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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCS CEC 2024-08-291 Climate Smart/Clean Energy Community Task Force Meeting Minutes at 5:00 pm Thursday Aug. 29, 2024 Via Zoom Attending CSCTF Members: Alice Green, Chair; John Kiefer; Evan Kurtz (had to leave early); Marie McRae; Christina Dravis Planning Department: Gina Cassidy Invited Guests: Jerry Sheng; Chris Skawski 5:05 Call to Order/ Introductions Approval of Aug. 20, 2024 Minutes/ Additions to the agenda Joe moved to approve 8/20/2024 minutes; Marie seconded. Approved unanimously No additions to the agenda Clean Energy Community Actions Review $175,000 Grant 1. Alice, Chris, and Gina met with Flex Tech. Dryden is entitled to a 50% cost-share by using FlexTech. 2. Alice and Gina met with Amanda Anderson; Alice met with Rick Young again. These meetings brought the difficulty of conducting the energy audits for the fire departments in clearer focus, and Alice and Gina no longer recommend this action. 3. Planning Director Ray Burger suggested to Gina having a structural analysis as well as an energy analysis to give a complete audit of the Highway Barn. Rick Young agreed that the structural analysis portion would be something that could come out of the Highway Department’s funds. Then, the NYSERDA grant could be used for the Highway Barn energy portion of the analysis and whatever GHG-saving upgrades are recommended. Any remaining funds could be used for electric landscaping equipment or an electric pick-up truck. 4. John updated the group on the concept of a building condition assessment, which looks at all building systems so that organizations can budget over time for necessary upgrades. The group agreed that this is what we should be aiming for. We can remove non-energy portions of the building condition assessment from the request for funds and pay for these out of a different pot of money. 5. Chris said that the Town would contract an engineer to help them approach FlexTech. The firm can first help the town determine what level of ASHRAE audit would be most useful to request in an application for FlexTech funding. 6. John and Alice both preferred to have one firm do the entire building condition assessment and have that auditor simply bill the energy portion to FlexTech. 7. Evan doesn’t think it matters if we have two auditors, as long as they keep from overlapping the work since it will need to be billed separately. 2 8. Do we know of any firm that is qualified to do this audit? NYSERDA has a list of auditors that we can go through and make calls. 9. Joe wants to know what happens if the analysis finds the building is not worth putting money into. 10. Alice says she met with Rick Young, who believes that it is likely that the building has more useful years left in it. 11. Marie asks, worst case scenario, if money earmarked for Highway Barn energy upgrades can’t be spent that way because the building isn’t worth saving, is it still in the plan to use the funds for electric landscaping equipment and/or an electric vehicle? Alice says that is the case – it is a safe, and prudent way to spend the money. 12. Chris says if this is the way we are going, a contract for an auditor will take months, but the funds will already have been secured for the energy upgrades. We can revise the scope of the project if the energy study shows that the Highway Barn is not worth putting energy upgrade money into. It Is most important to get the application in; it can be changed later. Don’t turn in Plan B with the original application. 13. Alice mentioned that we have not yet received confirmation from NYSERDA giving us 90 days to apply. Have we already locked in our grant? Chris says yes, but it is funding contingent. Alice wants to make sure we get all our materials in before funds are depleted. 14. Alice thanked Chris for his work in dealing with the Fire Departments, and this may foster good will between the fire departments and the Town. 15. Alice took a vote on creating a Resolution recommending “a study at the Highway Barn with the balance to go towards upgrades, if possible. If not, the backup is electrifying our feet and landscaping equipment.” Approved unanimously. 16. Alice asked if John or Evan would be present when the building condition analysis takes place. Evan agreed to be there. $10,000 Grant 1. Alice and Chris spoke about how the DC Fast Charger stands, site prep, and installation could cost upwards of $100,000. The draw charges are also very expensive. Some contractors will fund part of this or operate it like a gas station. The Highway Barn does not have the need for such a charger since it will not be open to the public. We will be getting a 2-port level 2 charger. 2. Joe pointed out that the Highway Department doesn’t currently have any electric vehicles. Alice mentioned that this will be long-game positioning to replace fleet vehicles with EVs as necessary. 3 DPW Office Building Contractor Tom Lobdell has begun the insulation project on the DPW Office Building. We want to make sure to coordinate insulation upgrade with heat pump installation. Other 1. Alice thanked John for getting a monitor for the Highway Barn PV system. 2. Gina will help compile readings. Climate Smart Community Actions Review 1. Jerry gave an update on the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan (CCARP). Jerry will have a draft for the September meeting. He will meet with Graham Savio (Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Agricultural & Horticulture Issue Leader) to discuss the agricultural aspects of the plan, which will occupy a separate part of the plan. Jerry is also working on more detailed maps showing what critical infrastructure will be worse off with extreme weather events. 2. Alice clarified that Jerry could give a presentation in September, then the Task Force (TF) could have one more month to review. Jerry would have a subsequent draft ready for the TF to present to the Boards. Jerry is in agreement. 3. Jerry also did outreach to Food Systems branch of CCE. Alice has spoken with Katie Stoner Hallas (Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Food System Plan Coordinator), who was previously a Planner with the Town of Dryden and helped with first Town of Dryden Sustainability Plan (although no one knows what happened to this plan). 4. Alice mentioned that the Town’s CAP consultant was pleased to see that the Town already completed a municipal GHG emissions study. This consultant will be working on community GHG emissions study. The municipal GHG emissions study must be renewed every 5 years for continued CSC certification. Jerry will assist. 5. Jerry will likely be continuing as our CSC Coordinator because the contract for Climate Smart Communities was extended for another 3 years. Updates on other Town and Inter-municipal Efforts 1. DHS Student Report- Mckenna has moved on to college. Hunter and Sawyer are the current student reps on the TF, but they were not present at this meeting 2. Dryden Town Board Report- Christina a. DPW office building materials paid for b. Caswell solar project is off the agenda because it’s prohibitively expensive, but it’s not impossible that this project might be revived c. Delaware River Solar (DRS) is going ahead with their project at 30 Morris Road. There will be public hearing on this project on September 19 d. DRS might be interested in picking up the Caswell Road project 4 e. Chris mentioned that Terry Carroll of the County Planning and Sustainability Department is trying to work out potential work-arounds for the problems with the Caswell Solar site. 3. Conservation Board Report – Anne not present; no report offered 4. Affordable Housing Task Force and Planning Board – Gina a. A group of Town officials had a visit from Lenny Skrill, Assistant Housing Commissioner from NYS Community Housing and Renewal, who has authority to approve housing projects, and showed him upcoming projects in the Town. Martha Robertson, Leonardo de Vargas, Mike Murphy, and Ray Burger took him on a tour of existing and proposed housing projects in the Town and Village. They introduced him to Kate de la Garza and Lynn Truame of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services at the Varna building site. After the tour, the group and Mr. Skrill met very briefly at Town Hall with Rocco Lucente of Lucente Homes, Craig Anderson, Planning Board member, and Gina Cassidy, Town Planner also in attendance. b. Responses to RFP for lands behind Town Hall received; two will be interviewed 5. Village of Dryden CSC Task Force – Tom hasn’t been in touch since March. Alice will check on what’s happening in the Village 6. Dan Lamb, Town Deputy Supervisor, will be presenting at the TCCPI group tomorrow. Joe sent the zoom link email to all TF members. Joe is impressed that multi-family developers all presume, when first bringing projects to Dan or Jason Liefer, that all projects going forward are fossil-fuel free. Alice and Christina will attend the Town Board meeting on September 12 to recommend that Jason Leifer is authorized to sign a letter of commitment for both grants. Alice and Gina will submit the application with any additional paperwork after that meeting. Next meeting: Third Tuesday of the month, September 17. 6:30 Adjourn APPROVALS: A. August 20, 2024 Minutes B. Resolution recommending “a study at the Highway Barn with the balance to go towards upgrades, if possible. If not, the backup is electrifying our feet and landscaping equipment.”: ACTION ITEMS: A. Jerry will assist in the updated municipal GHG emissions study B. For the CCARP Plan: 5 a. Jerry will complete detailed maps showing what critical infrastructure will be worse off with extreme weather events b. Jerry will meet with Graham Savio (Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Agricultural & Horticulture Issue Leader) to discuss the agricultural aspects of the plan, which will occupy a separate part of the plan c. Jerry will have a draft of the CCARP to present at the September meeting. C. Alice and Christina will attend the Town Board meeting on September 12 to recommend that Jason Leifer is authorized to sign a letter of commitment for both grants D. Alice and Gina will submit the application with any additional paperwork after that meeting E. Evan will attend the building condition analysis when the auditor conducts this F. Alice will check on what’s happening in the Village in Tom Sinclair’s stead G. John will show Gina how to take PV system readings H. Gina will help compile PV system readings I. Who will make calls to potential building condition assessment auditors?