City of Salem
Renewable Energy Task Force
Meeting Minutes
February 15, 2007
7:00 pm
In Attendance: Jeff Barz-Snell, Kristen Smith, Cindy Keegan, Richard Nye, John Hayes, Rob DeRoiser, Nick Lewis, Kimberley Driscoll and Tom Watkins
Task Force member Adam Segal was not present for the meeting.
Meeting minutes from the group’s meeting on January 31, 2007 were reviewed and approved.
The meeting began with discussion on the group’s mission statement. Four mission statements were reviewed and it was voted by the group to combine two of the statements to read:
The mission of the Renewable Energy Task Force is to create ideas, research technologies and recommend programs with the goal of bettering the City of Salem’s environmental stewardship. The Commission and the City recognize that protecting the environment and reducing the consumption of resources is part of our civic responsibility and hope to enhance the economic, social and natural environment of the City of Salem by:
· Promoting renewable energy use in the City of Salem
· Highlighting the need for energy conservation in the City of Salem
· Advocating responsible energy use in the City of Salem
· Supporting the reduction of emissions that contribute to climate change
The group elected Cindy Keegan as Chair and Rob DeRosier as Vice Chair.
Rob explained to the group that he contacted the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and obtained a feasibility study from them on energy conservation, renewable energy, solar power resource analysis, etc., which he reviewed with the group. Rob said he would contact MTC to get a more clear/legible copy of the report to distribute to the group.
It was discussed that HealthLink received a grant from MTC that would go towards raising awareness of wind turbines and the positive impact they have in the community.
Cindy and Jeff will follow up on the previous feasibility wind study done for Salem High School and Kim said she would contact Paul L’Hereux of the Salem school department to ask him about this as well.
According to a previous wind survey at the Power Plant, Rob confirmed that the Power Plant site does have enough wind power for wind turbines. He assumes the Power Plant is at least a “class 3” since the High School site is a “class 3” on a wind scale from 1-7. Rob also pointed out that the Power Plant has good wind data going back at least 6 to 10 years. The group would like to take a look at that data to make sure it is appropriate for a future wind turbine program at the site.
Cindy stated that the Pickman Park Condo Association is currently talking about locating some wind turbines on their property. She also stated that aside from Pickman Park, the three other private locations in the City that would be good for wind turbines are Salem Hospital/Bertram Field, SESD, and Shetland Park. Kim said the SESD site would be great because it would benefit 5 communities. She said she would like to get a representative from SESD to talk to the group at the next meeting.
Richard asked about smaller wind turbines for private residential homes. Cindy said she knows of a homeowner in Peabody who is putting one on his roof and will look into the specifics on it.
It was mentioned that HealthLink has a full size map of wind data that was done for Salem.
Cindy said that the group would need to address the zoning issues and permitting process of both the private and public implementation and use of wind turbines. The Town of Harwich has detailed zoning regulations for wind turbines. Currently, the City of Salem does not have zoning rules or regulations regarding the use of wind turbines. Tom will talk to Dan Merhalski in the Planning Department about how to start this process up for the City of Salem. The group stated that they would need to focus on drafting/obtaining a wind turbine ordinance and a sustainable energy ordinance for City Council.
Cindy passed out a list of upcoming renewable energy events and websites for the group.
Nick mentioned that the group would also need to focus on creating a timeline of goals and objectives. He would also like to have the meetings formatted so that the group can focus on different topics at the various meetings.
Rob would like a follow up on the Big Belly trash compactors and Tom said he would look into it.
The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, March 15th at 7:00 pm.
Minutes submitted by Tom Watkins
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