Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee

Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes September 21, 2021 Due to the coronavirus outbreak, this meeting is being conducted on Zoom. Acting Chairperson Lisa Jordan called the meeting to order at 1:31 P.M. STATEMENT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE OPEN 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: Peter Fried, Resident/Regular Member Lisa Jordan, Resident/Regular Member John Hoover, Borough Council Liaison/Regular Member Judy Honohan, Shade Tree Commission Representative/Regular Member Angelique Devost, Resident/Regular Member Joan Maccari, Resident/Regular Member Special Guests: Claire Whitcomb, Resident/Chair, Madison Environmental Commission Kendall Hartt, Drew U. student in the Environmental sciences GIS class Absent: Kathleen Caccavale, Chairperson/Regular Member Sarah Fischer, School Board Representative/Regular Member Marilyn Musielski, Resident/Regular Member The August 2021 minutes were approved as submitted. John provided an update on recently approved plans for the new Affordable Housing complex at 28 Walnut St., the current site of the Civic Center. The plans are available for viewing. The construction will be done to Passive Housing Standards. Lisa reported that she had submitted Madison’s actions for the Sustainable Jersey certification ahead of the September 10 deadline. We reviewed several Actions that are still in the “must revise” category and could be completed before the Nov 21 final deadline. These include: “Make your town EV Friendly” (P. Fried) and the Community Paper Shredding Day (Judy Honahan). We reviewed several upcoming events of interest, including: a NJ Trails Event, National Electric Vehicle Week, the annual Shade Tree Federation meeting, an EV Expo in Westfield Oct 2 and another EV Expo in Chatham September 25. Claire and Joan provided an update on MEC activities. The town-wide yard sale is scheduled for September 25. Composters and rain barrels will be on sale again this fall. For Bottle Hill Day, Oct 2, the Apiary Club will be selling honey, Joan will be giving away seeds, and volunteers are requested to sit at the MEC table in 2 shifts. Joan described the recent well- attended eco-garden tour. Peter reported of the plans to develop three solar carport systems on municipal carports (MRC, Community Pool and the commuter parking lots) Layout drawings were shown and the efforts of the planners to avoid unnecessary tree cutting was discussed. Claire reported on a site review for a planned building teardown and construction of a new commercial office-type building at 18 Madison Avenue. The dentist owning the building wants to build a multi-story office-type building to provide clients a better view of the charm of James Park and the surrounding residential area across the street. Kendall Hartt, a Drew student in Lisa Jordan’s GIS class, reported on class projects to support Madison’s Environmental Resource Inventory (ERI). Kendall showed work-in progress for her project to map Madison’s Land Use and Land Cover. Rolling and new action items are as follows: Action Item: Joan will coordinate with MEC to encourage Green Vision Forum participants to present to the Chamber of Commerce (particularly the 2nd grade group promoting edible native species). Action Item: LED lights and heating systems in Hartley Dodge Memorial are the two key energy efficiency areas the town is working on. Peter Fried will ask Bob Vogel for more information about the key issues concerning heating in Hartley Dodge Memorial (Update: this action is in progress). Action Item: Peter Fried would like information on upcoming events in order to share information to the Madison Eagle. Action Item: Sarah will check on the Central Avenue school program where bottle caps were collected and report back. Marilyn, Kathi and the Madison Garden Club continue to collect caps and would like to continue to submit them. Action Item: Lisa Jordan will develop and share a map template that students can use in contributing to the ERI, in order to receive feedback and suggestions from frequent ERI users. The next SMAC meeting will be on October 19 at 1:30 P.M. Zoom information can be found here. The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 P.M. Minutes respectfully submitted by Peter Fried