Environmental Sustainability Council

Falls Church Environmental Sustainability Council Thursday September 15, 2016 7:30 - 9:30 pm Dogwood Room, City Hall Minutes – Prepared by Peter Oppenheimer 1. Call to Order Present: Ray Arnaudo (Chair), Peter Adriance (Vice Chair), Cory Weiss (Member); Peter Oppenheimer (Member); Sarah Bayldon (Member); Tim Stevens (Energy Transition Subcommittee Chair); Dan Sze (City Council Member and Liaison to the ESC); Tika Wallace (GMHS Student representative); Cindy Mester (Assistant City Manager); Loren Bruce (City Staff); Kate Walker (Staff Liaison) 2. Public Comments a. None 3. Approval of Minutes Minutes of the June 16 and July 21 meetings were approved. 4. Special Presentations: Cindy Mester, Assistant City Manager a. Legislative Agenda: Mester briefed the ESC on the City Council’s legislative calendar and shared a template for submitting legislative items to the Council. She invited the ESC to submit to her any legislative proposal(s) that we may wish to have considered by Council by early November. b. Capital Improvements Program (CIP) Process: Mester shared the City’s Sept. 2, 2016, CIP Quarterly Update which reported on 34 active general government CIP projects. Any CIP project must be consistent with the City’s comprehensive plan. City staff will begin developing the next 5-year CIP process (FY2018-2022) in October 2016 and is proactively seeking community input. Capital projects are defined as a new, one-time project with a useful life of more than five years and costing $150,000 or more. The CIP program currently has no cash funds, so projects must have a ten year useful life, the minimum required for projects funded by borrowing. Projects with a shorter useful life (but no less than five years) would have to funded by taxation. The deadline for submitting project proposals to Mester is end of October. c. City Hall Public Safety & Access Improvements: Mester presented on the project to improve City Hall, including safety and access improvement. Funding for these improvements approved in FY12, 13, 14 and 16. To date, $1 million spent on critical renovations (e.g., rebuilding chimneys and installing snow rails). Construction will be phased, and the building will remain in use during the improvements. City continuing to do community outreach on the project in the coming months. Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2017 and last for approximately 24 months. ESC may wish to consider recommending that the City pursue LEED Gold  for the renovated City Hall. Any recommendations would be due no later than mid- November. 5. Discussions a. ESC Vision: Cory Weiss walked through proposed refinements to the draft ESC Vision and took comments from members, especially with respect to the 3rd party certification goals for commercial and residential buildings. Weiss will address comments and recirculate in advance of the next meeting. b. Appointment of new chair: The ESC unanimously voted to appoint Cory Weiss as the new chair. 6. Informational Items a. Staff Items: i. Clean-up: Scheduled for Oct. 1, 10 a.m. – 12 noon. ii. Recycling Extravaganza: Scheduled for October 15, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. iii. Household Hazardous Waste Disposal: Scheduled for October 15, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. iv. Streetscape Guidelines: Deadline for comments is October 20. 7. Next meeting Our next meeting will be on October 20th, 2016. Minutes will be prepared by Phil Skotte.