20221110 - Green Ridgewood/Green Team Joint Meeting Minutes

Minutes of GREEN RIDGEWOOD/GREEN TEAM

JOINT MEETING

Nov 10, 2022, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

In person, Village Hall, Senior Lounge, 1st floor

Green Ridgewood attendees: Christine Amundsen, Beth Gould Creller, Saurabh Dani, Nurhan Ezik, Tessa Florida (student), Frank Mortimer, Caitlin O’Leary, Pam Perron (Village Council Liaison), David Refkin

Green Team attendees: Mike Faherty, Ellie Gruber, Justin Manger, Adam Peterseil, Daniel Rozentsvayg, Roman San Doval, Derek White, Anthea Zito

Guests: Bill Armbruster, Sonia Berman (RHS Sophomore) & her Dad, Sophia Florida, Kimberly Madrigal, Bob Upton, George Wolfson, Justin Jonsson 

Administration:  Voted to approve October 6, 2022 minutes 

1. Leadership: Pam Perron explained that we have not had chairpersons for Green Ridgewood and the Green Team for the past few months. David Refkin volunteered and was nominated to serve as the Chair for Green Ridgewood. Beth Creller was nominated as vice-chair. There were no other nominations. Green Ridgewood voted to elect David as the Chairperson and Beth as the Vice Chairperson.
2. Communications, Web Site, Social Media: No new updates. We discussed posting on various websites to make people aware of what is happening with Green Ridgewood.
3. Project 1,000 Acres update: The Wyckoff and Glen Rock green teams/commissions expressed interest in creating their own versions.  Frank Mortimer suggested that we could use National Pollinators Week in June to promote Project 1,000 Acres and other issues we are working on. Actions going forward – we need to update our website’s links to resources because links have expired. Project 1,000 Acres should launch in Jan/Feb when folks are preparing for the spring/garden season...with a repeat of Earth Day push). Project 1,000 Acres is also planning to do a display at the Ridgewood Public Library.
4. School projects – Sonia Berman presented an update on her project to recycle compostable eating utensils from George Washington Middle School cafeteria. She proposes to install three yellow plastic bins in the cafeteria to collect biodegradable utensils. She is requesting ~$300 from Green Ridgewood to purchase the bins. Sonia has created posters to put up at school to promote recycling. She spoke with Interstate Waste Services and will speak with them again next week about recycling the utensils. Most disposal companies do not take the materials she is proposing …ECO Rich can compost the materials. Care Cycle should call her back within 3 business days. Java Compost…special processing goals. She has spoken with the Principal at GW about the cost of $.06/per fork or knife. She still has to talk with the cafeteria manager. Will students be willing to pay a little more for their lunch to cover the cost? $300 would pay for the bins but not for the utensils. She will report back to Green Ridgewood again next month. Bob Upton suggested getting samples of the utensils and trying them at home.
5. RHS report: RHS Green Team moderator, Miles Luo, was not in attendance; however, Tessa Florida advised that they are preparing the school gardens for winter. Many sub-groups within the RHS green team address different projects. E.g., hydroponics. Google chat has made it easy to correspond with each other as well as Mr. Luo.
6. EAGER: The Village Council passed the ordinance and was supposed to vote to select an energy consultant. The Council, however, deadlocked; so, we have to wait until January to revisit this issue.
7. Green Team/Sustainable Jersey: Pam Perron is going to attend the Sustainable Jersey annual luncheon to accept the Village’s bronze level certification. Justin Manger explained that the Village could try again in 2023 for silver status. Anyone can log into the Sustainable Jersey site to see what has been worked on and determine where actions can be taken. They were thinking of waiting until after the holidays for the next meeting; Pam encouraged more prompt action. The biggest problem is the Green Team lacks a chairperson at this time. Mike Faherty said he would schedule a meeting to discuss further action/progress.
8. Earth Day and Daffodil Festival: We will need “all hands on deck” for the Earth Day & Daffodil Fest on Sunday, April 23, 2023, 11 am – 2 pm. This is our biggest event of the year. Bob Upton advised that he is willing to work on this for the coming year. George Wolfson advised that he is retiring from this activity but is willing to work in an advisory capacity.  The Steering Committee will meet on Nov. 29 with Nancy Bigos, Rich Calbi and Cynthia Halaby to develop a theme and start contacting sponsors and vendors. We need someone from Green Ridgewood to join the Steering committee. Beth Creller said she is interested but cannot attend meetings on Tuesday mornings. Always looking for new ideas. Sponsors and exhibitors/vendors are needed. Pam Perron expressed concern that we might not have enough food vendors. David Refkin wants to be on the email list for this information. Green Ridgewood will have its own theme, consistent with the overall theme. Last year, Green Ridgewood included displays concerning electric cars and Project 1,000 acres. What would Green Ridgewood like to support this year?
9. Bergen Hub – Beth and Mike Faherty attended the recent Bergen HUB meeting. Quarterly meetings will be held going forward. Q-1 in Glen Rock; Q-2 in Ridgewood. HUB Subcommittees are going to remain intact. Leadership opportunity: shredding subcommittee. Beth presented a screenshot summary. The HUB does not have the resources they need. Lots of talk about Overpeck Park, complaining that the County removed trees without providing information to the public. Difficult to get info from the County. Carolyn Jacoby said she was going to speak with Ramon Hache. Pam spoke with him. The objection to cutting down the trees was concern for endangered species, but the County found no evidence that endangered species were present. According to Commissioner Hache, the County removed the trees to cap & contain soil contaminants and create a meadow. Mike Faherty will be leading a new HUB committee on Landscape, Parks and Arbor Management. Bergen County Arts amble is hoped for again. Ridgewood will host the HUB meeting for the second quarter.
10. Leaf Blower Ordinance: Frank Mortimer suggested that rather than setting the end time at 6 pm, the ordinance should say, “at sunset,” or “at sunset or 6 pm, whichever comes first.” The leaf blower subcommittee needs to send the draft ordinance to local landscapers and invite their comments. Pam wants someone to draft the letter and then divvy up the letters to be sent out. Ellie Gruber suggested that the subcommittee contact the towns that now regulate gas-powered leaf blowers. She said that most towns report good cooperation. Ellie has worked for a long time to promote a noise ordinance – Princeton has one. Pam suggested a leaf blower meeting on Nov 30. It can be on Zoom. She will send email of letter to be drafted. Enforcement is an issue. Is talking to your neighbor the best way to get people to cooperate? George Wolfson commented that new initiatives often receive push back at first; but when kids get involved, the adults then accept it.
11. Master Plan Actions and Green Ridgewood/Green Team Goals

Residents should not put white EPS styrofoam out with bulk waste. Rather, they should bring EPS directly to the Recycling Renter. Other towns may in future be allowed to bring their styrofoam to Ridgewood on Wednesdays when the Recycling Center is closed to the public. Should there be a styrofoam day in January? That was Mike Faherty’s suggestion. However, it should be in addition to repeated styrofoam collections.

Frank Mortimer suggested motivating people to only put out cardboard when it is not raining. Pam agreed that we have to educate the public. The Village’s styrofoam densifier is less than one year old. So far, they have sent two truckloads in a six-week period. Each truckload brings in about $1,700.

Goals – Each member of both committees picked five Master Plan Action items that they would like to work on. The three top picks were:

GBS 5.2 (Promoting Recycling, Composting & food scrap recycling

GBS 6.4 (Encouraging low maintenance native landscaping, i.e., Project 1,000 Acres)

R-1 (Continue & expand outreach to encourage recycling to reduce solid waste that goes to landfill.)

Enough people were interested to form a subcommittee in those areas.

Beth showed a PowerPoint of the results and shared her ideas.  We have limited resources, so let’s focus our efforts on Master Plan ideas and then present the committee’s recommendations to the Village Council. We could have a communications committee. We need one person who would be our lead on this. Beth showed 5 sections for subcommittees. We might have better buy- in if we relate the issues to the Master Plan. It gives Green Ridgewood a well- defined role. Justin suggested broader topics with sub topics underneath.

Discussion – Let’s increase the number of members involved. We want to keep Sustainable Jersey active. Beth asked everyone present to let Christine Amundsen know on which sub-committees he or she wants to work. Pick your Top two.

Project 1,000 Acres is under Green Buildings and Sustainability. Where would blowers come under? Same as well.

Green Amendment to NJ Constitution – Copies of the proposed wording were distributed. Concurrent bills in support of the Green Amendment are pending in the NJ Senate and Assembly. The Delaware RiverKeeper has asked the Village Council to pass a resolution in support of amending the state constitution.