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Home My WebLink AboutCS CEC 2023-09-12Climate Smart/Clean Energy Community Task Force Minutes of the HYBRID Meeting at 5:00 pm Tuesday Sept 12, 2023 Attendance: Task Force members: Ray Burger, Marie McRae, Joe Wilson, Mckenna Crocker, Hunter Barlow, and Alice Green (coordinator); absent, Nancy Munkenbeck. Guests: Jerry Sheng, CSC coordinator, Dillon Shults, Town Planner and Jack Wright, CCE Powerhouse Educator Pre-Meeting Group Photo to accompany PR about grants and awards Call to Order/ Introductions at 5:15 PM Approval of August Minutes Unanimous Additions to the Agenda None Three NYSACC awards for Dryden at Upcoming Conference! The Task Force collaboration with the Dryden High School Sustainability Club will receive the Environmental Project award at the annual conference of the NYS Association of Conservation Boards on Sept. 21. Task Force members Kate Lee and Mckenna Crocker, presenters at the conference, will be given the NYSACC Youth Recognition award. And Bob Beck, chair of the Rail Trail Task Force, will be awarded the lifetime environmental leader certificate. Alice is collecting names of task force members who wish to attend. Cost of the $20 awards night dinner can be charged to town conference/training accounts. Clean Energy Community Actions Review DPW Office Building Upgrade Project Update- John, Marie, Alice The subcommittee met with NYSERDA for a kickoff session on the $70K grant that is earmarked for envelope sealing at the DPW office building. The Town has received and returned the signed grant contract, and the NYSERDA-approved final version has been received. John is working with Gary Bush, of Groton, who will produce the stamped drawings required for a building permit. His recommendation is to use a sprayed insulation with stucco over it. Craig Anderson and John had suggested vinyl siding that could be done by local contractors. Marie commented that it would be good to have the project set up so it could be replicated by local contractors in other municipalities. She has a contact for a local, woman owned contractor. The drawings will be the basis for an RFP for potential contractors. John said at this point in the building season, it’s unlikely the project could get underway before winter, so a spring start up can be expected. Climate Smart Community Actions Review Dryden Climate Change and Resilience Plan (CCARP) - Jerry The Task Force reviewed and gave feedback on the proposed questionnaire for advisory boards, DHS and other community partners. The approved version should be emailed in coming days, with a Sept. 30 deadline for returns. Next steps include collating the responses and incorporating the list of town critical assets into a draft CCARP, that will be presented in public advisory committee meetings, DHS, and possibly village and community partner board meetings. If the final version of the Plan were complete in time for presentation and acceptance by the Town Board December meeting, it could be presented for Climate Smart Community points by their January review date. Jerry has a March 2024 deadline to complete the project. If the TB accepts the plan by then, it could be submitted for the April 2024 review. Updates on other Town and Inter-municipal Efforts DHS Student Report- Hunter reported that the Dryden School Superintendent has signed a release form that will enable Casey Mastro, a local representative of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to analyze school district utility bills and make recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy used to power district operations. The Dryden High Sustainability Club will meet with the Superintendent on Oct. 24 to talk about the sources of energy all district. Joe asked and John explained that the NYPA input to the district might cover two different areas: NYPA has a portfolio of energy packages that they might offer to the district as a substitute for NYSEG’s supply mix; and NYPA is also authorized to offer finance packages for institutions who might want to develop alternative energy production such as a solar, geothermal or wind installation on their property. Hunter thinks the district might want to start with looking at lights and refrigeration, rather than heating and cooling sources right now. There was a discussion about the NYSEG rate hike proposal. Marie said it will add $50 per average monthly bill over the next 18 months. Report from Affordable Housing Task Force Ray reported that at the last meeting the task force did a site visit the day before to discuss how to progress use of the acreage behind town hall. DEC has agreed to do a delineation of the wetlands on the 70+ acres there. When that is complete, the next step would be to commission a professional engineering study with recommendations for the best place to site town playing fields, and potentially affordable housing or a town alternative energy installation. Dillon created a new of the acreage which was an important resource for further discussion of the potential uses. Ray said the latest thinking about a location for town recreation playing fields is east of the recreation storage shed, which would involve removing the under-utilized community garden there. That would be most accessible and has parking. Bernie Cornelius retains ownership of acreage bounded by lee Road, that may be developed as a subdivision. Part of the agreement when the town accepted Bernie’s donation of 20+ acres of land was that the Town would build an access road from that potential subdivision to Neptune Drive, across an area that does include a wetland. Ray said that the Town could and probably should build an access road that would skirt the wetland and serve other town development interests, like the playing fields. There is no deadline for creating the road. John showed where a small committee met a couple of years ago to consider a solar farm. A walking trail from the TC3 residence halls to Neptune Drive (crossing the Cornelius development site) is actively being pursued. The second subject on the AHTF was looking at next steps for mobile homes. He noted that they could be an asset because they can be moved, if necessary, in time of climate crisis. John said mobile homes constructed after the early 2000’s are in very good shape. Ray said in general the condition of the town’s mobile home stock (1000 of the town’s 6000 residential units) is in poor condition. Ray said there are 12 mobile home parks in the town. Alice asked about Sustainable Tompkins program to work with mobile home park owners to do energy upgrades. John wondered if the upgrade had to be 100% renewable. If not, there could be a compromise that could enable mobile homeowners to use fossil fuel to augment heat pumps in just the portion of the year when temperatures are lowest. Jack said the Sustainable Tompkins grants do require elimination of fossil fuel energy sources to comply. They utilize NYSERDA funds administered through Cornell Cooperative Extension, where he works as an Community energy advisor. For low- and moderate-income homeowners, they can access up to $10K for energy upgrades. They advise starting with weatherization then planning for right-sized insulation. John said for a family using propane, it would actually work financially to replace that tank with a heat pump. Jack suggested that the task force might work next year to education the public about funding that will come online from NYSERDA next spring. Joe wondered whether how many of local mobile homes are owned versus rented, since renters would have to go through park owners to take advantage of incentives. Jack clarified that incentives are different for multiple unit owners. Fifty percent of the tenants have to be income qualified and the landlords don’t necessarily benefit if they’re not paying the utility bills. Alice wondered if as an educational opportunity, could the two task forces sponsor an information session about subsidy opportunities. Ray said local owners might be interested but some are absentee owners. Joe said this would be a very practice application of planning for climate change. Jack said that CCE would be interested in pursuing this kind of educational outreach. The Town is still looking for a local family who intends to install heat pumps to receive a Halco grant that would cover the difference between the cost and what incentives would cover. Next meeting: 5 -6:30 pm Tuesday October 10 at Dryden Town Hall and via zoom. Adjournment: at 6:32 pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84683569959?pwd=YldTOUFDRWF3b29jNDhsU0Q4VW5pUT09 Meeting ID: 846 8356 9959 Passcode: 259422