HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-27Climate Smart Community Task Force
Minutes of the Meeting
4 - 5:30 pm Tuesday, Oct.27, 2020 via Zoom
Attendance: John Kiefer, Loren Sparling, Joe Wilson, Ray Burger, Alice Green, Nancy Munkenbeck, Chuck Geisler, Terry Carroll, Lou Vogel
Call to Order at 4:03 pm Introductions
Minutes from January and March 2020 were approved
Presentation on NYS Stretch Code - Lou Vogel of Taitem Engineering with Terry Carroll of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) (Copy of power point presentation attached) John asked if the 11% average energy cost savings is compared with the current code. Lou said yes, this is compared with the code that was just adopted in May. Joe asked about a slide that indicated a NYS goal of getting to net zero emissions. He wondered if the state intends to issue stricter codes at some future interval. Lou said municipalities would be required to adopt a new code every three years. Joe also asked where multi-unit residential buildings fall: residential or commercial? Lou said greater than four units is commercial. Joe also asked how the Stretch Code compares with the Green Building Code that Ithaca hopes to adopt. Terry answered that the Stretch Code is fundamentally a change to existing code; the green building policy is not a change to the code, but adds a layer of requirements to get a building permit. Things that are required in the Stretch Code, like having a solar or EV ready building, are not required in the Green Building policy. The Stretch Code gives extra points for adherence to the Green Building policy. The additional cost of meeting the Stretch Code is less than $2 per square foot in our climate zone. Payback period is about 12.5 years for the additional incremental costs. For Commercial Buildings, blower door testing is required for buildings between 25,000 and 50,000 square feet. John asked if blower-door testing is required for commercial buildings that are below 25,000 square feet. Lou said it’s not required, but there’s a stipulation that if they are a certain type of building then they have to add mechanical ventilation. John asked to clarify: if Dryden adopts the Stretch Code, it would still not require blower-door testing for buildings under 25K square feet or over 50K square feet. Terry confirmed there’s no requirement for these smaller and larger commercial buildings. John and Terry said this was curious, and others agreed. Terry explained that when the next iteration of the Clean Energy Community Program’s action steps is released, there would be benefits for communities that pass the NYS Stretch Code. These could be monetary. NYSERDA wants to promote this. If Dryden wants to be ahead of the game, this is good to move towards. There is a lot of building going on right now; we want buildings to be built to the best
standards possible. It’s worth considering this action because it’s the right thing to do. The following are sources of additional information: NYSERDA codes@nyserda.ny.gov NY Stretch website www.nyserda.ny.gov/stretchenergy2020 Lou Vogel lvogel@taitem.com Terry Carroll, tc629@cornell.edu Joe asked how the Stretch protocol compares with the LEED requirements for buildings. Lou said the LEED protocol requires an energy modeling protocol that would be modified by the Stretch Code. He added that LEED has many other requirements that the Stretch Code does not require. Joe also asked how the Stretch Code compares with the Tompkins County recommendations for new construction. Terry said the Stretch Code is more detailed, but TC recommendations may go even further, for example, TC recommends that every new house be built with heat pumps. The Stretch Code doesn’t recommend; it is a code. John wondered why a community might choose a passive house or ERI path rather than the Stretch Code to simplify code enforcement. Regarding trainings for code officers, this is something Code Enforcement Officers (CEO’s) can sign up for. In 2021 there will be more classes that provide Continuing Education credits. Terry said the Stretch Code is not a very dramatic change and is designed so that it won’t require extensive training for CEO’s. Part of the change is simply to refer to modified checklist tables. Alice said she regretted neglecting to invite the Town’s two CEO’s to be part of the discussion, but said she will follow-up with them and share the recording of the presentation. Ray said he believes the CEO’s are familiar with the overall concept of the Stretch Code, and could update their practices just has they have done with previous new iterations of NYS Code. In terms of whether the Town should become an early adopter of the proposed Stretch Code, Ray said it would be best if there were multi-municipality buy-in, but Dryden has been an energy leader in many areas in the past. He noted there is only a three-year lag until this is state law. It helps folks make a leap that is inevitable. Terry said the Towns of Ulysses, Caroline and Enfield are considering adopting this, so there’s likely to be wide spread adoption. John said he thinks this should be on the list of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan update recommendations, as part of the Climate Plan, if the Town hasn’t already adopted the Code before those recommendations are published. He said this would not replace LEED. Alice commented that there might be an advantage for the Town to move ahead on considering the Stretch Code. She noted that the Town of Caroline acted early on Clean Energy Community Action items, and received $100,000; the Town of Dryden was late in applying after funds were depleted, and received only $5,000.
Joe said it makes sense to pursue this through the Town Board rather than bringing it to the Planning Board. Loren is willing to bring this to the Town Board, and Lou and Terry can make the presentation again.
Review of Climate Smart Actions in Progress in Conjunction with the Comprehensive Plan Update The March minutes gave a detailed outline of CSC Action steps under way and under consideration by the Town. Alice said many action steps are moving forward in conjunction with the Comprehensive Plan Update.
Resiliency Planning She asked for an update from Ray and Nancy regarding Dryden’s participation in the County’s update to their Resiliency and Hazard Mitigation Plan. CEO Dave Sprout and Nancy are representatives on the County’s Inter-municipal planning committee. Ray said he has heard from Dave that a draft of the plan will be issued in early November. Nancy said committee focused in on 13 areas for hazard mitigation, such as flooding prevention, and there is state money to address some of the hazards. Caroline has already defined projects to address some of the named hazards. Dave and Nancy hopes Dryden will soon define its own projects. One might be Virgil Creek Dam, which has a lot of silt built up behind it. She said the Conservation Board is also concerned about preventing excessive ditching which sends drainage from agricultural fields into the lake.
Energy Upgrades for DPW Buildings John gave a report on his follow up to his earlier suggestion that the Town might bring greater energy efficiency to the public works buildings. He talked with DPW Superintendent Rick Young about that. He redirected John’s attention to bad condition of the ground source system that heats and cools the Town Hall. The refrigerant system is deteriorated and the control system is showing several items in alarm. John feels this has to be solved before moving to DPW building improvements. It’s probably the result of many maintenance actions that didn’t get done over a long period of time. Ray said an employee of the company that installed the system has spun off his own business, and will provide an evaluation of what would be required to repair the system before the end of the year.
Discussion of Other Possible CSC or Clean Energy Actions for Dryden Alice said the Town has quite a number of initiatives already underway, including a Community Green House Gas Inventory, Climate Action Plan, streetlight upgrade, recent installation of EV charging stations at Town Hall, etc. Joe suggested that each member could committee to re-reading the March 9 CSC minutes, which contains a laundry list of potential and in-progress action items. Terry said there’s nothing new to report about new state initiative and incentives, but he is hopeful he’ll be able to share news about this by the first of the
year. He said CCE has not been able to hire a replacement for Osamu Tsuda, who did much of the heavy lift to get Dryden Bronze CSC status. Joe asked whether the CSC Task Force should include Clean Energy Community initiatives. Alice said Dryden has met requirements to be both a Climate Smart and Clean Energy Community, and the Task Force can and should be looking at possible action items and incentives from both these state programs. Creation of the Task Force was a requirement of the Climate Smart Program. The Conservation Board was approached two years ago about taking on this function, but it declined. So the current Task Force was formed in January 2019. Joe described the past experience of the Planning Board in trying to add some energy conservation and sustainability measures to the Town Comprehensive plan. He said that some residents were worried that they might be required to change their existing energy sources in homes and businesses. He suggested that the Task Force should look for financial incentives to do energy upgrades for existing buildings as a way to allow residents to be part of sustainability efforts, but not at their own expense. Alice said CSC incentivizes community outreach and education about energy efficiency. The Task Force might choose this as a next topic to pursue.
Summary of Action Items
• Loren agreed to put the Stretch Code on an upcoming Town Board agenda
• Joe will pursue information about programs offering financial incentives energy upgrades for existing buildings
• Alice will follow up with COE’s about the Stretch Code and Resiliency Planning
Next Meeting: 4 pm Tuesday December 1.
Adjourn at 5:37 pm