Environmental Advisory Committee

Agenda for the Environmental Committee Meeting Date: January 19, 2021 1. Opening – Chair TBD “This meeting, which conforms with the OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS LAW, CHAPTER 231, PUBLIC LAWS OF 1975, is a regular Environmental Committee meeting. Notices have been filed with our local official newspapers and posted on the Municipal Bulletin Board”. 2. Roll Call – X Dave Brizzolara X Dritan Xhillari X Norel Blundo X Boniface Kiamue X Kathryn Cribbin X Jeanne Guderian (last meeting) X Councilman Chris Montana 3. Public Forum – 4. Passing of the Meeting Minutes Adopted 5. Council Liaison’s Report – Adjusting the ordinance for environmental committee to remove one student and add another fulltime member – Chris Montana to go through the list of volunteers; will look to the team for recommendations as well; Mayor Arroyo to choose – Need two new members, one to replace Jeanne and one more – Shade Tree Committee may come into EAC; would meet with us monthly and could be involved with our other projects but ideally would be focused on trees – Work with EAC and Shade tree to get out ahead of Kmart – Project currently in front of Zoning Board that will have to factor in trees and landscaping – Kmart presents an opportunity to restore riparian zone – Chris is going to speak to Five Dimes Brewery Owner to try to work something out with a renewable energy device (wind or solar) on the roof top bar – Town is trying to get more solar on some of the industrial buildings in town; maybe one of the town buildings – Dritan – they have to look at the buildings and the rooves 6. New Business 7. Swear in New Members Committee Realignment Select new committee chair Current Initiatives Community Garden (Catherine Harrington) Renewable Resources and Waste Management (Dritan Xhillari) Home Landscape/Lawn and Garden (Norel Blundo) Encouraging use of more natural plantings and less lawn and exotics Encouraged through garden clubs, awards. Shift thinking of what is desirable from perfectly manicured greenest lawn to a more natural look. Natural, Environmental and Ecological (Dave Brizzolara) Nugent Park Sanctuary Community Garden – (Catherine) How might we improve the garden going forward (long-term) Norel to reach out to Cathy Harrington and what she foresees for the year ahead DPW runs this Chris thinks we should keep one tank because there will be no manual turn on for the sprinklers Home Gardener connection… Encourage and support food bank initiatives for home and community gardener harvests Norel believes the garden should be publicized more; Norel would be happy to work with Cathy Harrington to come up with creative ways to get the word out Dave – can we plug through social media Chris – suggests asking rec center, library, green team, to develop Facebook ad and put it out Kate – would be happy to contribute to the Facebook ad Chris – encouraged us to think about the types of project we want to do and how to put our stamp Kate – How do we communicate with the town with our initiatives? Jeanne – it is an ongoing issue Dave – for next meeting, we should come up with one (or multiple) ideas to better communicate with the community; should put it in the recycling calendar Norel – explained how the EAC interacts and overlaps with the Green Team Home/Landscape Lawn and Garden – (Norel) How might we encourage homeowners to change their view of what is ‘good’. Have town award (non-monetary) recognition of ‘great environmental practices’ home landscaping ideas Norel has put out a few emails and feelers to state and local groups to get ideas for initiatives; NJ invasive species strike team, Bergen County Gardeners  Waste Management/ Recycling Encourage personal waste reduction and good practices Realistic recycling (Rick, Erin Collins, ? ) Encourage personal recycling of plastic (film) bags – locations where bags can be recycled Monitor garbage trucks for leaking hydraulic fluids (during rainfall when leaks become obvious) Pascack Press Hillsdale Styrofoam Recycling Article Norel – many towns are getting involved and doing these Styrofoam recycling drive -what happens to the Styrofoam Dave – potentially getting some articles into Pascack Press or Community Life Chris can keep us in the loop going forward Renewable Resources (Dritan) Demonstrators Solar for a borough building Private users - Encouraging them. Hearing their experiences -invite someone from town to a meeting who already has solar panels? Mandate whatever goes into Kmart have some renewable aspect Environmental and Ecological (Dave) Environmental Resource Inventory Town wide and specific areas of focus: Would be good to have completed before any Kmart development begins; study of the flooding problems that exist in this area and how to alleviate them? Kmart really needs to be thought about going forward. Potentially do a flood study, maybe the town can find some money in the budget to pay someone to do this? Figure out the best way to alleviate the flooding issues Nugent Pre-project work that can be done up-front by WEAC coordination with Town (DPW) Contact/meet with Scouting Leaders to discuss potential for scouting projects. Examples of Girl Scout Gold project: Signage at Congers Lake Trail Trail bench from logs – below (not sure if this was part of scout project but similar works could be) McKinley Park Path in Westwood, Troop 47 Eagle scout project Daniel Atkins 12/17 – similar style could be used at Nugent. Porous good for rain garden Bird Sanctuary Park can be made more ‘Bird Friendly’ with wider natural areas and less lawn (more sparrows and swallows than geese, less DPW mowing). Similar approach to using the project for Scout Project Opportunities. Similar Approach for a Westvale Wetland Preserve.