Environmental Commission

Madison Environmental Commission Meeting Minutes November 19, 2020 1. Call to order by Chairperson Claire Whitcomb via Zoom 2. Announcement of meeting notice Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act: Read by Claire Whitcomb, Chairperson. This meeting of the Madison Environmental Commission complies with the Open Public Meetings Act. (P.L. 1975 c. 231) Notice of this meeting was provided to the Madison Eagle, Daily Record, Star Ledger, and to tapintomadison.com. Copies of this notice are posted on the bulletin board at the main entrance of Hartley Dodge Memorial and were made available to the general public. 3. Present: MEC members Trina Mallik, Claire Whitcomb, Brian Monaghan, Ann Huber, Joan Maccari; Maureen Byrne as BC liaison; 4. Absent: Stephen Stocker, Nicole Wood, Ellen Kranefuss 5. Guests: Kathi Caccavale 6. Announcements: - Nicole Wood is stepping down from MEC and Kirsten Wallenstein is joining MEC in January. - Joan will continue as liaison to Shade Tree; Kirsten will be liasion to Open Space 7. Events: Green Vision Forum – Kirsten Wallenstein is chairing. Teachers seem to be reluctant since they are not in charge. Student projects have come out of green teams, e.g. Colette Cresca at TJS. We’ll provide some categories of green team projects so that Kirsten can speak to Dan Ross. Joan mentioned the project ideas should come from the students. 8. Continuing Business: Stormwater management: Kathi, Claire, Maureen and Ann met with Bob Vogel. A new ordinance needs to be approved in early March to meet new state’s standards. Bob said that some elements of the Watershed Institute Model Ordinance would be onerous for residents and Borough engineers to meet. Climate Action Plan (CAP): how do we fund it? Peter is organizing a presentation to 7 mayors. Claire and Ann met with Susan Blickstein. We need a project manager to get stakeholders together, education, outreach. —Trina, Claire and Peter met with Rachel and Maureen. Rachel outlined that in order to educate BC we should prepare a presentation that would outline why Madison needs a CAP, what it is, how would it be created, and how would it be implemented. —We can also pitch to corporate sponsors, BASF? TD Bank?. We should show how town would be impacted, e.g. new windows in DPW would save how much energy, police fleets would save how much fuel and thus emissions?. Need to address our utility. Maureen and Rachel would review rough draft in January so we would present in February. Maureen will make sure there are no plastic cups in the police department (she will be liaison to Public Safety). Affordable Housing: We are supportive of location. A developer will need to be chosen with skills to do passive housing. 9. New Business: EV ordinance: Morris Township passed one. We would want at least a section that conduits should be put in new developments so that charging stations can be installed at a later date. Kathi, Peter, and Ann will take a look at Morris Township ordinance to see if we should adopt. Multi town Green Buildings meeting (Claire attended): challenge for municipalities is that ordinances can’t be more strict than the state regulations. Multi town Green Transportation and Fleets meeting (Claire, Peter, and Trina attended): Green our town fleet – Peter is working with Bob Duffy so when a vehicle is retired it can be replaced by a green one. Electric shuttles are very expensive. Peter reached out to DEP for money but hasn’t heard back. Maureen said that ten years ago there was a shuttle between the three colleges but it was never used. Shuttles for seniors are a big hit. Kathi suggested we work with Tri-Town 55+.We need to establish the need. Senior Center at Walnut will increase need. Pollinator WG: Jessica Romero is interested in safe playing fields ordinance. Joan said they have not met yet. She’s interested in native plants. She wants to work with the Garden Club to promote Doug Tallamy’s native lawns. It would be great to have a map of native lawns in Madison. Incentives could include a picture with the Mayor, dinner at Nautilus, etc. Plan now and roll out in Spring, e.g. Earth Day. Brian suggested the strips between sidewalks and the road. Maureen will talk to Ken O’Brien although we don’t need his permission. Tom Salaki mentioned the area by the water tower. Kathi mentioned the lawn at Morris Avenue and Main St. Maybe J&M could provide kits. Maureen will talk to Lisa Ellis about talking to J&M about native plantings in the plot in front of the movie theatre. Bridget, Joan, and Brian work together for a meadow and kits. Garden Club and Shade Tree could be involved. Cook Avenue is being redone. Claire and Kathi have been wanting to meet Maureen and Astri on replanting there and using pervious coverage. Maureen will introduce Claire and Kathi to Lynn Favreau at the library. Meeting adjourned at 9:20.