Sustainability, Energy, & Resiliency Committee

Meeting Minutes February 24, 2021 – 6:30 P.M. Remote Participation In Attendance Board Members: Chair John Hayes Vice Chair Jeff Cohen Chris Cantone Doug Bowker Gail Kubik Phil Koch Rick Nye Not in Attendance: None City Staff: Meg Riccardi, City Council liaison Esmeralda Bisono, City staff Jenna Ide, City staff Stacy Kilb, City staff/Recorder Presenters: Sean Selby, Architect, Arrowstreet Patrick Schmidt, Project Manager, Avison Young Public: Stan Franzeen, Vice President, Salem Aliance For the Environment (SAFE) Pat Gozemba, SAFE Alan Hanscom, SATV (recording) Dustin Luca, Salem News Ella Slidell Linda Stark Introductions Public Comment 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM Pat Gozemba of SAFE, will send information on the “Virtues of Green Building” presentation to take place at the March 4th SAFE meeting. It will focus on passive house building at the Waring House School, Beverly. The meeting will be held at 6:30 on Zoom. Esmeralda will share the link and provide publicity. Ms. Gozemba wishes to discuss offshore wind later and will send Esmeralda a link to the SAFE YouTube video, including the Offshore Wind video of the presentation on Feb. 4th. Review & Approve Meeting Minutes Vice Chair Jeff Cohen makes a motion to accept the January 27 meeting minutes, pending edits submitted by Board members to Stacy Kilb, recorder, by 11:30AM on Friday 2/26. He is seconded by Gail Kubik and the motion passes unanimously. Presentation on Shetland Park Development with Patrick Schmidt (Avison Young) and Sean Selby (Arrow Street) Jeff Cohen has seen the full presentation; tonight’s will be abbreviated. Mr. Scmidt and Mr. Selby present the project: • Mr. Selby is working on a new Master Plan for the Shetland Park site. • Existing Site Plan and Program Analysis: o Northern end of Shetland Park, closest to Congress St. Bridge o Buildings 1, 2, and 3 are very long and impermeable (difficult to get from the site to the water’s edge). They are trying to mitigate and scale down the buildings and provide access to the waterfront. o Cross section: Traffic patterns and parking patterns onsite are chaotic, which is why the bridge was built connecting garage to building 1. o Would like to make the area safer. o Entrances, both vehicular, loading vehicles, or doors, are shown. o How to safely get pedestrians to waterfront? • Place Making: Vehicle Circulation o Elevate the roadway? Top of berm on outer edge of site; elevate ground planes to berm, so people can see the water. Also allows for parking underneath Building 2; space to park exists in the basement. It is currently unused. o Elevate roadway between buildings 1 and 2 and can park cars in alleyway between buildings 1 and 2. Can park 250-300 cars between both areas. o If parking is underneath and traffic rearranged, space between buildigs1 and 2 can become a walkway = beginnings of a Harborwalk. o Parking lot between house and Building 1 could be transformed into a plaza space. o Buildings 1 and 2 could remain retail, convert current Registry of Deeds space to a grocery or food hall, TBD. This could activate waterfront. o Extend Lynch St. through. Make whole site east-west permeable and pedestrian friendly. Also make the site permeable north-south so people can walk on ground plain from garage through Building 2 to Building 1. • Conceptual Views 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM  o Trying to draw in street grid from Point neighborhood; would also like to use artwork to activate/tie in. o Area between buildings 1 and 2 would be for pedestrians, but still wide enough to accommodate emergency vehicles. o Additional open plaza space at end by water. o Area near the water could be a park. • Park and opening Through Building 22 o Openings carved at base of Building 2 to connect north-south. o Between school and Building 2 would be a promenade, but with a contained traffic lane for cars exiting Building 2 garage. o End of building 4, directly behind store (current Registry) can become grocery or food hall. o Plaza at water’s edge. • Jeff Cohen notes that in prior presentations, the neighborhood association was very receptive. • Chris Cantone asks if the changes would mean eliminating delivery services to buildings 1 and 2 by eliminating driving. o 1) From a sustainability standpoint: elevated road on backside of property/berm is there to control runoff/prevent erosion of wall. o 2) Solar or wind on rooftops? Saw tooth building is south facing. o Patrick Schmidt: have not yet explored wind but will. Solar opportunities are being discussed. Buildings 1 and 2 will be reviewed holistically. o John Hayes: Solar could be PV panels but also PV roof tiles. Mr. Schmidt notes these can be considered. o Jenna Ide: State of the site is deplorable, appreciates thought and ideas that went into project. Questions (do not need to be answered now, as she understands this is conceptual at this point): ▪ Solar, consider solar hot water. ▪ Geothermal district heating is a possibility to replace the “hodgepodge” central power plant. Jenna Ide and Mayor are willing to help them explore avenues and incentives for these. ▪ Believes they can get to practically net zero, if not full net zero. ▪ Think of how to use as opportunity for neighborhood and local children, to teach them about resiliency and sustainability. Allow them (safely) to get close to solar panels. ▪ Resiliency: Engineering will push for reduced runoff, so think about how infiltration will happen. It is an existing site, but the City will be looking to reduce runoff. ▪ Resiliency: Water comes in over berms to the south during storms, flooding happens. Climate change projections indicate that this facility and point are on the front line. Do studies on flooding; grants may be available, and City is willing to help. Envelope improvements will help, but large inefficient windows do not. Water can also enter through them. Windows facing harbor get battered by storms. o Replies/comments: 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM  ▪ Jeff Cohen suggests that Jenna Ide, Sean Selby and Patrick Schmidt speak via email about the above, including grants. ▪ Mr. Selby: • Loading: Space between buildings 1 and 2 would also allow for loading but would try to time deliveries to early morning. Can accommodate operationally. • Plaza level/storm surge/water over berm: Agrees, need to work it out. Shown were early concept ideas; details not yet figured out. Filtration, runoff or storage will be explored. Civil and environmental engineering will be heavily involved in development. • Chris Cantone clarifies that he was more concerned about water continually running from the property to the ocean, as it may contain contaminants. • Mr. Selby: Solar/wind/PV/geothermal: Early in process, all will be considered. Eco Districts, Living Community Challenge, Enterprise Green Communities, Fitwel, lots of programs can help too. Program links: o https://ecodistricts.org/ o https://living-future.org/lcc/ o https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/solutions-and- innovation/green-communities o https://fitwel.org/ ▪ Mr. Selby: Two sides to net zero: how much do you consume, how much can you offset by green strategies onsite or offsite. Mr. Selby outlines the qualifications and projects of his firm (LEED Platinum at school in Cambridge, also first LEED Platinum in Boston). • Will look to SERC for guidance. ▪ Jenna Ide: this has a City presence, good to partner. City is looking into larger watershed study combined with modeling smaller areas of the City to address climate change and resiliency. o Jeff Cohen notes project Plans are already conforming to upcoming Green Building Ordinance. o Gail Kubik comments: loves direction they are going in, points out she sees “flowing” programming and not “stationary stopping programming.” Activating water’s edge, but Applicant should also think about street edge on Congress St. How can they activate that further, possibly with parkscapes w/built in exercise activities? Make street edge more dynamic. o Mr. Selby: Plan for this is to figure out what happens at ground level/between curb and building; if that is done right, project will succeed. They will add interest along the way: will be lined with benches, café, barbershop. The walk to the water will be an experience. It will be “interesting.” Sidewalks can be active or passive but must be interesting and diverse. 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM  o Doug Bowker finds the project exciting, enough so to possibly go onsite for the first time in 15 years. o Jenna Ide: Must acknowledge history of the place, think about opportunities to increase wildlife. Snowy Owls have been seen there, and other species also use the area. Discussion on status of Bill S.2995: An Act creating a next-generation roadmap for Massachusetts climate policy (Jeff Cohen) • Jeff Cohen: Gov. Baker sent the Bill back to House and Senate with amendments (essentially line-item vetoes), however, Reps. Tucker and Ehrlich feel they can override. Once there is resolution, he will make an announcement via email and at and upcoming meeting. Summary of Amber Hewett’s Feb. 4th presentation to SAFE about Offshore Wind (John Hayes & Jeff Cohen) • Amber Hewitt provided an update as to how far behind the U.S. is compared to Europe. • Update re New Bedford and possibilities for Salem. • Fixed foundation offshore wind is typical but floating in Gulf of Maine is a possibility. • Esmeralda will make sure SERC and the public has a link to Ms. Hewitt’s slide show and presentation. • Kudos to Pat Gozemba for SAFE’s commitment to wind. • Pat Gozemba: Excited about possibilities for using Footprint property’s 44 undeveloped acres. o SAFE has been considering offshore wind and Salem’s role, has been invited to become Coalition Partner for NE Offshore Wind and Mass. Offshore Wind Coalitions. o MA Center for Clean Energy – Salem's deep-water port is best site to support offshore wind on Maine, NH and Mass. oceanfront. o Turbines everyone is expecting gin Gulf of ME will be floating, not fixed to ocean floor, like many oil rigs. o Turbine bases would be best made in Portsmouth NH, towed down to Salem, where we could have various operations: ▪ O & M for offshore wind servicing. ▪ Marshaling – standing up towers, affixing blades, towing to sea. ▪ All economic possibilities for offshore wind. o Please be open to using deep water port for this purpose, there are not many such sites in the state. Protected by MGL and Chapter 91, so should be nothing other than marine industrial use on that site, Footprint got an exemption as the power plant is not water dependent. SAFE feels another waiver should not be given for the rest of the property if not used for marine industrial. Wind would be marine industrial in keeping with laws in place. • Chris Cantone: Thanks Pat Gozemba for her service to the City. Wind has been discussed. Salem being O &M center for offshore wind: Salem Harbor/waterways host organization to maintain not just our wind turbines but others? 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM  o Pat Gozemba: Salem was chosen as the most ideal place along the coast; other applications were seen that could work but Salem was best due to size of ships, especially during marshaling. Salem wanted the previous marine terminal that went to New Bedford. But that area really needed it. She advocated for Salem when the Gulf of Maine opportunity opened. Not a done deal. o Footprint owns property and would have to sell or lease to offshore wind entity. o Chris Cantone: Impact to Salem? We have a deep-water port but not a lot of boat traffic, so if we host O & M on Footprint property large vessels would change the shoreline. This should be considered/ there will be environmental impact of deep vessels. o Pat Gozemba: Bill McHugh, harbormaster, is looking at this along w/Seth Lattrell (City of Salem Staff). Want to be green/support renewable energy/offshore wind; amount of energy that can be produced would service the New England area 19 times over. • Jeff Cohen encourages public and SERC members to review presentation. • Jenna Ide appreciates the idea of changing fossil fuel supportive industry to renewable. Agrees w/Chris Cantone that issues will need to be worked out; cannot do large housing development w/out lots of exemptions at this site, but once wind turbines are built, they will not generate traffic. Any use will have an environmental impact, but this is part of transitioning to net zero. Offshore wind is key though solar is discussed the most. • Pat Gozemba: Discussing minority participation, considering populations most negatively affected by COVID and climate change. As we take steps toward accessing this renewable resource, we are also being deliberate about environmental/climate/workplace justice and figuring out how to introduce a new generation to offshore wind, as solar was mentioned before. Offshore wind has good options for labor and minority participation. When do minorities start making money off renewables? Good models in seaport area for minority and labor benefits. • Jeff Cohen points out that Harbormaster meetings are open to public, we need to lobby for this. Discussion of Footprint Power Plant’s request to increase natural gas consumption levels by 10% (John Hayes) • A rumor surfaced online referencing the above; John Hayes researched and scanned 200+ pages of materials. • Footprint to revise emissions from 2449 million BTU/ hour to 2700 million BTU/hour. (2520 Megawatts per unit). • Error in a table of original air quality plan related to startup and shutdown emissions, which can spike. They want emissions to exclude 10 minutes of startup and 10 minutes of shutdown. • Plant may be running for multiple days/weeks/months in a row, so startups and shutdowns do not occur regularly. • Public comment period open until March 1 (Monday) • He will continue reviewing documents (200 pages) but he feels it is legitimate, as Footprint is fine tuning its air quality comprehensive plan done in 2014. 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM  • Unsure if he will submit a public comment, if he does, it would be as a resident of Salem not representative of SERC. • Went to UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists) website who had no comment, and they would be aware of this. * o * John Hayes clarifies on Thurs. 2/25 by email that he was mistaken; it is Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) not UCS that is involved with this project, along with Healthlink. Those organizations helped the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) reach the 2014 agreement with Footprint. o He has sent an email to CLF as they do not appear to be aware of this issue and will update the Board once a response is received. • Jenna Ide wonders if Footprint has reached out to any City official to provide a summary of changes, as this would have been helpful for the sake of transparent. It is unclear whether this was done. • Chris Cantone: A 10% request of additional usage is odd for a Comprehensive Plan, goes against “Comprehensive.” Missing startup emissions is a design issue; those emissions could be captured. “We made a mistake in the Comprehensive Plan and the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee also made mistake,” seems to be what they are saying. Do they also want to increase power? This should have been anticipated. • John Hayes: There was an error in table 7. Revision of emissions is separate from this. This was for summer conditions when there is an a/c load in the region. • Alan Hanscom SATV: Can CLF and/or other similar groups be alerted to this? John Hayes will follow up. • John Hayes asks if he should send an email to Dominic Pangallo; please send the email and cc Jenna Ide. Discussion and Vote to Endorse Urban Agriculture Ordinance (Jeff Cohen) • Kerry Murphy, Pat Schultz, Andy Varella, and Jeff Cohen discussed this before the City Council. • Will be presenting to the Salem City Council Committee on Public Health, Safety and Environment, as they did for the Green Building Ordinance. • Committee will have a public hearing and present pros and cons; public comment is not limited to 50 minutes total so people can interact w/Councilors. Committee will vote to leave in Committee (where things die) or recommend it to full Council with or without a recommendation. Because it contains zoning, it will require a supermajority to vote for it. No matter what SERC does tonight, SERC will not impact what the Subcommittee does if they decide to change components of Ordinance. • Jeff Cohen is seeking SERC endorsement of this Ordinance. • Public comment has been positive. • Most SERC members support the Ordinance in a straw poll. • The procedure is discussed. Jeff Cohen makes a motion for SERC to endorse the above Ordinance, is seconded by Gail Kubik, and the motion passes in a roll call vote. Jeff Cohen Yes 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM John Hayes Yes Gail Kubik Yes Doug Bowker Yes Rick Nye Yes Chris Cantone Abstain Jeff Cohen will relay the results of the vote to Meg Riccardi, who had to leave the meeting earlier. Green Building Ordinance Updates • Some city folks to weigh in. • Same process as above. Updates on City Projects Resilient Together - Beverly/Salem Climate Action & Resilience Plan (Jenna Ide & Esmeralda Bisono) • Esmeralda sent email to Committee w/updates. • In Action Prioritization phase, editing actions. • Focus group was Tues. Night, attended by of City Council and Board members of Beverly and Salem SERCs, Gail Kubik and Meg Riccardi represented Salem. • Mayors of both Cities attended. • Gail Kubik notes it was well run, with breakout groups on Transit Oriented Development (TOD), existing buildings, and new buildings. o All 3 had fascinating discussions/comments provided to consultants. o John Hayes Thanks Gail for representing SERC, wonders if TMA was there for TOD breakout group. No, but only because last night’s meeting was geared toward the City Council. We do have representative on the Climate Action Advisory Committee. • Two other upcoming zoom focus groups will happen, one with faith based and neighborhood leaders, and the second w/local businesses. • MindMixer campaign for renters and commuters is now live. Please spread the word! o Link: https://resilienttogether.mindmixer.com/ This one focuses on renters and commuters. • RT newsletter is coming out soon. • Esmeralda will put two upcoming webinars on the Facebook page: Essex County Greenbelt Association - Equity in Climate Change Solutions March 3, 4:30 pm Online webinar https://ecga.org/Events When it comes to climate change preparedness, no communities should be left out. Hear from two local organizations about the work they are doing to ensure equity in their climate change planning: 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM  North Shore Community Development Coalition is working on multiple projects in Salem's Point neighborhood, including low-impact development and climate-resistant utility planning. Resilient Together is a coalition serving Salem and Beverly and focusing on community resiliency in the face of heat waves, flooding, increased storms, sea level rise, and drought. RSVP required - you will receive a link via email to the Zoom webinar the week before the event. Film & Lecture Series funded by MA Office of CZM Salem State Sunrise Movement - Earth Days Panel: Resilient Cities https://www.salemstate.edu/calendar/earth-days-panel-resilient-cities-mar-10-2021 Please register here. March 10, 4:30-5:30PM Earth Days Panel: Resilient Cities How are Beverly and Salem Preparing for Climate Change? The webinar will connect the global climate crisis to the local North Shore experience and inspire the audience to get involved locally. Focusing on Beverly and Salem, the three panelists will explore resiliency, community, adaptation and more. The event will also highlight the new Resilient Together municipal climate project currently underway in Beverly and Salem. The panel will feature Barbara Warren of Salem Sound Coastwatch, Esmeralda Bisono of the City of Salem's Sustainability Office, and Estelle Rand, Beverly City Councilor. The panel will be moderated by Salem State student Joey Wolongevicz and will close with a call to action by Salem Public School Teacher Carly Mandell. • Discussion of setting up a SERC Instagram account occurs. John Hayes is (only half- jokingly) “voluntold” by Jeff Cohen to set it up. Doug Bowker notes that everything on Facebook (FB) could be pushed over to Instagram (the simplest way) but this has its disadvantages. It could be helpful if we are consistently posting to FB. The process is described. FB admin would have to open an Instagram account and it will ask if you want to share; they can be linked. Jeff Cohen and Esmeralda Bisono are admins for the City SERC Facebook page. • Instagram is a much more visual medium than FB. • Jeff Cohen wonders if FB will translate to Instagram. John Hayes notes he and Jeff post links to articles or reports and title page is colorful/visual; SERC should show desire to communicate such information visually via Instagram. • Jenna Ide notes as a City account sometimes she must delete comments to stay away from opinions/promotions/advertisements. Must be factual. • Put on agenda for next month. • It is noted that unlike Facebook, Instagram does not generate a preview of the webpage when a live link is posted. 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM RMI Building Electrification Accelerator Program Summary (Doug Bowker) New Business Jeff Cohen: Renewable Energy Task Force (RETF, predecessor to SERC) • SERC is one of the only City Boards with no authority. • SERC should be part of the project review process; this should be discussed, and an Ordinance written to allow SERC to do this. • Green Building plan has elements not yet delegated, must be aware of that. • Committee agrees this should be discussed. • Jenna Ide can send members the enabling RETF legislation. • Options: o SERC not as a permit authority, but certain developments of a certain size could be kicked to SERC for input/comments, not approval. o SERC could also embrace the ability to have a budget/funding come in and vote on use of funds to support its activities. Upcoming Events • The City Council Committee on Public Health, Safety and Environment will discuss the Urban Agriculture Ordinance at its March 8, 2021 meeting, at 6PM. • Courtney Coslow, Development Director, Beacon Communities, and developer for Salem Housing Authority Fort Lee Terrace project, will be at the March SERC meeting • Jenna Ide: https://www.umb.edu/ssl/events UMass Sustainable Solutions Lab offers quarterly climate change webinars on Zoom; they are all excellent. Climate Adaptation Forum: Think Globally, Act Locally: Municipalities Adapt to the Climate Crisis Event Date: March 5, 2021 @ 10 a.m. Location: Zoom Cost: $5-$15 Experts from New England and beyond will discuss innovative adaptation strategies being implemented, state programs, frameworks, trends in financing, and other important topics. Next Meeting – Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 6:30 P.M. Via Zoom Adjournment Chris Cantone motions to adjourn the meeting. Doug Bowker seconds. The motion passes unanimously. The meeting ends at 8:16P.M. Minutes respectfully submitted by Stacy Kilb. 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM Persons requiring auxiliary aids and services for effective communication such as sign language interpreter, an assistive listening device, or print material in digital format or a reasonable modification in programs, services, policies, or activities, may contact the City of Salem ADA Coordinator as soon as possible and no less than 2 business days before the meeting, program, or event. Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 39 §23B, and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033. Please contact Jenna Ide at jide@salem.com or 978-619-5699 for more information. 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM