Environmental Sustainability Council

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL (ESC) Thursday, June 21, 2018, Library, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. DRAFT MINUTES 1. Call to Order: Members: Cory Firestone Weiss (Chair), Jon Ward, Sarah Bayldon, Chris McCloud, Jon Ward, Andrew Young. City Staff: Sheila Frost (Senior Administrative Assistant, Aurora House), Kate Walker (Environmental Programs Coordinator), Jason Widstrom (Principal Engineer) Falls Church City Public Schools (FCCPS) Staff: Brannon McLaughlin. City Council Member/Liaison: Dan Sze. Public: Anoopa Kamboh Sawhney 2. Public comments: None (see Presentations below) 3. Zero-Waste Day at FCCPS Extended Day Care Program (EDCP). Brannon McLaughlin (EDCP Assistant Day Care Director) reported that the EDCP is currently looking for an affordable long-term vendor to provide composting services for Day Care programs at the K-8 schools. Students participated enthusiastically in a recent one-day trial of composting food leftovers, paper products, and compostable utensils. To reduce utensil costs, Kate suggested EDCP examine whether they can use the City’s discount at Staples, and Tim suggested checking whether the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has an applicable purchasing plan that EDCP could use. At Mount Daniel, a teacher reportedly used a Parent Teacher Association grant to introduce in- classroom lunch / snack composting to kindergarteners. It was reported that, separately, FCCPS was looking at composting kitchen waste. Cafeteria composting is more difficult to manage, since it includes materials brought from home. 4. Urban Agriculture. Sheila Frost, a member of the City’s Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) committee (https://www.vml.org/education/heal-communities), distributed a handout discussing possible City policies that could encourage more urban agriculture, including roof and vertical gardens. She noted that Carly Aubrey (Senior Planner) is the lead staff contact on this topic. She asked if the ESC would be interested in working with the HEAL committee. Discussion of possible locations for urban gardens included church lands (Columbia Baptist already has some vegetable gardens); “paper streets” (platted unpaved streets that are City property); the new George Mason High School (teacher Dr. Peter Mecca runs environmental and aquaculture programs), and existing schools. At school locations, summer maintenance of gardens might be a concern, but kids are in summer school/day care at schools most weeks of the summer, so volunteer help may be available. 5. Stormwater. Jason Widstrom provided updates on the City stormwater issues. He said the City was doing well against phosphorus and sediment goals, but was lagging against nitrogen goals, without a lot of opportunities for big improvements. The Broad & Washington project is to be designed to detain more than the minimum amount of stormwater required by law (though not a full inch). However, the wider area around the project has a high proportion of impervious surface, and all properties there would have to detain as much as 3” of water to prevent downstream flooding from even a 5-year storm. He said the most cost-effective option to deal with flooding would be to floodproof structures in the existing Douglas Avenue area. The Founders Row project is to achieve 20% phosphorus reduction without purchasing credits. One possible way to address floodplain management would be to allow developers to seeking denser development than current zoning  allows to pay extra into the stormwater utility fund which could then be used to buy floodplain properties. Once public, the land could be designated as parks and used for flood management, decreasing the need to reduce flood severity. Jason said the Rainsmart program was being administered under a $10k contract to VPIS (including funding for individual grants to City residents and businesses), offering 50% cost-share for private stormwater projects. New construction or home redevelopment projects are not eligible. Sixteen rain barrels costing a total of $800 have been distributed so far. 6. Subcommittee Reports:  Education Task Group - Operation Earthwatch: Kate said the program was looking at options to move under the auspices of a 501(c)(3) non-profit (e.g., PTA, VPIS, CBC), to facilitate fundraising.  Energy Transition: Tim Stevens distributed and briefed a legislative proposal that would remove barriers for individuals wanting to install a solar photovoltaic system on their property. The proposal includes some provisions that failed in the last General Assembly. The ESC voted unanimously to support his continuing to advocate for these goals in the next session, including providing them to Delegate Simon for inclusion in bipartisan proposals and refining them for inclusion in the ESC’s legislative recommendations later this year. 7. Comprehensive Plan Public Meeting: Kate is planning a public meeting on a Saturday at the end of July to obtain public input on what they would like to see addressed in the revised Chapter 5 of the Comp Plan. The ESC discussed possible sites, including The Falls Church, Columbia Baptist, MEH and GMHS. Kate proposed three areas of upcoming challenges that the Plan could address: population growth, redevelopment, and climate change. The ESC discussed ways to structure introductory comments by experts in those areas, followed by breakouts of groups. ESC members may be asked to disperse among breakout groups; staff from the Planning department will be available to facilitate.  ACTION ITEM #1: Each ESC member will be asked to bring 5 people to the session. Stay tuned for date decision (Saturday 7/21 or 7/28) 8. Officer Elections: By 4-0 vote, Cory Weiss was re-elected ESC Chair, and Thomas Cash was re- elected ESC Vice Chair. 9. Upcoming Items:  ACTION ITEM #2: ESC members should expect to receive a request to comment on the revised Founders Row application. Comments will be due by July 13, which is before the next ESC meeting.  Cory proposed exploring interest in the “Community Environmental Network” concept (inspired by the former “Block Captains” group) brainstormed at our September 2017 meeting by asking for volunteer sign-ups at the upcoming July Comprehensive Plan outreach session. 10. Next Meeting  Thursday, July 19, 2018. TJES Library (Media Room), 7:30 p.m.