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Home My WebLink AboutCS CEC 2023-07-11Climate Smart/Clean Energy Community Task Force Minutes of the Meeting at 5:00 pm Tuesday July 11, 2023 Town Hall Caldwell Conference Room and Via Zoom Attendance: Task Force Members: Mckenna Crocker, John Kiefer, Joe Wilson, Ray Burger, Chuck Geisler, Alice Green, Coordinator; Guests: Jerry Sheng, CCE CEC Coordinator and Hunter Barlow, student rep applicant; Excused: Marie McRae, Christina Dravis. Absent: Nancy Munkenbeck Call to Order: at 5:02 pm / Introductions Approval of June Minutes: Approved unanimously with the following change: “Chuck reported on a Sustainable Finger Lakes initiative to upgrade the energy efficiency of some 50 mobile home units. The program works with mobile homes in and outside of parks as well as park owners. However, in a recent meeting, the owner of the Pleasant View mobile home park indicated he’d like to take advantage of the upgrades, he can’t afford the related electrical upgrades probably necessary for heat pump installation. Chuck noted a May 11 email about how to get developers who come to Dryden to contribute to affordable housing, either by provided it or by paying into a fund to support it. This has generated a useful discussion on other barriers to MHP owner cooperation that this SFL pilot project might identify and address.” Additions to the Agenda- none Clean Energy Community Actions Review Re- submission of application for Clean Building Upgrade HIA– Alice NYSERDA requested additional documentation of the 100% renewables purchase and re- submission of the May 31 application. In the absence of Gina Cassidy, former CCE consultant, Amanda Mazzoni, central NY region CEC coordinator, helped with the re-submission on June 30. She said applications are reviewed about once a month. Approval of this high impact action (HIA) will pave the way to apply for $70K grant to complete building envelope upgrades to the DPW office building. DPW Office Building Upgrade- John, Alice ACE HVAC of Groton is the preferred Air Source Heat Pump installer, based on responses to the Town’s request for proposals. However, ACE owner Mitch McConnell indicated that if the Town expects a grant for insulation and window replacement, it would be more efficient to install the heat pumps after that work. It’s still hoped the larger grant can be approved in time to do both phases of the project this construction season. Dryden still awaits NYSERDA’s return of the signed contract for the $20K grant earmarked for the ASHP work. John said if/when the $70K grant is approved, writing an RFP for contractors to do the envelope sealing part of the project will be complicated. Alice said this will be needed as soon as NYSERDA approves the grant application, perhaps in the next two weeks. John noted that Craig Anderson offered an initial sketch of the project plan, but he wouldn’t do more work until he knows the project funding is secured. A building permit will be required for the project. Updates on other Town and Inter-municipal Efforts DHS Student Report- Mckenna DCSC Superintendent Josh Bacigalupi continues to work with Casey Mastro, a local representative from the New York State Power Authority (NYPA) to explore options for buying more renewable electricity for school district operations. Climate Smart Community Actions Review Dryden Climate Change and Resilience Plan (CCARP) - Jerry, Alice Jerry has been authorized to help Dryden complete the plan and the target submission date is prior to the next Climate Smart point review in January 2024. He noted the need for planning for climate hazards like flooding, ice storms, drought and heat waves. Jerry asked about the public outreach part of the planning process: could be public meetings online or in-person or a mailed survey. He can help. John explained that FEMA has just updated flood maps. Public needs to be informed about the risks. Ray said FEMA and the DEC conducted outreach meetings in April in Dryden about the impact of the new maps, and either agency would be a source of info about recorded public responses. Also, Dryden Code Enforcement Officers issue flood elevation certificates and the town has a half dozen or more certificates showing buildings that were built on the flood plain. This is a small data set, but it may be an important indicator. Part of the process is compiling a list of community assets that are important to Dryden. Alice suggested that a public meeting should start with a presentation of the draft Climate Change Adaptation and Resiliency Plan, to give members of the public a framework for answering questions, rather than sending out a survey by mail. She suggested these meetings could happen under the auspices of the Town’s existing advisory board meetings. Mckenna suggested that Dryden High School could also sponsor such an informational meeting. Chuck noted a cautionary tale from the Harvard Business review about scenario planning. Alice suggested a process and timeline for the planning process: • The CSC program provides a template for developing the plan, listing what questions communities need to answer. • Existing documents from the county and the Town of Caroline (vulnerability study) answer many of these questions. The Town still needs to develop a list of critical assets, including for example utilities • After the template is turned into a draft plan, Dryden would schedule 5 meetings with different groups in early fall. • From these, public input could be summarized and incorporated into the draft CCARP. • Then the proposed CCARP could be presented to the Town Board for approval, perhaps in December. This would need to happen before the CSC point review in early January. Joe and John both underlined that protecting utilities should be an important part of the plan. Chuck shared a website that allows homeowners to check their vulnerability to flood, drought, heat waves and forest fires. HABITABLE at https://habitableliving.com as a possible framework. Jerry said NYS DEC has provided a similar tool that lists flooding and drought as the foremost hazards for Dryden. Alice listed two deliverables that would be due in the next two months: • A draft plan and a brief overview presentation of the plan (by August CSC/CEC TF meeting) • A set of recommendations and/or decision points for community input (by Sept. meeting) Report from Affordable Housing Task Force – Ray, Chuck The TF requested that the Planning Board include mobile home parks in the scope of work for Zoning revisions. Chuck reported that Sustainable Finger Lakes has a project that focuses on energy upgrades for 50 mobile homes in the county. What is less well known is that this only applies to mobile homes owned by the residents. Only 2/3 of mobile home residents in NYS own their homes. The other 1/3 aren’t helped by this grant program. Sustainable Tompkins is going after a change in the parameters of the new funding opportunity from DOE to include mobile home renters in the Building Up , $22 million fund program. If they get this funding it would allow upgrades to a substantial number of mobile homes in Tompkins and surrounding counties. Community Choice Aggregation Next Steps Report from City and Town of Ithaca Alice earlier forwarded an update from Town Of Ithaca supervisor, Rod Howe. It indicates the project is moving forward and expects to issue an RFP for a provider of opt-out renewable energy to the city and town. Alice reminded the TF that Dryden earlier decided not to pursue CCA because experts said there is not currently enough affordable renewable energy to offer residents a “meet or beat the market” energy price. Joe asked for clarification that the City/Town offering would be on an “opt-out” basis, and he reminded that there wasn't support for this from at least one Town Board member when it was discussed in fall 2022. Consensus was to wait to see whether the City/Town effort finds sufficient renewable energy for their CCA before deciding about joining. Set next meeting time: 5 pm Tuesday Aug. 8. And the TF agreed to move the meeting to second Tuesday of each month thereafter. Adjournment at 6:31 pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84683569959?pwd=YldTOUFDRWF3b29jNDhsU0Q4VW5pUT09 Meeting ID: 846 8356 9959 Passcode: 259422