Agenda for May 2, 2024 meeting
Agenda for March 2024 meeting
I. Review and Approval of Feburary Minutes
II. Updates on Subcommittee/Task Force Work
a) Education subcommittee report (Alma/Sally/Laura)
b) Cooling center (Liseli)
c) Updates on Town of Kirkland Bronze Certification work (GHG inventory,
Town Fleet inventory, other options)
d) Updates on Village of Clinton actions (maintenance work, climate action
plan, etc.)
e) Report on Planning Board meeting (?)
III. Decision-making Process for CSC Task Force:
(a) Discussion of Options (written proposal attached) – goal is to choose one
option for circulation by e-mail to full group.
IV. Other Business
V. Next Meeting: Thursday, April 18 at 6:30 on Zoom
Proposed agenda for the February 2024 meeting
Current list of completed and planned actions.
Proposed agenda for the January 2024 meeting
(1) December Minutes – review and approval
(2) Task Force Chair transition update
(3) Bronze Certification Update
a. Village of Clinton – points level and submission update
b. Town of Kirland – points level and submission update
(4) Education Subcommittee Update
(5) Report on Other Task Force Work
(6) New Business
Proposed agenda for the December 2023 meeting
1) Approval of November minutes
2) Update on points for Bronze process
3) Update and next steps on education plans for spring — sustainable agriculture
4). Other business
Proposed agenda for the November 2023 meeting
- Approval of October minutes – to be circulated soon
- Education Plans
- discussion of outreach to different kinds of people, etc.
- possible use of Community Conversations with Hamilton students
- Climate Smart Points and applying for Bronze — see attached spreadsheet
- Other business
- new coordinator for 2024
- end of year report to village and town boards
Proposed agenda for the October 2023 meeting
1) Approval of September minutes
2) Education Plan – to be circulated soon
– approval of final elements
– discussion of outreach to different kinds of people, etc
3) Climate Cooling Centers – Liseli
4). Other business
– new coordinator for 2024
Proposed agenda for the September 2023 meeting
1) Approval of August minutes
2) Plans for adaptation educational event, Oct 3, 7 pm — Matt and Aaron
– Please circulate attached poster ASAP!
3) Cooling Centers: Liseli
4). Other business
– New Coordinator for 2024
Proposed agenda for the August 2023 meeting
1) Approval of July minutes
2) Education table at Farmers’ Market: Aug 17, 24, and 31.
3) Discussion of plans for adaptation educational event: First week of October, Library
4). Other business – letter re: native plantings on solar farm
Proposed agenda for the July 2023 meeting
1) Approval of June minutes
2) Update: DRI Grant and Food Waste Proposal – Steve B/Steve O
3) Arts and Music Festival Table Planning: Sally
4) Discussion of plans for adaptation educational event/campaign: Steve O/Aaron
4). Other business
Proposed agenda for June 2023 meeting
1) Approval of May minutes
2) DRI Grant and Food Waste Proposal – Steve B/Steve O
3) Discussion of plans for adaptation educational event/campaign
4). Other business
Proposed agenda for May 2023 meeting
- Approval of April minutes
- Updates: Heatsmart and Solar campaigns
- Summer plans:
- EV show? – June 11
- EV parade? – July 4
- Meetings
- Climate Smart points review and plans for rest of year
- Other business:
Proposed agenda for April 2023 meeting
- Approval of February and March minutes
- Follow-up on discussion re: DRI grant and our role
- Update on Heat Smart and Community Solar Campaigns- Steve O
- Other business: tree inventory, fleet inventory, and annual report
Proposed agenda for March 2023 meeting
- Approval of February minutes – previously circulated by Sally)
- Review of upcoming DRI process – Brendan and Steve B
- Update on Heat Smart and Community Solar Campaigns- Steve O
- Other business
Proposed agenda for February 2023 meeting
AGENDA — the main item is the possible Community Solar Campaign
- Approval of minutes of Jan. 2023 meeting
- Possible Solar Campaign:
- Prior land use for solar farms: Information below
- Update on municipalities
- Team leadership
- Oriskany Basin Meeting: Feb. 16, 6 pm, Town Hall
- Other business and updates
From the solar companies re: land use and solar farms:
Power Market: There are two projects: Morgan West and Morgan East. They are both located at 8150 Morgan Rd, Clay, NY. The parcel is 56 acres and there will be 36 acres of solar panels. I’ve looked at street views going back to 2012 and the property is not wooded. It appears to be empty farm land that is adjacent to some residential subdivisions. There will be visual buffering with evergreen trees. There are de-commissioning provisions that require the developer to restore the land to its original condition once the project has completed its useful life. It does not appear there was any controversy. The Town’s Planning Board unanimously approved a motion to refer it to the Town Board for approval.
The subscription agreement that residents will sign identifies the specific project in which they are enrolled. We will not switch subscribers to another project.
Solstice: Here’s a list of the solar farms in National Grid territory and their addresses. Only one is local (in Rome), the others are out in Western New York but still feed into National Grid. I just reached out to the company that builds the solar farms and they will be sending me back a more detailed report on the history of the site, vegetation management, etc., hopefully by the end of the week. Generally our policy is to go for solar farms on capped landfills, brownfields, or farmland that the landowner has decided is more profitable to lease out for solar than corn/soy.
As for your second question, as we’re subscribing folks to a project we sometimes switch customers from one farm to another within the same “portfolio” i.e. owned by the same Developer (so nothing would change in terms of service) only if the developer prefers one farm gets filled first over another. But once the customer is fully assigned to that farm, they don’t get switched over. This is an interesting question that hasn’t come up before, but I am not surprised considering the local politics around community solar in CNY.
Here’s the quick rundown– will try to get more details ASAP.
| Utility | Project Name | State | Developer | Address | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Grid | West Valley | NY | NextEra | 5684 County Highway 86-2 | West Valley |
| Helios Hamlin B | NY | NextEra | 1000 Redman Road | Hamlin | |
| Helios Avon 2 | NY | NextEra | 500 Rochester St. | Avon | |
| Helios Geneseo | NY | NextEra | 3812 West Lake Road | Geneseo | |
| Rome Taberg | NY | NextEra | 4834 Rome-Taberg Rd | Rome | |
| Subtotal | 5 | ||||
| Total | 5 |
Proposed agenda for January 2023 meeting
- Approval of minutes of Nov. 2022 meeting
- Possible Solar Campaign: 2 RFPs attached (1 we saw before and 1 new). Key difference: Solstice provides incentives for sign up, Power Market does not). I’ll have more info at the meeting.
- Town Benchmarking – volunteer needed
- Education Plan Update: Alma
- Update on points and plans for Bronze level – Steve and Alan
- Other business
Proposed agenda for December 2022 meeting
- Approval of minutes of Nov. 2022 meeting
- Possible Solar Campaign – should we do it? Should we solicit more RFPs? Who will take lead?
- Town Benchmarking – volunteer needed
- Person to upload documents, etc. into Climate Smart system – volunteer needed
- Update on ongoing items re: points: educational plan, benchmarking, heat smart, etc
- Other business
Proposed agenda for November 2022 meeting
- Approval of minutes of Oct. 2022 meeting – attached
- Presentation/Discussion of possible Solar Campaign – Solstice Rep and see attached RFP
- Request for support of petition in opposition to proposed solar farm – Chip Bassett of Kirkland Trails (petition attached). See also this review of the project by Hickory Creek Consulting, LLC.
- Possible Chamber Breakfast – Steve
- Other business
Proposed agenda for October 2022 meeting
- Approval of minutes of Sept. 2022 meeting – here
- Heat Smart Committee report: upcoming event, Oct. 27
- Update on Climate Smart Points: what is still in process – Steve O and Aaron
- Possible Community Solar Campaign — see attached RFP
- Other business: subcommittee reports/progress
Proposed agenda for September 2022 meeting
- Approval of minutes of August 2022 meeting
- Heat Smart Committee report: upcoming event, Oct. 27
- Other committee Updates:
- Fleet transportation committee – Garry
- Community Campaign Committee – Alma
- Resilience/Flooding Committee – Aaron
- Building committee – Steve O
- Update on Climate Smart Points: what is still in process – Carol
- Other Business
Proposed agenda for August 2022 meeting
- Approval of minutes of July 2022 meeting
- Update: Education Plan – Alma
- Update: Fleet transportation committee – Garry
- Update: Community Campaign Committee – Alma
- Update: Resilience/Flooding Committee – Aaron
- Update: Building committee – Steve O
- Summer tabling for Heat Smart campaign – Steve O
- Other Business
Proposed agenda for July 2022 meeting
1) Approval of minutes of June 2022 meeting
2) Update: Education Plan – Alma
3) Update: Fleet transportation committee – Garry
4) Update: Community Campaign Committee – Alma
5) Update: Resilience/Flooding Committee – Aaron
6) Update: Building committee – Steve O
7) Summer tabling for Heat Smart campaign – Steve O
8) Other Business
Proposed agenda for June 2022 meeting
- Approval of minutes of May 2022 meeting – attached
- Discussion of Climate Smart points and future options – Carol G
If you wish to look at the list of possible actions, follow this link - Update on Town Hall Meetings on Flooding Issues – Aaron
- Summer tabling for Heat Smart campaign – Steve O
- Summer taskforce meetings
- Other Business
Proposed agenda for May 2022 meeting
1) Approval of minutes of April 2022 meeting – see here
3) Update on Town Hall Meetings on Flooding Issues – Aaron
4) Update on Clean Heating and Cooling Campaign — Steve
5) Update on EV Car Show – Sally
6) Update on possible use of Kirkland Town federal funds – Steve/Aaron/Garry
7) Other Business
Proposed agenda for April 2022 meeting
1) Approval of minutes of March meeting (attached)
2) Heat Smart Launch Event: April 27, 7 pm, Library (Steve)
3) Flooding Town Hall: May 4, VFW (Aaron)
4) EV car show: June 12: (Sally)
5) Discussion of grant research for Town (steve)
Proposed agenda for March 2022 meeting
1) Approval of minutes of Feb. 17, 2022 meeting – previously circulated by Sally
3) Update on Town Hall Meetings on Flooding Issues – Aaron
4) Update on Clean Heating and Cooling Campaign — Steve
5) Village of Clinton Draft Municipal Gas Inventory — Aaron See Attachment
6) Other business
Proposed agenda for February 2022 meeting
1) Welcome new members
2) Approval of minutes of Jan. 20 2022 meeting – previously circulated by Sally
3) Update on Town Hall Meetings on Flooding Issues – Aaron
4) Update on Clean Heating and Cooling Campaign — Steve
5) Update on Community Education Plan – Alma
6) Other business
Proposed agenda for January 2022 meeting
1) Update on Town Hall Meetings on Flooding Issues – Aaron
2) Update on Clean Heating and Cooling Campaign: need volunteers for key positions, ideas for more events, possible partner organizations. — Steve
3) Update on Community Education Plan – Alma
4) Ideas for other initiatives for 2022?
5) Meeting times for the year?
Proposed agenda for December 2021 meeting
HeatSmart MV will be very happy to host an event for Clinton/Kirkland on Clean Heating&Cooling in person or virtually. There are lots of options on planning this event and how much the task force wants to be involved so I invited their campaign coordinator, Anna Rutenbeck, to join us on Thursday.
Mona also invited Maggie Reilly to do a brief presentation on work she has done on Sauquoit Creek Flood Mitigation and with the Oriskany Basin Commission. Presentation and questions to be about 15 minutes.
The full proposed agenda for Thursday is below.
- Intro to Anna Rutenbeck and planning for late winter/spring event on Clean Heating&Cooling
- Update/Planning for Community Event on Flooding Study for early Feb
- Updates on other matters such as native plants at solar farm discussion, community ed & engagement plan, food waste pilot program, etc.
- 2022 Meeting Schedule
- Presentation on Sauquoit Creek and Oriskany Basin Commission
Proposed agenda for November 2021 meeting
- Doug Soika would like to discuss communications with town and SSC on planting of native pollinators at planned solar site. https://perma.cc/97HV-WE46
- Bryan Roy of Energetics, a business located in Clinton, will present information on their work regarding sustainable transportation.
- Task force joining Sherrill Brook Community Forest Coalition
- Clinton Pilot Composting Project Started
- January Community Meeting on Flooding Study and Concerns
- Recent Community Meetings on Solar Farms
- Climate Smart Institute Takeaways, Possible Co -Sponsor of community event with Heat Smart CNY this winter/spring
- Any Other Items
Proposed agenda for September 2021 meeting
- Proposed agenda is below with caveat that Aug minutes indicated Aaron and Alma will present plans for community education and engagement plan to begin this fall, but I don’t believe Alma can attend tomorrow so that may need to be postponed.
- Invitation to people who expressed interest in CSC work at market and festival
- Fall plans for community education and engagement regarding sustainability
- Should we organize an event withHeat Smart Mohawk Valley regarding clean energy incentives for heating and cooling? If so, who will lead?
- Should we organize a Solarize campaign? If so, who will lead?
- Updates on Compost Project
- Update on town EV charging station
- Any updates on town flooding study/work and plans for community presentation in Nov?
- Other items members would like to discuss
Proposed agenda for August 2021 meeting
- Some task force members are meeting with Jon Scott and Garry this Monday to discuss flooding so will discuss. (Maggie can not attend our Aug meeting, possibly Sept)
- Update on compost program
- Update on Kirkland EV charging station
- Update on Kirkland Library Initiative
- Update on any plans for a Heat Smart initiative
- Onieda County is offering to match funds for municipalities to make climate smart investments. more info here.
- Any other updates
Proposed agenda for the July 2021 meeting
From Carol Gable:
Jim Frederick, a resident of Kirkland, reached out about the Sherrill Brook Community Coalition’s efforts to preserve some open land in Kirkland and New Hartford. Information on this is attached and I believe they will be presenting at the Kirkland Town board meeting scheduled for July 14. They are hoping our task force would consider supporting this effort and possibly join them at the July 14 town meeting. I invited him to speak to us briefly at our July 13 meeting. He agreed and sent the attachment to review in advance.
Other items to discuss at the July meeting include the following.
- Proposal from anonymous donor on funding compost pilot project
- Collaboration with KTL on community discussions
- Possible CSC actions for flood mitigation the town should consider
- Updates on Heat Smart eventsFarmer’s market tabling
- Any updates on things such as town EV charging station, proposed solar development
Proposed agenda for June 2021 meeting
- Welcome to Matthew VanSlyke and discussion of possible collaboration on clean energy transportation items
- Update from Joanne on taskforce request to Village to support community education/engagement plan on climate change
- Update from Alma on Kirkland Library’s request to collaborate on community engagement regarding climate change
- Discuss any summer/fall community education plans with Heatsmart Mohawk Valley
- Plans for Farmer’s Market, Alan’s proposal to join Chamber
- Compost survey and opportunities for educational and alternative grant funding (please see DEC 5/21 email forwarded to us by Alma)
- Update on hearings for Kirkland Solar Farm and plans for June 28 hearing
- Update on the electric car show, June 13
- Any other items
Proposed agenda for the February 2021 meeting.
- Village and town applications for CEC grant funding which NYSERDA recently announced is now available
- Follow up discussion on FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program Ranking System
- Updates on Yard and Food Waste Programs
- Planning for developing CAP and community engagement
- Any other items