Town of Rochester Environmental Conservation Commission
Meeting Agenda October 12, 2017
Facilitator: Laura
Recorder: Chris
Attendance: Laura Finestone, Angela Dorris, Chris Hewitt, Sarah Archbald, John Messerschmidt, Judith Karpova, Tim Ganon
Guest:
I. Call to Order: 6:05pm
II. Business and Logistics
A. Minutes approved
B. Our next meeting will be a re-launch of the Rondout Watershed Alliance
C. Membership
a. Laura thanked Angela for her years of service and all of the progress that she made. This is her last meeting.
III. Reports
A. Natural Heritage Plan report: Laura
a. We’re supposed to have our final meeting with the final draft soon. We’re waiting to hear when this is. For now, Laura invited the group to explore a wetland (Cedar Swamp) in Wawarsing, this Saturday, October 14, 12pm.
b. Mark Fried called Laura about the new stream naming process. After the elections, Laura will invite him to meet with us (in December).
B. Riverkeeper: Tim
a. Tim is testing this week for the last time this year. Riverkeeper is having a party on Saturday, October 28. The final data will be available in about a month. Mike Hein has started an umbrella group with Department of the Environment and Department of Health that attracts money for upgrading septic systems.
C. EMC: Judith
a. Conference will be on October 17 & 18. Amanda talked about landfill solar project in Olive and EPA encouraging solar installations on brownfields. UCRRA started a composting program. Communities can sign on for flood readiness. Participants are eligible for flood insurance rate reductions. NYC is converting its DEP building from propane to geothermal. CVS was found to be noncompliant with pharmaceutical waste. The county has 19 safe drop boxes for medications. Part of Olive is being declared a flood zone, so homes and roads will be moved in those places. More reports about other towns. Passive house tour on 88 Cherryhill Road, Kerhonkson, October 14, 3pm. There’s a new building in Kingston on Broadway, Ulster County Environmental Clearinghouse, where people can find information about what’s happening in the county.
D. Planning Board Report-solar
a. No report
E. Omelet: Judith
a. The meeting was about edge habitat and the flora and fauna at edges. It’s good to have small edges in order to reduce Lyme (a lot of mice live in the edges). A recent Lyme report showed that 80% of tick-borne illnesses come from homes built within the last 10 years. November 6, Nature Across Boundaries conference. Judith has the info.
IV. New Business
A. Climate Smart Communities: Angela
a. She brought a document about the Climate Smart Certification. Tim took it and will keep the progress moving.
B. Solarize: Chris
John Wackman shared a report about all of the solar installations that were done during Solarize Rondout Valley:
Lighthouse Solarreceived 134 Leads. 53 were unreachable/unresponsive or unqualified. They conducted 78 site visits and issued 90 proposals.
• Lighthouse Solar received 29 signed contracts to build solar PV systems for homeowners in Ulster County through Solarize Rondout Valley.
• Contracts by Town: Marbletown 8; Olive 0; Rochester 9; Rest of County 12
• Total for this Campaign: 302.245 kW
Hudson Solar received 126 Leads through our program. 25 were unreachable/unresponsive or unqualified. They conducted 82 site visits and issued 78 proposals.
• Hudson Solar received 17 signed contracts to build solar PV systems for homeowners in Ulster County through Solarize Rondout Valley.
• Contracts by Town: Marbletown 8; Olive 3; Rochester 2; Rest of County 4
• Total for this Campaign: 114.457 kW
C. Brainstorming ideas for this year-
a. Composting
b. Signage
c. Climate smart
d. Plastic bags
e. Billboard
f. Newsletter
g. Septic
h. Liaison to historical society
I. Old Business
II. Action Item Review
III. Adjourn