciate
help.
We will try to have the draft ready for Peter by the end of June
The next subcommittee meeting will be on Friday morning.
If members are available and interested, they could take a look at information on upcoming events:
Part 2 of the LEED residential presentation in Andover on 5/17 or
The Open Space Committee meeting on 5/16.
For non-transportation Action Plan items, each member (except Tracy, who is formatting the transportation
section) should go through and add text for items that they have previously researched. Add the text but clean it
up and make it relevant for Reading before adding it in.. Also think about items that might still be missing from
our action items, such as adding more trees on South Main St.
Tracy will resend the master list of non-transportation Action Plan items, and each member will reply-all with a
list of which items they will cover.
Low-Impact Water Bylaw - Ben has requested that we look into this and incorporate other climate issues. The
idea would be to require low-impact plantings in new development (and possibly expanded existing development)
to reduce the impact on the water supply, but at the same time, we have to be careful that developers don't just
decide to increase asphalt to reduce water needs. Committee members may have more time to look at this over
the summer and we'll revisit this in July. We can also look for potential subcommittee members within the
community and ask Ben if he has suggestions.
Next Steps - Michele will work on updating the 1-2-3 pledge for this year's Town Day, with a
transportation focus. Perhaps Sovay would like to develop a kids' pledge. Town Day is June 30.