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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCS CEC 2024-11-191 Climate Smart/Clean Energy Community Task Force (CSTF) Minutes for the Meeting at 5:00 pm Tuesday November 19, 2024 Via Zoom Task Force Members Attending: Alice Green, Evan Kurtz, Sawyer Dickinson, Marie McRae, Jack Wright, Anne Clark, Christina Dravis, Joe Wilson (joined about 6 minutes after meeting began) Liaison to Conservation Board: Anne Clark Liaison to Town Board: Christina Dravis Planning Department: Gina Cassidy Invited Guest: Jerry Sheng (Cornell Cooperative Extension) 5:04 Call to Order/ Introductions Loss of CSTF Members Alice mentioned that the task force is down to 9 members (from 11), so a quorum will now be achieved with 5 (6?) members present at any meeting (half +1). 1) John Kiefer John has given Alice a letter of resignation from the CSTF, effectively immediately. Alice thanked him for all the important work he accomplished while a member and for providing an engineer’s perspective. For example, John helped get NYStretch passed and helped get a 100% renewable energy contract executed, earning Clean Energy Communities points that turned into grant dollars for the Town to seal and electrify the DPW office. John, along with Joe and Ray (Burger), was a founding member of the group. Gina asked if the CSTF might like to make some kind of official recognition of his contributions. Alice suggested creating a Resolution thanking him. Evan suggested putting such a Resolution in the Town newsletter. 2) Tom Sinclair Alice told the group that Tom, who participated in the CSTF Extreme Weather Planning Workshop, has not attended any meetings in recent months and has not responded to Alice’s attempts to contact him about his membership on the CSTF. He has resigned from the Village BOT. She now considers him to be effectively resigned from CSTF. Approval of October 15, 2024 Minutes with the correction that Evan Kurtz was in attendance. 2 Members unanimously approved. Joe Wilson joined the meeting after the vote. Resolution – Alice moved that the group create a Resolution officially thanking John for his contributions to CSTF. Evan seconded. Approved unanimously. Alice and Gina will work on this Resolution. Clean Energy Community Actions Review 1) $175K Grant A. The CSTF’s original plan was to contract energy studies for the Town’s fire stations, but this proved too complicated to accomplish within the grant contract requirements. Then the Task Force opted to have a building conditions assessment, an ASHRAE Level II energy assessment, and work done on energy upgrades to the DPW garage/barn. This fell through because of timing issues: NYSERDA requires that the ASHRAE Level II energy assessment be conducted through the FlexTech program, which could take up to ten weeks, when the grant application had to be submitted in nine weeks. This is why the Task Force pivoted to purchasing EVs for the Town. B. Funds are dwindling for Clean Energy Communities grants. NYSERDA shut down the High Impact Action submission portal without notice on 11/7/24. C. Jerry was able to prepare an application and meet with Alice and Gina to submit (to the grant application portal) that same day. D. Official approval was received on 11/14/2 from NYSERDA for this grant for 3 EVs. These vehicles will be a heavy-duty pick-up for DPW; a cargo van for the Recreation Department to be shared with other Town staff traveling to conferences; and an SUV for the Building Code Officers. Jerry indicated that the exact models can be changed for the contract, but the types of vehicles should stay the same. E. Jack suggested that CCE staff help Town staff learn how to charge EVs. Discussion ensued about differing expectations/habits and how to get the best use/longest life out of the EVs. Jack said Holly Payne of CCE could be a resource to help with this. 3 2) Jack reported that he hasn’t heard back from Rick about how much space is available on the electrical panel. There’s an EV company in Rochester called Power Charge that Jack consulted for estimates for non-networked chargers. His recommendation is a Power Charge 48 dual-port charger that costs $4,600. For an additional $80, they would provide cards to access the charger to ensure only Town employees/officials use the charger. The remainder of the funding could be used for materials, installation, and shipping. Marie indicated that there is a mark-up for using the Town Hall charger. The charge is $0.30 per kWh plus a service charge and a monthly maintenance fee. Could there be a work-around for Town officials not to pay the mark-up? Evan asked whether the Town Hall charger can be converted to a municipal use-only. Alice suggested talking to DPW about the mark-up and converting the charger to municipal use only. Gina suggested asking Ray about this. 3) $100K Upgrade of DPW Office Building Upgrades Alice reported that heat pump installation is slated for completion by year’s end. 4) CEC is expected to fold into CSC, but it is supposed to run until the end of 2025. Jerry indicated that there may be an update for the final year. Climate Smart Communities Actions Review 1. Alice said that she and Gina had discussed that since we will have to switch our focus to CSC, which is much broader than CEC and includes adaptation and resiliency as well as GHG reductions, we might have CSTF members get a deeper understanding of actions by asking them to present an action (or actions) of their choosing to the entire committee. However, Alice saw that CSC is now reviewing the program and will roll out new actions on December 20, so this might be a waste of our time right now. 2. It might be useful to review actions we’ve already taken that have gotten us to Bronze Certification and a significant portion of the way to Silver Certification. Alice will send the link to CSTF members to read through at their leisure. Marie mentioned that even though everyday actions listed in the CSC program, such as switching out lighting to LEDs or replacing water fixtures with more efficient ones, seem mundane, these are a great example for people to make a connection to bring 4 such changes into their own homes. Marie volunteered to work on an article on this for the newsletter. Updates on other Town and Inter-municipal Efforts Dryden HS Report – Sawyer 1. HS sustainability club is conducting a fund-raiser through Coffee Mania to pay for A. EV charger annual fees, and B. pollinator pathway. Any resources for the pollinator pathway would be welcome. Anne mentioned that the Conservation Board had offered to donate funding for seeds. Sawyer should contact Gian Dodici (CB Chair) to remind him of this offer. Alice mentioned that the CSTF had offered to give $200 toward the pollinator project. Alice asked if school property projects could get the muni credit in the CSC program. Jerry answered that the muni could only get one point for “providing education to the public about water-smart landscaping.” Anne reminded the committee that pollinators overwinter in dead stems, leaves, etc, so these should not be cleared out at the end of the season. Anne mentioned that it would be great for HS students to put out educational signs about the wetlands behind Town Hall. Gina added that if the designated community garden were to be reclaimed, signage could be put there to mention that the wetlands were not disturbed. Alice said that the community garden had been abandoned because of the difficulty of watering. Sawyer said that the HS students would be putting out signage on the pollinator garden. Town Board Report – Christina 1. TB approved A. the new budget and B. the Morris Road Solar Project. Conservation Board Report – Anne 1. CB discussed preservation of the land behind Town Hall wetlands and what possible actions might be taken. 5 2. CB wondered about the digging at the end of the Jim Schug Trail, which is now the subject of legal action. Affordable Workforce Housing Task Force and Planning Board – Gina 1. AWH discussed the elimination of housing development on the Town-owned 7-acre parcel behind Town Hall. Some committee members were concerned that the original 88-acre project scope was altered without proper review/process to exclude housing. AWH members were of the opinion that housing would be more important than the intended ball fields. 2. Chuck Geisler’s efforts at partnering with CCE’s Harrison Hensley for energy upgrades to mobile homes through the Empower + program have not led to any applications, and communication seems to have broken down between Chuck and Harrison. Members discussed whether the AWH’s combined efforts would be better spent on bigger projects with more widespread benefits. Planning Board Report - Joe 1. Joe shared the agenda for the PB meeting to take place that evening. A. 1280 Dryden Road – Site Plan Review won’t go forward because documents were not submitted in time for the meeting. This is a cannabis dispensary with a lounge looking to have a patio that faces NYS Route 13 and obscured by trees. The site is wedged between NYS Route 13 and Autoworks. They want to reconfigure an existing building. B. 27 Dutcher Road - applicant adding an addition to the back of the house which will not be visible from the road. The homeowner runs an educational initiative where kids are taught mathematics through motion. C. 587 Caswell Road – Town website is down, so this is unknown. Go to the PB meeting to learn about it. D. 1814 Hanshaw Road – first electronic billboard application in the new overlay district. The site is on Lower Creek Road, but it overlooks NYS Route 13. All conditions on an electric signboard will be met. Christina mentioned that this would be the first electronic billboard in the County. E. Moratorium – 4th month into an 18-month moratorium on cryptocurrency mining operation relative to a building located in the Village. Evan asked if there was any update on legal challenges to this moratorium. No update available, but there is no way to mitigate the electric draw this would entail. F. Joe expressed appreciation for Gina’s efforts on behalf of the PB at communicating projects’ intricacies and deficiencies related to Town Code to applicants and to the PB. 6 New CSTF Coordinator Alice relayed that she’s been Climate Smart Coordinator for six years. A coordinator is required by the CSC program and by the Town for any board or official group. She will be recommending to the TB at the CSTF reorganizing meeting at the beginning of the year that Gina be appointed as Climate Smart Task Force Coordinator since she understands the programs and planning issues. This would also institutionalize the CSTF as a staff function and not a volunteer-lead group. Alice will still be a member of the CSTF. Ray and Gina are ok with this. Accomplishments Alice told the group that CSTF has earned $325K in grant money for the Town. The December meeting is scheduled to occur before CSC and CEC put out their new guidelines, so maybe the CSTF could take the month of December off as a sort of victory lap. Joe mentioned that the December meeting could be a social meeting. Evan recommended that the January meeting could be an in-person re-grouping with socializing afterwards. Members were in agreement with this. Meeting adjourned 6:22 pm NEXT STEPS/ACTION ITEMS: 1. Alice and Gina will work on a Resolution thanking John Kiefer for his work on the Task Force. 2. Gina will ask Ray about making the Town Hall parking lot EV charger for municipal use only. 3. Alice will send the link to Town actions in the CSC program to Task Force members to read through at their leisure. 4. Marie will work on an article on Town actions in CSC for the Town newsletter. 5. Sawyer will contact Gian Dodici (CB Chair) to remind him of the CB’s offer of money for seeds for the pollinator pathway. 6. The CSTF will donate $200 for the pollinator pathway to the HS Sustainability Club 7. Alice will recommend to TB at the CSTF reorganizing meeting that Gina be appointed as Climate Smart Task Force Coordinator. APPROVALS: 1. October 15, 2024 Meeting Minutes as amended. 2. Creation of a Resolution, to be published in the Town newsletter, thanking John Kiefer for his contributions to the CSTF.