Environmental Sustainability Council

Falls Church Environmental Sustainability Council Energy Transition Subcommittee Thursday October 6th, 2016; 7:30 - 9:30 pm Dogwood Room Minutes Members Present: Tim Stevens, Thomas Cash, Aziz Shaik, Kate Walker (Staff Liaison), Loren Bruce (Planning Department) Note Taker: Thomas Cash 1. Tim Stevens and Thomas Cash will speak at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 11th, to discuss the letter submitted to Council by the ETS regarding the City Hall and Library projects. Thomas Cash will offer his assistance from the ETS on facilitating communication between manufacturers of green building products and HVAC equipment and the City to achieve energy goals. 2. The Energy Lending Library visit in Arlington involving our library staff and Tim Stevens went well. Arlington has agreed to provide Falls Church with guides and documentation that they currently use. Arlington staff also shared their policies on fines for late return and damage/loss of the cameras. 3. Kate Walker and Tim Stevens shared that LEAP is in the process of deciding whether or not to help with the 2017 Solarize program. We expect confirmation from them by December 1. 4. The committee discussed possible contributions to the City’s 2017 state Legislative Program. Due to inaction by the General Assembly regarding solar legislation introduced in the 2016 session, Tim Stevens recommended that the ETS re-submit its 2016 recommendations for the upcoming session. He will draft and circulate to the ETS a letter addressed to Cindy Mester that will accomplish this objective. 5. Oak Ridge National Lab has estimated that it will take at least another month to complete their geothermal report for the City’s campus site. Tim Stevens shared that Fairfax County had problems with one attempt to install a geothermal system, and that we should become familiar with what happened, in case the issue comes up here. 6. Arlington has pushed back the expected date for taking up consideration of an ordinance to implement PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) until December. We will await their action before proceeding here. 7. Kate will attend the Urban Sustainability Director’s Network meeting in Toronto. 8. Kate shared that Chris McCloud has requested that ETS meetings be shifted to Tuesdays due to his need to attend a graduate program class on Thursdays. Tim Stevens suggested that we hold off making a final decision until more ETS members could be polled regarding their preference. November 3rd is the next meeting.