Sustainability Commission

SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SAC) Meeting Minutes: October 8, 2020 Attending: Tina Lieberman (Chair), Daniel Kirk-Davidoff (Secretary), Jason West (Energy Manager, also representing Chris Spencer, Planning), Joe Coffey (Water Department), Lauren Alpert (Planning), Randy Milano (Engineering), Ewa Sobczynska (Outreach), Laurie Wheelock (Water), Sandy Misiewicz (Transportation), Andre Lake, Bill Trudeau (Traffic Engineer), Laura Gulfo (Corporation Council), Scott Kellogg (Urban Ag), Hyde Clark (Second meeting, new member, Mayor’s Appointee), Frank Zeoli (DGS), Gabriella Cebada Mora (Water), Randy Milano (City Engineer) Absent: Pete Sheehan (Energy), Zach Powell (Planning) 1. Regular Business ● Tina Lieberman called the meeting to order at 6:06 pm. ● August 6, 2020 Minutes Approval: Minutes approved unanimously, as amended. Dan to submit to Dropbox, and send to Michele Andre ● Public comment period (meeting was open to the public via the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability Facebook page or the Sustainable Albany page and via emails to sac@albanyny.gov or Sustainability@albanyny.gov): no public comments submitted. 2. New business ● Reif Larsen, Founder of the Future of Small Cities Institute, introducing the Carbon Neutral City Conference. Would like to collaborate on conferences, e.g. “The Carbon-neutral Small City”, bringing together people who might not normally be in a room together. Sandy points out that getting multiple cities together may be necessary to get the competitive dynamics right (need to avoid cities hanging back, waiting for another city to go first). Ewa suggests that Reif put together a half-page description of a potential meeting, and then organize a meeting with folks from SAC who would like to attend. ● Update on 2018-2020 Annual Report provided to administration/council. Tina is looking for help in presenting the AR to the Planning Committee and getting comments on feedback. Hyde, Laurie and Gabriella would like to help. ● Strengthening the SAC – Jobs we need done: Conversation focuses on getting help with presentation of our work to the Common Council Planning Committee. Lauren will help with this. Regular meeting dates for Subcommittees. Proposal: Special Meeting for Thurs. Nov. 5 at 6 pm for 1) HeatSmart Capital Region presentation by Tara Donadio of the CDRPC (electrification, jobs training for Environmental Justice Communities, Grants for communities to spread the word on Heat Smart and 2) vote on changes to By-Laws. Motion passes. ● Proposed Amendments to SAC By-Laws including meeting frequency, committee membership, committee name. Discussion: Ewa notes there’s some expansion of our goals in the proposed by-laws; Jason notes that this is actually following the City’s law establishing the SAC. Sandy supports meeting monthly, but is concerned that it may cut into time for subcommittee work. Jason explains motivation for rebranding. 1  Too many names out there (Sustainable Albany, SAC, Albany Sustainability). Frank and Joe push back that the SAC is a body, Sustainable Albany is a program. Sandy suggests we just write a memo laying out the Sustainable Albany name as moniker that can be used by any City department for relevant efforts. Committee attendance: Can we allow for non-voting members to attend the meeting? Or should we just ask volunteers to serve on subcommittees? Discussion of attendance by UAlbany students per the MOU under discussion. Joe expressed concern that some of the by- law changes imply an expansion or change of mission of the SAC, which we shouldn’t do without a change in our authorizing law. ● Initial results of community-wide greenhouse gas emissions inventory for Albany (Jason). Calculations are done, Jason is writing it up, will share via email. ● Review of each subcommittee’s priority goal(s) for GHG reduction that can be added to the Albany Climate Emergency Resolution. Requests especially for Transportation and Energy Subcommittees to submit goals to this document, to be shared with Common Council Member Owusu Anane. ● Albany's "2025 Trees" Initiative including “adopt a tree” component: http://www.adoptatreealbany.com/. Frank explains: Albany’s tree canopy has been falling behind as trees need to be removed faster than they are being replaced. To remedy this, the city is repackaging it’s cooperative tree-planting program into an “adopt-a-tree” program and a sponsorship program for trees throughout the City, including plaques on trees, etc. Donations to the tree fund will also be accepted. Departments are also helping, contributing to new trees for Townsend Park, where the Ash trees are all infected with Emerald Ash Borer. Tina suggests that outreach and zero waste committee carry the message out to the wider public. ● Sustainable Real Estate Listings (Pete) Canceled, Pete did not attend due to power outage. ● Albany Schools sustainability in curriculum & composting pilots (Hyde). Hyde is working on ideas about how to expand collaborations with schools besides UAlbany. Had some positive experiences with community collaborations at Albany Law School and has contacts at some elementary schools. 3. Commissioner Updates ● Water Department (Joe Coffey): o Beaver Creek Phase 1 – Third Ave Improvements, Contract Awarded o Beaver Creek Phase 2 – Screen Upgrades at ACWPD South Plant, Contract Awarded o Beaver Creek Phase 3 – Beaver Creek Tunnel, Bid Advertised o Beaver Creek Phase 4 – Third Ave Tunnel, Bid Advertised o Beaver Creek Phase 5 – Satellite Screening & Disinfection Facility. Bid in Late Q4 2020 ● DGS (F. Zeoli): 2025 Trees Initiative; reboot of recycling education and new education efforts on food waste composting. ● Engineering (R. Milano): Looking at replacing a lot of older building components with more energy efficient updates. Tree planting associated with road resurfacing. Will coordinate with Pete on Energy Subcommittee greenhouse gas savings goals. ● Transportation (B. Trudeau): Nothing to report at this time. 2  ● Planning (Jason West): Bike Master Plan is ongoing, streetlight conversion is almost complete (about 90% done), planning department is looking at zoning for ground- mounted solar as needed, approval has been obtained for five EV charge stations across the city (Radix, Corning Preserve Playground, three other parks). Lauren: Hudson river shoreline stabilization study is ongoing, design improvements for the South End Connector. Ewa wants to know if the bike count will be resumed? Lauren says this will be addressed in the Bicycle Master Plan. 4. Subcommittee Updates ● Water Subcommittee (Laurie Wheelock & Gaby Cebada Mora) o Laurie is stepping-down from the Sustainability Committee; Gaby will be taking over the Subcommittee. o The Water Subcommittee last met virtually on August 3rd o The Subcommittee is planning its next meeting to be a brainstorming session called the Albany Water Department (AWD) Climate Action and Sustainability Plan Workshop. Currently, a team of AWD employees is being put together that will participate in the brainstorming exercise. o At the Subcommittee's following meeting, we are planning to invite Amy Walsh (with the AWD’s Source and Supply division) to get an update on what the watershed group is doing ● Zero Waste Education Subcommittee (Tina Lieberman): o Developing 3 free community compost drop off sites: all 3 are open 24/7. Bring your food scraps: fruits, veggies, coffee grounds, egg shells, crackers, cereal, bread. No meat, dairy or fish. No pet litter. No plastics (no plastic stickers on fruits/veggies either.) o The Radix Center has an outdoor bin o Tivoli Preserve (Wilkins Ave. entrance) has a bucket system. Drop compost into a bucket, or take one, fill and return. o Albany Victory Gardens (1st and Ontario) - no bins/buckets yet; just add to the active compost pile. o Almost done creating one webinar on Reducing Food Waste. About to create a "mini- presentation" for Neighborhood Associations. o RFP for full-time educator (food waste reduction/ rescue/ composting) will go out to bid before the end of 2020. Unless there is another shut down due to COVID-19 we should have enough money allocated in the 2021 budget to pay for the coordinator position for 2021. We plan on ordering a large portion of the equipment and materials that we will need to successfully run the program in 2021. o Subcommittee will start working on Composting webinar to explain importance of composting, how to do backyard composting and introduce residents to the 3 community compost drop off sites. o Trying to see if Albany can take advantage of NYS Food Recovery & Recycling Act - starts Jan 1. 2022 and mandates that all commercial producers of 2 tons of food waste or more per week must compost if there is a viable composting facility within 25 miles. Commercial producers include colleges, caterers, restaurants, supermarkets, convention centers, hotels. (Excludes hospitals and k-12 schools.) 3  ● Outreach Subcommittee (Ewa Sobczynska): o Ewa is stepping down as co-chair of the outreach committee; Dan KD will take over as Chair. o MOU with SUNY has been signed on SUNY side. We are awaiting the Mayor's signature. We are scheduled to talk to SUNY next week to start putting the MOU in practice - we'll be in touch with the Commissioners in months to come on how they can be engaged. ● Transportation Subcommittee (Sandra Miesiewicz): o The transportation subcommittee has been working with Jason West, City Energy Manager, to apply for National Grid funding to support the installation of Electric Vehicle charging stations at several City owned parking lots and one on-street location in the City. o The City recently completed two demonstration projects to support the development of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, was awarded funding to undertake a feasibility study for the Patroon Creek Greenway, is working on the next phase of the South End Connector. o The River Corridor BRT is about to begin service in November 2020. ● Legacy/Environmental Equity Subcommittee (Andre Lake): o Has been in contact with Arlene Way and is trying set something up with her and Tara Donadio, perhaps a seminar with Arbor Hill. o Working to contact Eva Bass, planning to set up a meeting for members interested in drafting a game plan. ● Energy Subcommittee (P. Sheehan): Not present. 5. Adjournment: meeting adjourned at 7:33 pm. Next meeting is Thursday, November 5, probably by Zoom. Minutes prepared by Daniel Kirk-Davidoff, October 8, 2020 4