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Meeting Minutes
Thursday, July 17, 2008
6:30 pm
In Attendance: Cindy Keegan (Chair), Rob DeRosier (V. Chair), Betsy Horne, Nick Lewis, Rick Nye
Members not in attendance: Adam Segal, Jeff Barz-Snell, John Hayes
City Staff: Tom Watkins
Public: Hal Newhall, Alan Taubert, Rinus Oosthoek, Ben Bouchard, Kelly Muellman
SODAR Project Update
Hal Newhall and Alan Taubert joined the Renewable Energy Task Force to discuss their thoughts on the SODAR report recently completed by the UMASS RERL. The report showed data from the first round of wind testing at the SESD plant. Alan had said the data from the first round looks promising and he is hopeful that the second round will produce the same, if not better, results. He reported that the 60-80 meter range is showing signs of less echoing. Given these data results, he said a 1.5 megawatt turbine at 70 meters would be very economically feasible, however, further feasibility studies and analysis need to be completed. He said SESD already has their own financial model for a wind turbine project but it all depends on the size and model of the turbine to be installed. Rob had stated
that the power plant is doing their own feasibility study and try to get a copy of it to give to SESD. Cindy would like to begin contacting and applying for a feasibility study from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) for the SESD project. Alan said he just needs help from a production standpoint. He has a copy of the Mandarin feasibility study in Ipswich and said it is a very lengthy document. Alan also reported that there have been no complaints from neighbors regarding the noise from the SODAR unit during its ongoing, second round of testing.
Kelly, who works with MassEnergy, reported that their organization is no longer looking at the Fairhaven turbine project as closely. This puts the Salem project higher up on the “short list” of communities to receive the $400,000 grant from MassEnergy. It was also stated that the Town of Orleans wind turbine project fell through and the turbines they ordered are still in stock, possibly somewhere in Texas.
Living Green & Renewable Energy Fair
Rinus Oosthoek and Ben Bouchard of the Salem Chamber of Commerce joined the RETF to discuss the recent Living Green Fair and thoughts for next year. They announced to the RETF that the Chamber would like to award two grants of $250, - one dispersed by the Chamber and one to be disbursed by the Chamber of Commerce. Rob would like to send the RETF grant to a local school and believed the other grant should go to a business/organization which will benefit from the money. Rinus said the best bang for the buck would be to award the grant to a local non-profit group. After the discussion was over, it was voted to give both grants to two different Salem schools. Rinus, Ben and Tom will work together to reach out to all Salem schools and notify them of the grant. They will most likely require
each interested school to write a paragraph about how they are going to use the money.
Cindy also mentioned that she will find out on how many Green Up sign ups Salem has.
Discussion began on plans for a Living Green Fair for next year. It was decided that both the Chamber and RETF would like to collaborate once again in planning and organizing next year’s Fair. It was agreed that the group would like to hold it again at Old Town Hall, given the success of this year’s Fair. Thoughts of having it at a bigger venue, like Salem State College’s O’Keefe Center, were dismissed. Too
much downtown foot traffic would be lost and Rinus had stated that past event’s he has held there were not all that successful. Tom and Rinus will find out more about the process of renting out Old Town Hall since Gordon College will now be managing and moving into the building. The group would like to hold next year’s event on Saturday, June 13th, 2009.
Ben read some comments and reviews from vendors about the Fair. All comments were very positive. Tom will also reach out to SATV about obtaining the footage they taped during the Fair.
Draft Wind Turbine Ordinance
Tom shared Amy Lash’s email with the group and her thoughts/answers to some of the questions the members of the RETF had at the last meeting. Tom will also forward the email out to the group. Tom will also invite Amy and Lynn Duncan to their next meeting.
New Big Belly’s
Tom informed the group of the new Big Belly rollout which should happen in the next few weeks. He stated that many of the placements will need approval from the City’s Design Review Board and Salem Redevelopment Authority, given their downtown location. Tom and Julie Rose will be going before the DRB next Wednesday and then meet with the SRA at their August meeting.
Rob would like to begin the process of selling ad space on the Big Belly’s. This has the potential to be a money maker for the City.
Green Building Ordinance
Tom shared an email from the Mayor with the group on how she and Councillor Joan Lovely would like to pursue a grant opportunity from MTC. The grant is up to $700,000 and must be used for a new building project. The money will go towards ensuring the project is built in an energy efficient manner. Both the Mayor and Councillor Lovely thought this might work out well for the new Senior Center project. The grant application is due in November. Tom will forward the email and grant application to the group.
Tom had also mentioned that the Mayor is interested in having the RETF create a Green Building ordinance for the City of Salem. Cindy said that Paul Marquis will be emailing to her some information on this. Tom also stated that he has some information from other communities and will forward it to Cindy.
Action Items:
· Contact MTC to begin discussing a feasibility study for the SESD site (Tom/Cindy)
· Work with Chamber to notify schools of the two grant opportunities available to them (Tom)
· Find out how many Green Up sign ups the City of Salem has (Cindy)
· Find out more about the process of reserving space at Old Town Hall in the coming year (Tom)
· Forward email from Amy Lash and the Mayor out to RETF (Tom)
· Begin the process of selling ad space on the Big Belly’s (Rob/Tom)
· Gather information about Green Building Ordinances (Cindy/Tom)
· Talk to SATV about getting footage from the Living Green Fair (Tom)
Meeting Minutes recorded by Tom Watkins
Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm
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