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Home My WebLink About2022-04-05Climate Smart/Clean Energy Community Task Force Minutes of the MeetingTuesday April 5, 2022 Town Hall Caldwell Conference Room and Via Zoom Call to Order/ Introductions/Attendance: Present: Members: Alice Green, Coordinator; Joe Wilson, Marie McRae, John Keifer, Loren Sparling, Ray Burger; Absent: Nancy Munkenbeck and Chuck Geisler Support: Ella Bormet, Planning Intern;Rachel Levin, Gina Cassidy CCETC Energy Coordinators; Guests:Shelley Knickerbocker; KateLee & McKenna Crocker, Dryden High School students Approval of March Minutes: Unanimous Approval by Members Present Additions to the Agenda; For May: discussion and possible recommendations of energy efficiency, heat pump HVAC and other climate smart inclusions in “affordable housing” in multi-family projects in Dryden Clean Energy Community Actions:Revised Pathways for Clean Energy Community grants –Alice, Gina 200 were earned for completing Energy Code Training. Thanks, Shelley! Will bring our total to 3400 We are close to completing LED street lights task. Itwill bring our total to 4300 points and eligibility for $20,000 grant We will need 600 additional points for eligibility for $70,000 grant Dryden Pathways chart attached Discussion of options for using the expected $10,000 grant for approval of 100% Renewable. Discussion of future grant spending options Alice, John: Assuming receipt of at least $10,000 and as much as $30,000, we should spend it on an audit for the DPW building then for prescribed work on the DPW building. From whatever is received, as much as $1000 could be earmarked to support the installation of an EV charging station at Dryden High School. This would supplement the fundraising effort underway by the DHS environmental club. Moved by Joe; seconded by Marie; approval is unanimous. John offers to draft an RFP for DPW building audit. DHS Student Actions to Address Climate Change: Climate Change Class community education project for Clean Heating and Cooling Demo – McKenna, Kate, Ella: DHS Students are working on the public education part of the Demo action. The first part is completing a building upgrade that reduces Town municipal operations GHG production by at least 10%. However, Gina clarified she’s learned from NYSERDA that the building upgrade must be from a fossil fuel source to clean energy. Since the $100K Dryden TH upgrade to its geothermal HVAC system did not meet that criterion, the 700 points for the Clean Heating and Cooling Demo are not available at this time. However, if the Town upgrades the DPW offices, that will likely involve moving from fossil fuel to some electrification, and it may qualify for the points. In the meantime, the students’ public education projects will be very useful for ongoing promotion of energy efficiency actions. Climate Action Plan Promotion – Kate, McKenna, Ella, Alice: A poster, a video, and social media posts are each being prepared to publicize what the Town is doing to address climate change, and to inform residents about what they can do. EV charging station at DHS – Kate, McKenna: DHS Sustainability Club students have met with DCS Building and Grounds staff, and with an EV charging station provider. Working with Holly Paine, CCE EV Infrastructure Coordinator, they expect to apply for a grant to cover cost of the 2-pronged charging unit. The students have raised $1000 towards installation costs. McKenna reported that the first installation cost estimate is between $500 and $1000, so they may already have covered it. That cost could rise as they work more on siting the station, depending on proximity to power sources, etc. Community Choice Aggregation: Report on March 23 update (recording shared in earlier email)– Alice, All Our consensus is to continue to monitor and learn from what the Ithaca City/Town task force is doing. John notes that a complicating factor is that the market place for green/renewable energy is fragmented and disorganized. Town Hall Renewable Energy Update: An inverter on the solar panels has failed. The contractor’s response has not been satisfactory. The ground source heat/cooling system upgrade iscomplete, with interior building room adjustments still in progress. County Electric Infrastructure: Report on March 22 meeting – John John attended this Tompkins County Organization of Governments (TCOG)sub-committee meeting as a proxy for Loren. He reported that so far, the City of Ithaca has given the most thought to the issue of preparing the local electric grid for increased use with the upcoming transition from fossil fuel to electricity. John said those present learned that an early step would be to define what electrification would include and assumptions that come along with it. NYSEG officials present at the meeting said this needs assessment would have to be incorporated into a “rate case,” a process that can be lengthy. John recommended that the county-wide electric needs assessment should include a solid level of redundancy. The group intends to continue meeting, but the next session has not yet been scheduled. Climate Action Plan (CAP): Discussion of Community response so far – All Planning Board members reported that the first hearing on the Comp Plan update – including the CAP- was attended mostly by opponents. One main argument is that the process went too quickly during Covid. The Plan, nearly three years in the making, will get a final review from the Planning Board Steering Committee at the end of April, and then will go to the Town Board, which in May will set another public hearing for June 16. It’s expected that the Town Board final vote on the Comp Plan update will occur at their July 21 meeting. Alice reminded the Task Force that approval of the Comp Plan Update, and the CAP, are crucial to achieving enough points for Dryden to gain Silver Climate Smart certification. The next deadline for application review is July 8, so Dryden will have to wait until the next review Jan. 6, 2023. Discussion: What is best size for Task Force? Do we need guidelines for adding members and setting terms? All new members need to be appointed by the Town Board Task Force members said they welcome student representatives There was agreement on the benefit of having young participants for fresh perspectives and developing future leaders The addition will bring the Task Force to ten members When task force gets larger, it should be clear about what is expected from each member Role of sub-committees should be considered Climate Smart Community Actions – Rachel/ Alice/ EllaChange timetable due to schedule for adoption of Comp Plan updateSee discussion about the Comp Plan/ CAP adoption aboveOrphan Gas well inventory CSC PE8 Action: Brownfield Clean-up & Redevelopment- Chuck Chuck was unavailable to attend today, so this discussion was postponed to a future meeting. Next meeting set for 4:15 pm Tuesday May 3, Caldwell Conference Room and via Zoom Adjournment: 6:00 pm Submitted by: Joe Wilson Ella Bormet Alice Walsh Green