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Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
6:30 pm
120 Washington St.
Salem, Ma
In Attendance: Cindy Keegan (Chair), John Hayes, Adam Segal, Jeff Barz-Snell; Jeff Brandt
Members not in attendance: Jenna Ide, Rick Nye, Nick Lewis, Jeff Brandt, Rob DeRosier
Honorary members from Salem High School Environmental Club: Meghan Debski; Victoria Phu
City Staff: Paul Marquis (Salem Energy Manager & RETF/ City Liaison)
Public: None
Administrative business
- Meeting called to order at 6:50 PM
- October 2010 meeting minutes approved w/ changes
General Business
- Xxx xxx raised the issue of the positioning of the Big Belly solar trash compactors owned by the City, noting that they often appeared to be placed in a way that they might not receive enough solar influx to ensure proper operation; P Marquis reported that a Public Services Dept. foreman had told him that they all appeared to be operating as intended.
- Task Force Progress Report to City Council
- Cindy Keegan provided a draft outline of the report to City Council
- Cindy Keegan asked P Marquis to forward Clean Energy Choice grant spreadsheet and Green Communities grant application to her
- Cindy Keegan suggested that year 2006 be included in any energy reduction accounting included in the Council report, since significant efficiency gains were made in that year.
- Energy Performance Contract update
- P Marquis provided a progress report, noting that a draft report had been provided by Schneider Electric, that the City and the City’s Owners’ Agent had commented on the report, and that the City was awaiting response to those comments.
- Winter Island wind/ Wind Education
- Jeff Barz-Snell asked if Meridian Associates had thus far identified any interconnect issues in the feasibility study under development; P Marquis responded that he had not yet received any info with regard to this
- Jeff Brandt noted that interconnect issues are often glossed-over in these reports, but that they can be tricky
- Cindy Keegan and Jeff Brandt requested that P. Marquis ask Meridian Associates for that section of the report
- Cindy Keegan asked P Marquis when the City could expect a full draft of the feasibility report and when the test tower will be decommissioned. P Marquis responded that he asked Meridian but was still awaiting a definitive answer. Meridian had stated that it would likely be “late January”
- Jeff Barz-Snell requested that P Marquis ask Planning Dept colleagues if they were aware of any ownership or permitted use issues regarding Winter Island. P Marquis said that he would follow up with City Solicitor as well, and check the title to the land in the Assessor’s office
- P Marquis asked if public education re: a wind energy facility at Winter Island should be raised in a public informational forum; Cindy Keegan responded that it might not be a good idea until the full feasibility study was in hand, as it might invite a lot of questions that could not be answered until the draft report was received.
- Jeff Barz-Snell suggested that it might be a good idea to begin to develop more comprehensive information on potential funding resources and issues; He also suggested a conversation with Meghan Amlser, a noted wind energy advocate from Cape Cod, to see if the Task Force could enlist her help; Jeff also suggested that the Task Force might do well to review some of the efforts of Eleanor Tillingast, a strident opponent of wind energy, to aid in the understanding of the associated issues
- P Marquis suggested that an important part of the public education component would be to counter some misconceptions about wind energy that were being intentionally reinforced through some media outlets
- Jeff Barz-Snell noted that he is beginning to develop some contacts in Hull who were associated with the wind energy projects there.
- Cindy Keegan suggested contacting Jody Howard from Healthlink (Marblehead), who has known ties to some people in Hull
- Jeff Barz-Snell reported that he’d had some discussion about a Winter Island wind facility with some “folks” from the Plummer Home, and that he was trying to plan a Hull tour with them; He noted that the folks from Plummer were “curious and positively inclined, but reserving judgment” about the proposed wind facility pending additional information.
- Jeff Brandt asked if P Marquis could obtain the presumed-completed acoustic analysis piece of the feasibility study; P Marquis said that he would follow up.
- P Marquis agreed to forward the current wind ordinance to Jeff Brandt to aid in the development of a revised ordinance discussed at earlier meetings
- P Marquis observed that interest seems to be growing in the idea of off shore wind, based on conversations he’d had with several locals.
- Jeff Brandt said he will raise the topic with Jason Silva from the Mayor’s office again
- P Marquis noted that engaging as many would-be stakeholders as early in the process of promoting the idea as possible might be a good idea.
- Jeff Brandt suggested trying to obtain a 3rd party report on wind development potential for Winter Island
- P Marquis observed that in the update on the feasibility study that he provided to the Park & Recreation Dept, they had asked for data on comparable projects in Massachusetts
- Cindy Keegan suggested doing a public forum on off-shore wind, but using that forum as a means to educate people about wind energy in general, including on-shore wind.
- Jeff Brandt suggested talking to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), who’d done some development work on wind energy. Cindy Keegan noted that Sam Cleaves of the MAPC, who has already worked with the City, has indicated some interest in this area. P Marquis noted that this kind of regional effort might be a good fit for the MAPC’s Metrofutures program. Jeff Barz-Snell offered to talk to Sam Cleaves about this.
- Cindy Keegan noted that a regional power development program like this was consistent with a desire to explore the development of a local power authority, offering Cape Light Compact as a model for this.
- P Marquis closed the wind energy discussion by noting that there are some groups in the City who would be interested in exploring the idea of a community-owned wind turbine at Winter Island
- Climate Action Plan (CAP)
- John Hayes provided Table’s of Contents from CAPs from other communities. He noted that the Somerville plan was a good early start but was not particularly notable at this point in time; He added that the Cambridge Plan, developed at the direction of John Bolduc, was very good; He provided a brief review of the Cambridge plan’s contents
- John Hayes also highlighted the Washington, DC plan, published in September, 2010. He suggested reviewing the table on page 9.
- Johh Hayes offered to work with Task Force members Jenna Ide and Jeff Barz-Snell to more-fully flesh out a CAP for Salem
- P Marquis said that he strongly believed that the Plan should be a climate and sustainability plan, and include such things as Low-impact Development, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) and behavioral and operational changes in City organizations that could positively address environmental impacts
- Cindy Keegan noted the member Rick Nye had developed a good operational best practices program at Raytheon, the company where he works, which might be adapted for Salem.
- P Marquis noted that the EPA and state DEP have some off-the-shelf EPP plans that could be adopted.
- In the context of tree planting’s impact on climate, John Hayes asked P Marquis what the City tree-planting protocol is, in response to a sidewalk tree that was removed from his neighborhood. P Marquis responded that often it’s simply a matter of contact the City tree warden.
- John Hayes suggested that the next step in the CAP development, that he would lead along with Jenna Ide, would be to fully flesh out the TOC and complete certain sections of the Plan itself, and leave the completion of the remaining sections to other Task Force members.
- Cindy Keegan suggested beginning with existing pieces from other City plans & documents, and seeing what sections in a proposed TOC are undeveloped.
- Jeff Barz-Snell suggested engaging local students to help flesh out the Plan.
- P Marquis provided an update on the Salem High School PV array being funded by a MA Clean Energy Choice grant. Marquis reported that the installation was expected to begin this week, and that he had been working to engage instructors from the Science and Vocational Arts Depts to promote curriculum tie-in. He also explained that the data would be displayed on a video monitor in the High School lobby. Cindy Keegan suggested that perhaps the power could be used to drive a “kinetic sculpture”, to provide instant feedback to students regarding power output from the panels.
- P Marquis provided an update on the Green Salem Business Challenge (GSBC), noting that the public ceremony to honor the winners, attended by the Mayor and Rep Keenan, had gone very well and was well attended, and that the GSBC planning group would be meeting early in the new year to discuss the 2011 Challenge
- Cindy Keegan asked if any work had been done to gauge the impact of the recently-adopted Stretch Code. P Marquis responded that it was perhaps too soon to tell, as we are still in the concurrency period between the new and the old code, but that a critical test was coming up in the form of the proposed Lowe’s/ Walmart project
Cindy Keegan also asked about progress on placing a link to the City’s SalemGoesGreen web page on the City’s homepage; P Marquis reported that this was still pending
P Marquis provided a brief update on the progress in developing the GreenSalem.com public web site, reporting that a meeting between a few of the stakeholders had recently taken place at Salem Cyberspace, the organization charged with leading the development of the site.
- Cindy Keegan recommended adding 2011 Living Green Fair planning to the January meeting agenda
Votes taken
- The Task Force voted in favor of cancelling the scheduled December 2010 meeting to accommodate potential conflicts due to the holidays. (4 votes in affirmative; 1 member left before vote taken)
Documents offered as exhibits
- “Photomontage_excerpts.doc”
- “REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL.doc”
Local climate action plan TOC’s
Action items carried over from previous meetings
Identified Date |
Action Item |
Responsibility |
Proposed Completion Date (Actual) |
9-16-10 |
Review Historic guidelines with Salem Inn project in mind (get status update) |
P. Marquis |
9/24/10 |
9-16-10 |
Forward EECS & Green Community Application to J. Hayes & J. Ide for gap analysis of proposed Sustainability Plan for Salem |
P. Marquis |
10/1/10 |
9-16-10 |
Meet with local restaurants to find out what they are doing and help needed to “go green” as part of larger proposed project to create a restaurant tool kit. |
R. DeRosier |
10/21/10 |
9-16-10 |
Review Climate Action Plans & existing Salem plans and data to develop gap analysis and action plan |
J. Hayes/ J. Ide |
11/18/10 |
Action items carried over from 10/21/10 meeting
Identified Date |
Action Item |
Responsibility |
Proposed Completion Date (Actual) |
10-21-10 |
Check for ownership/ restriction on use issues at Winter Island |
P. Marquis |
Next RETF meeting on 11/18 |
10-21-10 |
Arrange consultation with National Grid for P Marquis and interested Task Force members re: interconnect application for Winter Island turbine |
J Barz-Snell |
Not specified |
Action items arising from discussion on 11-18-10
Identified Date |
Action Item |
Responsibility |
Proposed Completion Date (Actual) |
11-18-10 |
Forward CEC spreadsheet and Green Communities grant application to C. Keegan |
P. Marquis |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Ask Meridian Associates for interconnect section of Feasibility Study |
P. Marquis |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Check with DPCD and Assessor’s office regarding potential restriction on use and ownership issues at Winter Island |
P. Marquis |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Contact Jody Howard from Healthlink for Hull contacts |
C. Keegan |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Develop contacts re: Hull wind facilities |
Jeff Barz-Snell |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Arrange tour of Hull wind facilities for Plummer Home officials |
Jeff Barz-Snell |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Send current wind ordinance with suggested revisions to Jeff Brandt and Nick Lewis |
P. Marquis |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Contact J Silva re: off-shore wind |
J Brandt |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Contact Sam Cleaves re: off-shore wind |
Jeff Barz-Snell |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Develop[ CAP TOC and flesh out a few sections of body of Plan |
J Hayes; J Ide; J Barz-Snell |
Unspecified |
11-18-10 |
Add Living Green Fair planning to January 2011 agenda |
P Marquis |
1-20-11 |
Agenda items not discussed
Meeting Minutes recorded by Paul Marquis
Meeting adjourned at 8:59 pm
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