20231207 - Green Ridgewood Meeting Minutes

Green Ridgewood Meeting Minutes Dec 7, 2023

Attendees:

Green Ridgewood: David Refkin (Chair) Pamela Perron, Justin Manger, Caitlin O’Leary, Sophia Florida, Justin Jonsson, Vivian Ewell, Green Team: Mike Faherty, Joan Hubertus, Alina Mordkovich

Guests: Miles, Luo, George Wolfson, Walter Rothaug, Alyssa Becher

3.   Chair Report - David

Green Team two committee openings Dec 14 new members chosen

4.   Village Council Liaison Report - Pam

●      Bronze cert for Sustainable Jersey. Good through 2026

●      Christmas tree for the village. Why do we cut down healthy mature trees? Downs Tree Service supplies. They take opportunities to use trees that  are planned  to be harvested in the near future.

●      Ridgewood Water flood proofing two pump houses and replacing some pipes

●      Raze the stable/barn in Habernickle Park. Will replace it with a shelter for the camp kids when it rains.

●      EV fleet transition - First quarter of 2024 planning that. Inspectors’ vehicles first (not much equipment to carry around)

●      Lead Paint Required Visual Inspections - hired a contractor. Rental units.

●      CDM Smith taking on lead pipe replacement project, from markouts to notifications, etc. This project’s scope is curb to home, not mains.

5.   Library of Things Donation - Mike

●      Electric Leaf Blower donation completed captured and posted.

●      Electric Leaf Blower already has been borrowed once

●      Topic: Potential ordinance related to gas leaf blowers - Pam

○      Previous ordnance is very hard to enforce

○      200mph winds on our lawns leads to erosion (dust bowl) and aerosolizing chemicals and fertilizer (manure)

○      That said, getting us down to no leaf blower at all, electric-only, does not much help those issues as electric blowers become more powerful.

○      But we cannot get to zero blowers overnight. Have to start somewhere. Start with electric-only.

○      Mike notes that we can’t ask residents and landscapers to go all-electric within two years if the township can’t. If the township cannot, then we are hypocritical.

■      How much would it cost the village to go all-electric?

■      How much is the village willing to tolerate leaves left on the grounds? Electric will not get it all.

○      Beth to take on researching this topic and provide guidance to Pam on how to shape the leaf blower ordinance. Pam is most comfortable following the lead from other towns.

○      Date TBD on leaf blower forum

8.   Columbia University – Alina

·       Columbia’s Graduate School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) has voted to work with Ridgewood on a range of sustainability initiatives.  Ridgewood came in first in the voting by the students.

●      Graduate School student project requires a consulting project providing innovative analysis & practical recommendations.

●      Request to be a client was proposed in October

○      We were accepted and it was super popular, so we have 11-12 consultants for free, so we need to give them a LOT of work

●      Dec 14 is when students are assigned their academic advisor

●      Jan 16 project starts

●      May is final presentation

Ad-hoc - David

Sustainable NJ - can apply for an upcoming grant related to sustainability planning. We can also get access to environmental data (energy usage  for the village and  our carbon footprint).

9.   Climate Fresk - David

●      The Climate Fresk organization, based in Paris and now with four offices in the US. Are happy to be working with us. We are the second municipality selected (Cleveland, OH was first) in the US. 1 million people have participated globally, but < 15,000 in the US>

●      Feb 1 (now January 30th). 3 hours. If it goes well, we will do another one w/ village staff and develop a long-term partnership.

6.   Daffodil Festival/ Earth Day Fair

●      What is the theme of the fair?

○      Less energy, Reduce carbon footprint?

○      3 Bs - bicycles, bees, and batteries

■      Add a call to action for it to have lasting impact like Change Just One Thing

○      Change Just One Thing

■      or reframe as Every Change Helps

○      There was a consensus in the room for the 3Bs. No vote taken.

●      What is the theme for Green Ridgewood?

7.   School Activities

●      April 12 is HS Sustainability Day

●      Trying to get better recycling posters for the bins so people use them properly

●      Trying to re-assess goals of Green Club

●      Per Joan H. There is a group called C40 that developed this Minecraft eco curriculum that would be great at the middle school level. https://education.minecraft.net/en- us/schools-reinventing-cities

10.   Planning Board - David

●      Has not met in a month

●      Pam met with the Planning Board subcommittee to discuss Master Plan progress in 2023.

11.   Subcommittees

●      a. Caitlin - Communications - leave the leaves, call to join green team, leaf blower donation

○      Next up: Styrofoam since there will be lots of packages.

○        Newsletter will be with the new Ridgewood comms person in January.

●      b. Green Building & Sustainability

○      Beth emailed under separate cover

●      c. Justin M. - Resource Management

○      More in January

●      d. David and Joan - Resilience, Flooding & Stormwater

○      George has issued the challenge: Do Something.

○      Worked to build a plan to share with Engineering and Village Manager when significant ideas and strategy is fleshed out.

○      ACTION: Provide feedback to the subcommittee by Thursday

○      Can the flood map be animated to show the 2030, 2040, 2050 flood plains?

●      e. Mike - Green Team Update

●      f. David - Finance

○      Pam talking about getting an accounting of our funds. Once we have that Justin Jonsson can meet with the guy.

13.   Potential  Field  Trips - David

●      Sewage  Treatment Plan

●      Recycling Center

14.   Future Meetings

●      Jan 4

●      Feb 1 (Climate Fresk) – NOW JANUARY 30th.

●      David proposed Feb 15 additional meeting – accepted.

●      March 7

●      April 4

●      April 21 is Earth Day (11-2:30, with setup prior)