Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee

Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 17, 2019 Chairperson, Kathleen Caccavale, called the meeting to order at 1:22 pm. STATEMENT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT: “In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting of the Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee (SMAC) Meeting was provided by transmitting a copy of the meeting notice to the Madison Eagle and Morris County Daily Record, posting a copy on the bulletin board at the main entrance of the Hartley Dodge Memorial, and filing a copy in the office of the Clerk. This notice was made available to members of the general public.” The following members acknowledged their presence: Kathleen Caccavale, Chairperson Peter Fried, Resident/Regular Member Gene Cracovia, Resident/Regular Member Lisa Jordan, Resident/Regular Member Marilyn Musielski/Regular Member Joan Maccari, MEC Representative/Regular Member, Secretary Guest: Stephen Tindall, potential school board representative to SMAC Absent: Angelique Devost/Regular Member Maureen Byrne/Council Liaison November 21 minutes were unanimously approved. Minutes will be submitted to Rosenet. Sustainable Jersey (SJ) has certified Madison for 665 points as of the November review; up from 605. Plans to improve student travel to school are currently under consideration by Bob Vogel, and others in the administration. There also was discussion about a waste audit and a composting program at the Madison HS. Anticipating that Stephen Tindall will be approved as school board representative, he has agreed to regularly update the school board on SMAC activities. Kathi is looking into Complete Streets in terms of traveling to schools. She has been meeting with town administration on this subject. Kathi observed that the intersection of Central Avenue and Ridgedale Avenue is difficult for bike riders to navigate. It is too late for this year’s grant cycle, but recommended that we apply for a Complete Streets Technical Assistance grant next year. Students at Drew University may be available to learn and help with the grant application. Another concern is the way that curb ‘bump-outs’ force bicyclists to swerve out into traffic on streets such as Prospect. It was generally agreed that “street smart” signs have been a good addition to Madison streets. Gene and Kathi attended a meeting recently with Susan Blickstein, Town Planner, and Councilwoman Astri Baillie to discuss the upcoming Master Plan update and possible corresponding Sustainable Jersey initiatives. Blickstein indicated that she was familiar with Sustainable Jersey actions and that certain master plan elements mentioned in SJ actions may be included in parts of the master plan or as addendum. Of particular note to Gene and Kathi were the Historic Preservation Element, the Environmental Resource Inventory and the Green Building and Environmental Sustainability Element. Sustainable Jersey calendar for 2020: • May 17 is the deadline for initial submission of our 2020 application • Visit webinars page for info and dates of upcoming webinars The application deadline for PSE&G sponsored Sustainable Jersey grants is February 14. We would not be eligible for both this grant and the Gardinier grant. If we do not get the Gardinier grant in January, we would be able to apply for this grant by February 14. Alternatively, we may be able to avoid this conflict by working with other towns. Suggested topics for PSE&G Grant Application in 2020 Gene will be keeping a list of potential actions. The current list is: • Geothermal • Easement assessment • DPW to study/trial food composting from selected Madison restaurants • Diversity / Equity • Build rain garden for rainwater from at least 1 municipal building or in park • Waverly Place - study and report on the feasibility of making Waverly pedestrian only • Hazardous waste - assess the ability of DPW collecting such waste in-between 2x/year County collections and then having DPW take it to the County collections • DPW re-cycling depot • Support initiative requiring substance abuse/safety education of high school students seeking parking permits SJ actions that are expiring in 2020, and potential new items to add to our certification, were discussed. All members, as a group, reviewed these two lists and assigned members to work on targeted actions. The next meeting of SMAC will be January 21 at 1:30pm. Meeting was adjourned at 3:27pm. Respectfully submitted … Joan Maccari, Secretary