Environmental Sustainability Council

Environmental Services Council Thursday, Nov 19, 7:30 - 9:30 pm Dogwood Room, City Hall DRAFT MINUTES 1. Call to Order  Present (ESC): Ray Arnaudo (chair); Peter Adriance; Cory Weiss; Andy Crawford; Chris McLeod; Sarah Bayldon. Absent: Peter Oppenheimer  Present (Historic Commission): Ron Anzalone (chair); Edwin Henderson; Tiffanie Chau-Dong (youth rep)  Present (City Staff): Kate Walker (Environmental Programs Coord./ new staff liaison); Chris McGough (Solid Waste Coordinator/ former staff liaison); Paul Stoddard (City Planner); Debra Gee (staff liaison to Historical Commission); Loren Bruce (planner)  Public: Colter Adams & Evan Jones (MEHMS students/ Environmental Club members); Jennifer Tabola 2. Public Comments  Colter Adams & Evan Jones, students from the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, presented their ideas for a school project to test water quality along Tripps Run. They asked if we knew of ways to find certain testing equipment. They planned to start within two weeks pending equipment availability. The ESC noted that Jason Widstrom has done some testing for the City. Kate Walker said she may also have information about suitable test kits. Bill Schellstede (former ESC chair) may also be a resource for past water monitoring efforts. 3. Approval of Minutes (October, 2015) - Approved  Tonight’s note taker: Adriance 4. New Business  W&OD Master Plan – status and next steps. Paul Stoddard (City Planner) will present to ESC and Historical Commission, who will join our meeting for this segment only. They will commence their meeting at 7:45-8 in a separate room. o Paul gave an informative presentation with slides comparing the W&OD trail in other cities to the W& OD in Falls Church. Existing amenities include community gardens, public spaces, historic interpretative sites, advertising and branding the local community (e.g. signs to restaurants). The City doesn’t coordinate these features in the same way. By comparison the Falls Church The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).  section is bland. Commons areas are not complete. All were citizen led initiatives with little or no city support. There is a lack of identity. There are also six at-grade crossings dividing the trail posing safety issues. The draft plan proposes a vision for the park as a “great street” and greenway within the City. Some of the features being considered: 1. The at-grade crossing at Rte 29 is an issue that could be addressed with a diversion behind the firehouse and trail extension across Rte. 29 to Benjamin Banneker Park with a bike overpass over 29, like the one across 7. The bridge could be a welcome gate to the city. 2. Could separate biking and walking traffic. 3. Could provide lighting for safety operation 5am-9pm 4. Could improve crossings, making the park the key feature, not the road crossing it, by use of different materials, raised crossing 5. Low growing shade trees could be planted to shade sunny areas. Public spaces could be made more accommodating and attractive. o The work, if approved could be done piece by piece. March is the work session by City Council. Policy and a master plan would be needed to support the work. o Green infrastructure could be planned, and language from ESC on this would be helpful. Other areas ESC supports would be good to know about. Andy & Cory volunteered to draft comments and send to Ray for discussion at our next meeting.  Curbside composting in Falls Church – opportunities and barriers. Presentation by Compost Crew, the City’s partner and contractor who helped Takoma Park deliver the first successful program in the DC region. o Ryan Walter ryan@thecompostcrew.com presented his program. They are currently serving nearly 2000 homes. The goal is to reduce landfill demand, carbon foot print, demand on oil, etc. o Demand for the program has been high just from the farmer’s market test program. o The bulk of city collection is the labor of collecting. This program would simply shift the collection labor costs. o Chris considers this a fantastic win. Pay as you throw eliminated the growth in trash levels. o What can the ESC do? – a lot of experimentation and learning will take place over the next few months. Chris will come to us with a long term game plan in The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).  the early Spring, before the City budget goes to Council. The schools could be a good resource, especially with student support. o See www.compostcrew.com/fallschurch  Principles/Vision for Sustainable Development in Falls Church & the Living Community Challenge (Cory Firestone Weiss) o Given the rate of development under way or contemplated in Falls Church, we need principles for sustainable development. The Living Community Challenge may be a nice framework we can explore. Washington DC is a pilot community we could learn from. It could be done scaled small to large. There are 7 pe rformance standards with 21 initiatives. o Another sustainable development standard we might consider is the Sustainable Sites Initiative of the USGBC. Kate and Cory will look at both this and the DC program. o Loren Bruce is drafting a chapter on Sustainability for the Comp Plan that would frame it up. He presented a draft outline that has not yet been seen by staff. Would the ESC be interested in helping to develop the plan? He is just getting started. 1. Andrew and Cory indicated an interest. 5. Old Business  New Environmental Coordinator Position, New Staff Liaison and New Opportunities (Kate Walker) o The position is funded as a term position, but we need one long term. This will demonstrate that the position is worth having. It is only funded through this fi scal year. High priority: to pick up the stuff dropped when we lost the water util ity: community energy plan (80%); GHG inventory – where we are now; the EPA green power plan; integration of the various environmental programs (20%). In the future, the City might need to consider appointing a sustainability director who could work closely with other directors. Right now we need someone to integrate our various initiatives, eliminate some siloing, and perhaps tie together city and school goals. Need a central environmental web page. Comments are invited on the job description sent out with meeting documents.  City’s Legislative Agenda o The 16th was the deadline for boards and commissions submitting recommendations. Tim Stevens submitted a couple of proposals (solar, clean energy) The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).   FCCPS and Solar – letter from VPIS supporting advancements – if anyone has comments on the VPIS letter, send them to Ray. 6. Informational Items  Committee Items – Kate met with Tim and Dan – coming out of the GHG inventory, we may wish to set up a task force on clean energy. Kate will bring more info next time.  Staff Items 7. Next Meeting  Thursday, December 17th, 2015 (Location Dogwood Room, City Hall)  Notes: Bayldon The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).