Environmental Sustainability Council

Meeting of the Falls Church Environmental Services Council Thursday, May 17, 2012, 7:30 - 9:30 pm Dogwood Room (G Level), City Hall Minutes (Taken by Ray Arnaudo) Members present: Bill Schellstede (Chair), Raymond Arnaudo, Sarah Bayldon, Tim Stevens and Allison Lohrenz (Staff Liaison). The ESC welcomed Suzanne Updike, ESC member- designee, who was expecting to be sworn in by the next meeting. Councilwoman Johanna Berry also attended the meeting. Absent: Peter Adriance, Sarah Bayldon, Peter Oppenheimer 1. Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 7:30PM 2. Public Comments - None 3. Approval of Minutes (April) – Approved as corrected 4. New Business · Waste Treatment Plant Visit Tim Stevens described the tour of the Alexandria waste treatment facility on 26 April. He agreed to prepare of short summary for presentation to the City Council about the ESC’s visits to the various sites in the area responsible for recycling, waste management and energy efficiency in order to explain the different approaches the area’s waste managers take to recycling and energy conservation. 5. Old Business, Discussion items · Residential Green Building Standards Andrew Moore, President of Arlington Designer Homes, briefed the ESC on his company’s efforts to produce energy efficient homes. Builders in Falls Church have chosen to work with various green standards including LEED residential, NAHB green, and Earthcraft. Andrew Moore said he preferred to use NAHB standards because they were more flexible than LEED (NAHBgreen.org). He did agree that LEED was ideal for commercial buildings and also served as a model for all construction to achieve. He described various ways to build more energy efficient homes, and then introduced homeowners who had recently built “green” homes. · Habitat Restoration Melissa Teates’ presentation was postponed until the June meeting · LEED Silver Draft Resolution The City Council is proceeding with the weakest of the options available on standards for construction of commercial and public buildings. The Chairman and other ESC members noted that Council members seem to be missing the long-term energy efficiency savings which will accrue to owners if they adopt LEED standards and agreed on the need to redouble efforts to provide this information to the Council. -- Pedestrian and N. Washington Street Plans The ESC has presented its comments to the City Council, which is scheduled to review both plans at its June meeting. --Petition to EPA and Mercury pollution ESC members are continuing to urge Council members to sign the petition to the Environmental Protection Agency urging action on mercury pollution. 6. Informational items The City Council will hold a work session on the LEED requirements for construction of buildings on July 9. ESC members were urged to attend. Staff member Allison Lohrenz agreed to provide ESC members with comparison documents on how other government jurisdictions are doing to meet and enforce green construction standards. 7. Other business- None 8. Next Meeting - 21 June 9. Adjournment- 9:30