Sustainable Maryland Committee (Green Team)

Sustainable Maryland Committee Meeting Minutes January 8, 2024 Attendance Chiara Atoyebi Dorothy Estrada Janet Owens Orissa Samaroo Jeremy Schwartz Emanuel Wagner The meeting was called to order at 7:05. The SMC adopted the minutes of December 4, 2023. Discussion (1) Dorothy Estrada provided an update of programs and actions that she has been engaged in to drive sustainability in Takoma Park: a. Dorothy discussed the upcoming TP City Council meeting on February 7, 2024, to which the TP Maryland Sustainability Committee has been invited. The Committee will present sustainable priorities to the Council. The presentation length is expected to be around 15 minutes. Dorothy advised that the presentation should respond to the CC’s goals i) Climate Change mitigation strategies; ii) resilience; iii) manage natural resources sustainably with an emphasis on equity. The presentation should justify why the CC should invest city dollars by estimating the cost of inaction. b. Building improvement grants for multifamily units launched with the Green Bank to leverage ARPA money for getting residents into the decarbonization process. However, no money for outreach and education about these grants was allocated. c. Single family home owners are eligible for electrification seed money through Montgomery County. d. Solarize Takoma Park event March 11, 2024 e. Earth Day, April 20, Sligo Creek Valley Stream Park staff presence. A ‘sweep the creek’ event will take place. f. Funding has been received from Maryland Energy Administration for solar panel installation on the library. g. Takoma Park may receive funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust for a Fellow to work on sustainability issues. (2) TP Climate Action Plan adopted 2020  a. The CAP was passed during COVID, but subsequent work stopped: We have a framework but no action plan. b. Inaction by the City Council may be due to lack of knowledge about climate actions; thus making references could be useful. (3) Food Waste Collection Expansion a. We should piggyback on the existing program of approximate 60% participation of eligible homes. b. Expansion: we could require multi-family units out of TP trash collections scope to do separate food waste collection. (4) Zero Emissions Infrastructure: increase public access to high speed EV chargers a. There are currently 6 or 7 publicly available low speed chargers. b. We need deployment of new infrastructure: pricing is based on time connected to charger c. Funding: federal grants cover 80%, we would need to find partners to fund the additional 20%. d. Equity: there is a vested interest in deploying this type of infrastructure for multi-family units. (5) The City Council has agreed to send liaisons to Committee Meetings. Cindy Dyballa will serve as this Committee’s liaison. The next Meetings are January 22, 2024 and February 5, 2024. The meeting adjourned at 8:25pm.