Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee

Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes May 21, 2024 Chairperson Kathi Caccavale called the meeting to order at 1:33 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) 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/Regular Member Lisa Jordan, Resident/Regular Member Mary Ellen Hennessy-Jones, Resident/Regular Member David Duran, School Board Liaison Loretta Davidson, Resident/Regular Member Deanna Schmidt, MEC Liaison, Resident/Regular Member Absent: Bob Landrigan, Borough Council Liaison/Regular Member Pam Hogan, Resident/Regular Member Peter Fried, Resident/Regular Member We approved the April minutes. No report from the council liaison. Report from School Board Liaison - David Duran ● Key updates: New superintendent started in March - Danielle Shanley; the budget passed April 30 ● New hires are being appointed including permanent Principal at middle school. ● Superintendent Coffee w/ Danielle Shanley May 22nd 7pm: YouTube link (presentation will also be recorded): https://youtube.com/live/nwZEI2cScrs ● Solar: Initial top line discussion. Made point it is as much an opportunity to save money ongoing as it is about the environment, i.e., a win-win. Some concerns or uncertainty over financials, available subsidies, and net metering. ● Next steps: DJD will summarize the current Solar opportunity for broader discussion with Board and Administration.  ● As repairs and updates to the schools are planned, education about sustainable options, as well as dispelling myths, will be helpful. Preparing materials to summarize available options can help guide decision making. ● Action Item: Share relevant Sustainable Jersey information pertaining to schools in a Google folder that Kathi will make available to use. ● Action Item: Kathi will share the school solar example from the Sustainable Jersey Summit. Climate Action Committee - Submitted by Mary Ellen-Hennessy-Jones: ● Focused on Friday grant deadline for Community Energy Proposals: ● Up to $500,000 in grants ($250,000 to start) to support municipal activities relating to climate action plans. ● Ideas: Heat Pumps at Hartley Dodge; Grid simulation analysis; and solar carport at public safety complex. Projects need to be completed by June 2026. Report from the Madison Environmental Commission - Submitted by Claire Whitcomb ● Successful Green & Clean event; 12 signups for Ciel power energy audits ○ Wildstead is a native plant store in East Hanover that had a beautiful table. ○ Toadshade did a banner native plant business ○ Other vendors included Sierra Club, SMAC, MEC, and Njoy Herbs. ○ Java’s Compost was at the EV Expo. Green House Solar also came to the Expo. ● Joan is doing a native plant giveaway in June. ● The mayor gave his blessing to working on a gas leaf blower moratorium May 1 to Sept 1, starting in 2025. ● Invasive ivy removal took place at the Library, thanks to the Rotary and MHS volunteers. Cardboard from the bike shop was applied, then mulch added. Native plants will be planted when the ivy is smothered. Update on PSE&G Grant - Submitted by Pam ● Madison’s green infrastructure assessment is available for review - ask Kathi or Pam for a copy. ○ For those that are interested: comments on the GI Strategic and Action Plans are due May 29th. ● The library was selected for the location for a green infrastructure demonstration project. ● We are waiting for the Rutgers team to reschedule the engineering survey at the library. Report from Shade Tree Board - Submitted by Gene Cracovia: ● Stephan can no longer steward the Madison Recreational Complex, Shade Tree is looking for land management support for this important natural area. ● Kathi recommended conducting a land management triage report, which would be followed up with routine volunteer maintenance and management (including the rain gardens too). ○ Land Management Triage – Michael Van Clef from Invasive Strike Force will, for a $250 donation, lead a Plant ID training walk through of a park with a group identifying invasives and ○ will follow up with his assessment of priority actions for dealing with those invasives. Chair’s Report: ● We submitted 17 actions for review and re-review on May 10. This is in addition to 66 completed actions. Good work team! Other Business: ● Kathi Caccavale, Kirsten Wallenstein, and Kathleen Underwood worked to add native plantings to the berm at the MRC’s large rain garden, first removing mugwort weeds. Duck tongue grass was recommended for competing against mugwort. ● Reporting on the Sustainability Summit: ○ Vulnerability Assessment – required by MLUL – to be incorporated into or amended to the Land Use element of the Master Plan. NJ Future, SJ and DEP are developing an action based on completing a comprehensive assessment. NJ Future has created a step-by-step guide. Completing this action is a requirement for a Gold Star in Climate Resilience. Requires the aid of a planner. SJ is looking for pilot communities. ○ Low participation in the electric school bus program was noted; ways to encourage business participation in reducing food waste was discussed; plastics update was discussed. ○ Other ideas from the summit included: ■ A school installed solar panels, cut electricity costs by $85,000 annually and the TRECs are also helping to pay down the cost (around $1MM). (check presentation) ■ An innovative idea came from a school with an air quality flag program (raising a different color flag based on daily air quality); ■ A possible Scout project could be installing a sensory garden; ■ Hold a Green Career Day ● Action Item: Lisa will check back in June for the NJ plastics assessment (year 2), and will send links on reusable bag drop offs sites and Walmart/Target packageless-options to Kirsten and Bridget. ● Action Item: Deanna agreed to look up information on sprinkler ordinances by other towns and NJ law around water use. Updates on North Jersey Green - Peter Articles for the North Jersey Green column are requested on an ongoing basis. Our Sustainable Jersey Actions were reviewed. Our next deadline is in July. The next SMAC meeting will be on June 18 at 1:30 P.M. The meeting was adjourned at 2:29 P.M. Minutes respectfully submitted by Lisa Jordan.