SFC Meeting

May 14, 2009

Attendees

Justin Spencer, Kate Nelson, Ashley Ahrens, Sharon McConnell, Diane Dandeneau, Juli Waugh, Coco Gordon, Omar Postigo, Julie Van Domelen, Kathy Carroll

Minutes from 4/9/09 approved without changes

Follow-up & new business

• Entire fixtures (not just lights) on the High Street project will be replaced with high-efficiency units through the DOLA grant    
• Kathy made another request to get bios in so we can have the web page up by the June meeting
• Ashley to draft questions on whether or not the Town bills itself for utilities & water

Julie Van Domelen Guest Comments:

During her campaign, citizens made some inquiries regarding sustainability that Julie wanted to share with, and perhaps have addressed by, the SFC:

·         Voluntary wind (or other alternative energy purchases) – can we take a look at meeting national standards for renewable energy supply? Although Lyons is not required to meet this standard due to its size we could do it on a voluntary basis. Aspen has a voluntary purchase program.

·         Community composting & zero-waste; how could we dispose of community volume? Could we teach residential composting? What are the businesses doing with their waste? Could the town manage community organic matter?

·         Is it appropriate for the SFC to  have habitat restoration or other habitat issues as part of our purview?

·         St Vrain Corridor issues – in what way might the SFC group be a stakeholder? Action: Inquire the mission of The Greater St Vrain Watershed Commission. The County also has a group whose work we should familiarize ourselves with.

Comp Plan

The group decided it was appropriate to weigh in on sustainability issues during the Comp Plan process so that these issues can be considered and incorporated where appropriate in the final plan. We believe the most clear and efficient way to do this is to provide the planners with a list of metrics, which were drafted during this session and are below:

                       Energy consumption

·         Benchmark per capita energy consumption

·         Increase availability and use of renewable energy sources

·         Encourage locally produced renewable energy sources

·         Benchmark Town government’s energy use and recommend improvements

 Solid Waste

·         Encourage recycling and composting; measure by reduction in solid waste and/or increases in composting and recycling

·         Evaluate and improve Town Government, Town-sanctioned events and School district policies relative to solid waste disposal and recycling

Transportation

·         Facilitate and encourage the use of public transportation. Measure by the number of routes and the number of riders, reduce commuting miles driven

·         Walk or ride a bike safely throughout the planning area (eg: sidewalks and bike paths)

·         Calming traffic

Environment

·         Educate citizens on responsible water usage

·         Evaluate Town water usage and work towards improvements

·         Monitor water quality: water quality below the treatment plant should be comparable to that above the plant

·         Educate and re-train citizens and Town Government with regard to the use of chemicals and pesticides

Localization

·         Benchmark and encourage patronizing local businesses

·         Educate, train and re-skill the community on local living

·         Benchmark local food production (eg: number of square garden footage)

·         CoCo also has some specific recommendations relative to Permaculture. Please refer to her e-mail dated 5/14

 A Special SF committee meeting will be held May 21 @ 7pm, to refine these ideas and decide the most appropriate way to present them to the planners.

 Next regularly scheduled meeting to be held June 11, 7pm at Lyons Valley Village community room.

 Action Items

The group as a whole devised a list of SFC projects with timelines, combining ideas proposed by the SFC and goals of the Boulder County Sustainable Energy Plan (SEP)- see chart below: