Sustainability Commission

SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SAC) Meeting Minutes: December 3, 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), Sandy Misiewicz (Transportation), Andre Lake (Environmental Equity), Scott Kellogg (Urban Ag), Hyde Clark, Gabriella Cebada Mora (Water), Randy Milano (City Engineer), Sarah Valis (Law Dept), Pete Sheehan (Energy) , Bill Trudeau (Traffic Engineer), Zach Powell (Planning) Absent: Frank Zeoli (DGS) 1. Regular Business ● Tina Lieberman called the meeting to order at 6:06 pm. ● Sandy Misiewicz announced her resignation effective the end of the year. ● December 5, 2020 Minutes Approval: Minutes approved unanimously. Lauren will send them to the Common Council and the Mayor’s office. ● Public comment period (meeting was open to the public via the Mayor’s Office of Energy & Sustainability Facebook page and the Sustainable Albany Facebook page and via emails to sac@albanyny.gov or Sustainability@albanyny.gov): 2. New business ● Proposed Environmental Equity Subcommittee: build Awareness, Action and Access regarding sustainability issues and solutions (the Three “As”). Main goal for this year is to get as many homes as possible winterized and make as many people aware of opportunities for energy efficiency upgrades. Another focus will be on wealth creation via career development, and training for energy/sustainability careers, business development. Pete mentions the example of Paul Mendel’s need for labor. Motion to create this subcommittee is proposed, seconded and approved unanimously. ● SAC goals for next year. o Even with the pandemic, there are ways we can engage in the community, but hopefully its constraints on our activities will relax as winter moves into spring 2021. o Consistent with the Greenhouse Gas Inventory prepared by Jason that shows home and commercial heating and transportation to be large components of Albany’s total greenhouse gas emissions , energy efficiency and electrification of heating and transportation will be two focus areas for action, given availability of funding from NYSERDA (Heat Smart Capital Region, etc.) o Volunteers with the Zero Waste Subcommittee are booking tables at three Farmer’s Markets (Delaware Ave, South End Night Market, Western Ave. Market at Daytona St.) and at the Albany Victory Gardens to build awareness of composting and food waste reduction opportunities, as well as tree planting and energy efficiency and home heating electrification. What other things should be promoted? We also need a new flyer explaining what all the 1  subcommittees do so that we can recruit new members. Tina sent out an email earlier this week, requesting short summaries of subcommittee activities. 1. Pete suggests education around the Federal home energy rating system 2. Gaby suggests setting up a shared spreadsheet document to allow us all to share ideas. She will do this. 3. Ewa will set up a shareable form that will allow potential volunteers to give their names and interests so the right people from the SAC can get in touch with them. o Water bill insert for Heat Smart, other possibilities. Joe points out that a lot of people want to get inserts into the water bills, so each one has to be separately requested. Pete will get in touch with Andrea at the Water Department to see about when we would need to get an insert to her. o We should set fixed monthly meeting times for Subcommittees to allow volunteers to know when they should show up. Jason is willing to set up meetings on the Planning department’s Zoom account if no one else is using the “Zoom room”. o Tina points out that the Capital Region Interfaith Creation Care Coalition (CRICCC) would be receptive to a SAC presentation if someone wants to do that. ● SUNY MOU. Tina and Mary Ellen Malia spoke; Mary Ellen indicated that she has students who are interested in volunteering and also that interns might be available for 1-3 credits, but we have to guarantee 3-4 hours/week/credit of work for a semester (February - May). Some paperwork required (signing timesheets, mid-year report from student has to be signed and approved). An intern could be assigned to recruit and supervise volunteers for occasional activities (e.g. tabling at Farmer’s Markets). Deadline to apply is January 15. Send a description to Mary Ellen, using the form Tina sent out. ● Proposed by-law amendments. We might consider a change of the meeting frequency to monthly. There is a proposal for a January meeting, at which Kathleen Langton would come and talk about NYSERDA energy efficiency programs. Some discussion of whether alternate month meetings would be more informational and not require a quorum of voting members. Motion to have a special meeting on January 7 at 6 pm is made, seconded and unanimously approved. Tina will let us know if there’s anything to vote on, but that’s not anticipated at this point. 3. Presentation on Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (Zach Powell). ● Format and methodology of the draft plan was discussed on Tuesday. Available at https://vizcomm.wixsite.com/albanybikepedplan. People have until December 15 to comment on the plan. Discussion of e-bike usage growth, interest in bicycle boulevard features, protected bike lanes, incorporation of complete streets thinking in all traffic projects going forward. Prioritization of segments will be included in final plan, including prioritization of grant application possibilities. Much thanks all around. 4. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (Jason): Jason has received comments from Pete and Dan and will present a revised version at the January meeting for further discussion. 2 5. Commissioner Reports ● Joe Coffey (Water): Beaver Creek clean river project (CSO Abatement). There are five phases, $45-$50 million. The first two have been awarded: 1) some 3rd Avenue improvements, 2) some screen improvement at the South Water Treatment Plant. Two projects bid today for another $14 million: 3) tunnels from Delaware Avenue to the proposed new facility on MLK Blvd, and 4) tunnels from that facility across the park to 3rd Avenue. The fifth phase (the big project in Lincoln Park) will be put out to bid later this month or early January and awarded in February. Lead service pipe program (replacement of about 13,000 services to be replaced over 20 to 25 years). $2 million in seed financing is included in the budget, hoping to borrow $25 million in February. Working with City officials to come up with a program that will work. Changes in city code will be required to allow work on private property, and looking for ways to finance the work for low-income households. Working hard on keeping his staff healthy despite alarming increase in Covid cases. ● Bill Trudeau (Traffic): Not a lot to report right now. ● Randy Milano (Engineer): Again, working to avoid Covid with staggered work hours, work from home, so far so good. Gearing up for a busy 2021 construction season. Tree planting will be a big project, in coordination with the City Forester to fine-tune the species and planting plans. Projects from this year have been delayed because of material delays due to Covid. ● Jason (for Planning): Shoreline stabilization project will include consideration of sea- level rise. Streetlight LED conversion should be done by the end of the year (having started in June this year). Should save 2500 tons of carbon emissions each year. ● Lauren (Planning): City has three grants from the Department of State for the WAVES program (waterfront activation vitality and economic strategy). Grants cover brownfields redevelopment planning and waterfront revitalization. In the early stages of fact-finding. Lauren will brief us as things move along. 6. Subcommittee Updates ● Outreach (Dan Kirk-Davidoff). Extensive notes have been posted in the Dropbox. We are working on developing a list of community organizations to brief, working with Andre’s committee on a video series on sustainability issues, and working on fleshing out plans for winterization volunteer corps to be developed jointly with U. Albany. ● Agriculture Subcommittee (Scott Kellog): review of chicken law showed no problems, so there was a unanimous motion in a Common Council subcommittee to recommend to the full Council that they make the law permanent. ● Water Subcommittee (Gaby Cebada Mora) o Will work on setting a regular date for a monthly meeting o Joe & Katy helped host a sustainability planning workshop led by Indu Lnu ● Zero Waste Education Subcommittee (Tina Lieberman): o Hundreds of backyard bins to hand out to Albany citizens arriving shortly if they sign up to give data about how much they compost weekly. Looking at food and compost rescue from restaurants. o Long-term: looking at a feasibility study for a commercial composting facility o Looking at models of a construction materials reuse center. 3  o Starting Food waste reduction presentations for the public ● Transportation Subcommittee (Sandra Misiewicz): o Haven’t met recently, so this group needs to be kickstarted in the New Year. o City has been awarded funding to study the Patroon Creek Greenway trail (along I-90 out to UAlbany). o CDTA was awarded a very large federal grant ($60 million) to implement the Washington/Western bus rapid transit line through the Harriman campus. First bus lanes in the region; a huge win for transit in the Capital District. ● Legacy/Environmental Equity Subcommittee (Andre Lake): o Gathering members, getting into gear. o Working on a video show on sustainability/housing/wealth-building/career building themes. ● Energy Subcommittee (Pete Sheehan): o Last met Nov. 17 - Meeting the 3rd Tuesdays of the month at 7 pm. o Stretch Codes - Energy Subcommittee (EC) commits to working with nearby municipalities including Bethlehem, Troy, Albany and Schenectady to obtain commitments to adopt NYSERDA's Stretch Code and hopefully commit to enhancements regarding renewable energy, vehicle charging and related measures. This is seen by the Energy Subcommittee as being forward-looking in that we expect the Climate Action Committee of the CLCPA to require this. o Scoring/Rating for Home Sellers and Buyers: The EC commits to begin the process of adopting the Federal Dept. of Energy's Home Energy Rating System (HERS). The concept is that as each home is put on the market, a rating from 1-10 is assigned to it based on its energy usage and energy efficiency. See www.homeenergyscore.gov. It is a voluntary program and can be instituted without a lot of administrative headaches. o EC will work with Joe Coffey and Water Board to create a flyer for an upcoming water bill that informs Albany residents about energy efficiency programs (i.e., NYSERDA Empower program) and how they can be accessed. 7. Adjournment: meeting adjourned at 7:37 pm. Next meeting is Thursday, January 7, 2021, probably by Zoom. Minutes prepared by Daniel Kirk-Davidoff, December 5, 2020 4