City Council

OCTOBER 13, 2021 SALEM CITY COUNCIL JOINT MEETING WITH BEVERLY CITY COUNCIL A Special Joint Meeting of the Salem City Council and the Beverly City Council was held remotely on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, at 6:30 P.M. for the purpose of discussion and a presentation of a Resilient Together Plan. Notice of this meeting was posted on October 7, 2021, at 2:38 P.M. Absent were: Councillor Hapworth and Councillor Sargent. Councillor Flynn arrived at 7:25 PM. Council President Madore presiding. Council President Madore introduced Councillor Rand who introduced the Beverly City Council Lisa Kent, Beverly City Clerk took Roll Call of Council Members President Madore requested that everyone please rise to recite the Pledge of Allegiance Also in attendance were: Mayor Driscoll, Jenna Ide, Salem’s Sustainability Director, Darlene Wynne, Director of Planning and Development for Beverly and Erina Keefe, Sustainability Director from Beverly City Hall. Mayor Cahill of Beverly received funding for climate change and since both cities have similar attributes a joint meeting was thought to be a good idea. Both City Leaders are interested in how to be more resilient. Jenna Ide thanked Mayor Driscoll and Mayor Cahill and City Councillors for their support and the residents of both cities. Jenna recognized and thanked Esmeralda Bisono for her help in putting together this presentation. The Presentation (full content can be viewed in the City Clerk’s Office or online) covered the past projects/plans/ designations that Salem and Beverly shared such as Green Community Designation, Open Space and Recreation Plans, City Wide streetlight LED retrofit, 100% renewable energy commitment. Salem and Beverly also share same waterways and have similar demographics and carbon footprint. Shared Future Climate change trends and projections for both Salem and Beverly include increase in rainfall per year, mostly in the winter, sea level rise, summer warming. The City of Salem and Beverly share the same vision. Both cities will embrace both short-term and long-term solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions to achieve carbon neutrality by mid- century while ensuring that our communities are resilient to the impacts of climate change. In doing so, Beverly and Salem will remain inclusive and thriving communities, attractive and accessible to diverse families and businesses, for generations to come. The Resilient Together Planning Process included community engagement, assessing baselines and setting goals, identifying sustainability and resilience actions, prioritizing actions, developing implementation steps and developing a final plan. Numerous goals and actions were set under the headings of, Buildings and Development, Energy, Infrastructure, Mobility Natural Resources Public Health and Safety, and Solid Waste.  OCTOBER 13, 2021 SALEM CITY COUNCIL JOINT MEETING WITH BEVERLY CITY COUNCIL Councillor Feldman said she was glad there were business and resident tool kits. Asked if there was any thought about implementing some type of legislations to guide us in the long term so it has some teeth? Erina Keefe responded no there is no teeth in the actions or suggestions in the toolkit. We can’t require anything yet. What we laid out is the incentives available. Once they become aware of return on their investment then they look into them. WE will have a small business outreach by going door to door informing them of resources and offering energy assessment. Keep an eye toward the Net Zero Building Code which is coming from the State. Create an option for municipalities to adopt. Any new development is asked these questions during project review. There are some state laws coming in the future i.e. composting in all restaurants. Councillor Houseman stated that as policy makers what can we do to combine our strength and voices of the two cities to help give a push on these bills at the State House. Mayor Driscoll stated there are terrific opportunities to ferment some of these ideas i.e. Joint Resolutions. On the local level we can create joint ordinances to put us on a level playing field like our green construction ordinance which looks at new developments. If we want certain things and want affordability, then need to incentivize. Councillor Flowers – Thinking about the 2 toolkits. What can our 2 cities do to encourage renewable energy and all these other mitigation strategies accessible for all of our businesses and residents to be part of. Councillor Madore stated the power of regional partnership at a local level. Plan lays out a really good road map. Who’s benefitting from these incentives. We should track data. Asked a question about our joint commitment to decrease greenhouse emission by 2030. Was this set by metrics? Is it achievable? Erina Keefe stated it is aggressive and needs to start now by decarbonization – removing fossil fuels from homes and roads. Mayor Driscoll stated opportunities at local levels to grow existing programs i.e. ride share system. We need to take cares off the road. How do we meet our transportation goals if not providing options i.e. using our bike lanes and bike share program. We need the community engagement piece. Councillor Rand. It is about behavior change and grass roots. She represents Ward 2 which represents the downtown of Beverly. Like to think about immediate actions – allow housing where there is none. We need to guide new development immediately so not adding to greenhouse gas emissions problems. Erina Keefe – So for new development we are 13-14 months away from Net 0 Development Code. Having discussions with our developers to say we got to do better than this. And then looking at buildings that have been built in the last 5-10 years.  OCTOBER 13, 2021 SALEM CITY COUNCIL JOINT MEETING WITH BEVERLY CITY COUNCIL Mayor – We need to be thoughtful – we need housing and affordable housing - what are the impacts and how do we do it smartly as we grow. Need to put people around the table and discuss the Green Ordinance. Darlene Wynne – Each project that comes in is better than the last, but not enough. Intrigued by Salem’s Green Ordinance. Limitations on Zoning Ordinances and what we can require. Weighing all of the things we want to get out of a project but make it feasible and how to get to that point. Councillor Rand – Love the idea of the strength of these 2 neighboring communities tackling things together. We are raising the bar. Councillor Turiel – We have housing issues in both cities. What the code allows for is not optimal for efficiency and resilience. So need to incentivize. Not sure what the best path will be. Most developers want to build it, sell it and move on. Councillor Flaherty applauds everybody’s efforts to regionalize. Funding is the biggest issue – It’s a key piece to all of this. Can’t always rely on Federal Funding. Question on electric charging stations – where are as a city on these, where are they and how many. Erina Keefe – Beverly has 15 level 2 charging stations around the city adding up to 23 parking spaces. We awarded an RFP to a company to install and manage a fast power station but waiting on a State grant to see if feasible. They are all mapped out on Beverly’s website. Mayor Driscoll stated Salem has about 20 spaces. We have an app to find them. The piece we are missing is the private partnership to install these and network as to where they can be. Right now tied to a municipal building i.e. Bertram Field, but we don’t an overview of where they should be within the city – we never decided where gas stations to be they are market driven. We need to put together a network. The whole state should think of this. Councillor Houseman – As a follow up to networking charging stations - When we are trying to build out are we acting jointly through the resilience plan are we coordinating networks or on our own? Mayor Driscoll stated if we can partner up on this, we would be open to it. There is no partner to work with right now. There are no Shell of EV stations. Councillor Copeland – Here in Beverly we have Erina Keefe. Thinking as a network – Most frustration thing about sustainability each department on their own has a portion but like to see one umbrella. Different organizations are working on one piece i.e. clean energy, construction, recycling. Like to see a cohesive umbrella across the Northshore. Mayor Driscoll – We took this plan, and we formed a Sustainability and Resiliency Department instead of different departments taking on pieces. “If its everyone’s job then it’s nobody’s job”. So wanted to have a leader with a department to undertake the action plan. What gets budgeted gets  OCTOBER 13, 2021 SALEM CITY COUNCIL JOINT MEETING WITH BEVERLY CITY COUNCIL done, go after grants, etc. I haven’t given Mayor Cahill his due, he took the lead and we latched on to it. Councillor McCarthy Like to recognize everyone on this call. It speaks volumes on commitment. We can’t do it ourselves. It all comes down to funding. Decisions we make now will affect us 20-30 years down the road. Need to make our constituents understand spend more money now for the benefits in the future. Councillor Madore stated another big issue is Housing. Councillor Dibble said we can lead the charge. We need to wean off of gas totally. We need to stop the gas leaks. Looking forward to green ordinance. We need to pass it. Wondering if Human Health Impact being discussed. Coming from PA and fracking process so it’s no longer a natural process. Erina Keefe – Cast iron is responsible for leaks, so we have incentives for National Grid. Councillor Riccardi – Thanked everyone. She loves hearing all the support for the Green Ordinance. Jenna Ide is working hard on it. The Green Ordinance currently is Pie in the Sky. It’s been separated on Municipal Buildings and then Residential Buildings. Need to continue education on what is realistic to the larger population because solar panes and heat pumps aren’t realistic. Councillor Riccardi moved that the presentation to be received and filed by roll call vote. It was adopted by a roll call vote of 9 yeas, 0 nays and 2 absent. Councillors Turiel, Riccardi, Prosniewski, Morsillo, McCarthy, Flynn, Dominguez, Dibble and Madore were recorded in the affirmative. Councillors Sargent and Hapworth were recorded as absent. (Beverly RCV was 7-0-2) Councillor McCarthy motioned that the meeting be adjourned by roll call vote. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 pm by a roll call vote of 9 yeas, 0 nays and 2 absent. Councillors Turiel, Riccardi, Prosniewski, Morsillo, McCarthy, Flynn, Dominguez, Dibble and Madore were recorded in the affirmative. Councillors Sargent and Hapworth were recorded as absent. (Beverly RCV was 7-0-2) ATTEST: ILENE SIMONS CITY CLERK  OCTOBER 13, 2021 SALEM CITY COUNCIL JOINT MEETING WITH BEVERLY CITY COUNCIL