Environmental Sustainability Council

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL Thursday, December 21, 2017, Laurel Room in City Hall, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. MINUTES 1. Call to Order: Members: Cory Firestone Weiss (Chair), Thomas Cash, Andy Crawford, Andrew Young, Jon Ward, Peter Oppenheimer, Phillip Skotte, Katie Deal (student), Niharika Singhvi (student), Hannah Trauberman (student). City Staff: Kate Walker (Environmental Programs Coordinator), Akida Rouzi (Senior Planner). City Council Member/Liaison: Dan Sze. Public: Scott Adams, Matt Tauscher, Neville Fernandez (all three associated with Insight’s proposed Broad & Washington project) 2. Public comments. There were no public comments. The presentation by attendees associated with the Broad & Washington project is noted below. 3. Approval of Minutes (November 16, 2017). Minutes were unanimously approved 4. On-going Business: Insight (Broad & Washington) Development. Prior to the November meeting, comments on the proposed project were requested of Boards & Commissions by 19- Jan-2018, ahead of the planned referral to City Council on 9-APR-2018. Akida Rouzi summarized the Special Exception application, noting that it requested a 15-foot height bonus (to a height of up to 90 feet at some points) and rezoning areas to ‘B2’ and ‘mixed-use.’ Scott Adams (McGuireWoods LLP attorney for the applicant, Insight) presented sustainability features of the project, including: 5 EV charging stations and conduit / wiring to support 5 more; LEED Silver certification; rooftop HVAC equipment arranged to facilitate future solar panels; and (new since last submission) public ‘pocket parks’ constituting a fractionally green roof, which could earn double credit if they create wildlife habitat. He stated that implementing street-tree planters with pits deep enough to aid in stormwater management would require adjustments to the city’s Streetscape vision and that safety, cost, and maintenance issues would arise. Insight may discuss with other downtown businesses a cooperative shuttle service. Mr. Adams said that LEED v4 has very demanding energy criteria and, at this stage, modeling requirements make it difficult to promise that the 66,700 sq.ft. Class A office portion could be LEED v4 Gold. Energy Star certification has not been evaluated yet. The ESC expressed an interest in seeing Insight’s latest in-process LEED scorecard. The ESC also encouraged developers to pursue LEEDv4 Gold certification and to accept the Tree Commission’s recommended monetary contribution to the stormwater fund. This contribution is intended to compensate for the ecosystem services that will be lost with the removal of mature trees on the site.  Action Items: a) A.Crawford will update before 18-JAN-2018 the draft comments that he and C.Weiss distributed to ESC members on 21-DEC. b) All ESC members: provide comments to A.Crawford by 5-JAN-2018 (Friday) 5. On-going Business: George Mason High School Development. It was noted that Superintendent Noonan had stated in a public meeting that sustainability was a key element of the project, but that landscaping criteria were missing from the recent RFI/RFP. Council member Sze recommended that the ESC consider prioritizing / scoring / and or commenting on sustainability criteria that are to be put forward by the selection committee. ESC members noted the value of considering life-cycle costs in the evaluation. Regarding the design of a ground source heat pump system, it was noted that dumping of construction material during the building of I-66 may lead to soil variability. 6. Ongoing Business: GMHS Campus Commercial (10- Acre) Development. The City is drafting a Small Area Plan. C.Weiss raised the possibility of hosting a “Sustainable Neighborhood” panel comparable to the recent Green Schools panel. The panel and ESC could also identify site and resiliency features that would appeal to the market, possibly drawing from the “RELi” resiliency standard that the U.S. Green Building Council will incorporate into LEED certification. This panel would need to be held in January to influence the City Council 10-FEB-2018 evaluation retreat and the March RFQ. Action Items: c) C. Weiss will work with Council member Sze to identify potential panel members. 7. Ongoing Business:  Commercial Waste Recycling and Composting: tabled until ESC time permits  Subcommittees: Habitat Restoration Group will re-engage in Spring. ETS is looking into several topics, including PACE legislation in Arlington County; NVRC’s virtual PPA for renewable power investments by municipalities; and recommending EV charging station locations to installers such as EVgo. 8. Next Meeting  Thursday, January 18, 2018. Laurel Room, City Hall