Green Acton Minutes: 13 April 2021

Attending:  Sue Jick (facilitator), Kim Kastens (notetaking), Debra Simes, Danny Factor,  Jim Snyder-Grant, Mike Boss, Debby Andell, Carolyn Platt, Chris Edwards, Rob Gogan, Nyana Tobin, Heather  Haines, Matt Leibman, Terra Friedrichs

• Housekeeping (tasks + welcome) 

• Check-in  (vaccine status)

• Committee 2020 goals status + 2021 goals reports

2020 Goals https://docs.google.com/document/d/1542DmLqH7OmfZ7zlt9Sw24bMxhko8S4CQ3he1KIGh5c/edit

2020 Goals + Status:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w8T8TQEDuj0kmrvJPHPAQiGe42myz8l1pqx8Mpij4l0/edit#

2021 Goals:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o9-lquMPE6D-bsi7_Ai9E3upx5IeamHgtzyux5Uy5Rw/edit

2020 goals: 

• Admin, Budget, Communications, Website Committees are all active, but there goals aren’t changing 
• Energy Committee,  Acton Power Choice many more members.   Solar installation at WR Grace has an active application.  Trying to get the town of Acton to opt up to APC Green and that is in the budget.  
• Land Use: Comment on Town Housing Production Plan, Drafting and advocating for land clearing bylaw, Research on land clearing. 
• Materials:  had goal of Acton clean up week (didn’t happen)
• Plastic Committee:  evaluating polystyrene ban,  developed a multi-year plan
• Water:  Nagog Pond controversy, educational posts on website, en
• Volunteer engagement:  match volunteers with tasks

Summary:  given that it was a challenging year, all committees got a lot done. 

2021 goals:

• Energy:  more APC-green, including town.  Participate in upcoming Climate Action Plan
• Landuse:  keep on working on housing production plan, protect shade
• Plastics:  keep following and advocating for plastics ban. Want to bring polystyrene ban to Town Meeting.  Increase rate and efficacy of plastic 
• Water:   continue to monitor and learn.  Continue to educate.  Continue to monitor NMI and WRG.  Understand how Environmental Justice intersects with water in Acton.
• Sustainability WG: 
• WRG working group:  gather input on reuse suggestions. 

• Summary of Committee (current) reports

• Energy:  Working on a presentation about Acton power choice.  Collaboration between Green Acton and the Town.  
• Water:  Hosted Andrea Becerra, Director of Sustainability at our monthly meeting, for discussion of how water relates to climate change, notably increased frequency and severity of droughts and floods. 
• Land Use:  Some of the input from Land Use in comments to BoS have been accepted, notably the emphasis on housing for lowest income, and rehabbing rather than building new.  Working on trees:  on their applications, developers must now specify the presence of public shade trees.  Several development projects, GA is advocating for smaller projects.  
• Plastics:  a citizens’ group is working on ban of polystyrene,  plastic straws, and swizzle sticks. 
  •  Rob Gagon wants to become more involved.  He feels that policy is the only way to be effective.  Requesting behavior change is not all that effective, people are too busy.  He is working on extended producer responsibility.
• Volunteer engagement:  June Park, a HS junior has been working on list of accomplishments, Mike and Jim went through the list of attendees at meetings looking for new Directors. 
• Acton Climate Coalition:  2 major projects.  Warrant Article for Home Rule petition to let us have a regulation about connecting fossil fuels to new developments.  Energize Acton:  website built on Mass Energize.  Gamify saving energy.  Soft launch by end of the month. Formal launch in the fall. Starting to work with MAPC around the Climate Action Plan.  Early steps will be some big community meetings.  Acton Climate Coalition site 

Treasurer’s report: 

• Did tax filings.  Automated debit for PO box. 

• Questions + responses / open mic / comments & queries

• Danny F:  for the Volunteer Engagement.  For tonight’s hearing on 22 Elm Street, more voices are needed, and 
• Kim:  cooperation between Green Acton and  municipal entities is often a great thing to do, but sometimes it is not.  For example, we declined the AWD invitation to co-sponsor a PFAS forum, and instead we collaborated with the LWV and had a AWD staff person as a speaker. 
• Nyana:  wants to work on plastics
• Terra:  wants Sustainability effort of Andrea to include land use and trees in her planning for sustainability;  all new development uses water and other natural resources. 

• Gardner Field project: further discussion; endorsement?

• Splash pad is not in this phase
• Debra wants to see us endorse it because it gives a permanent home to the Farmers Market, and also they are planting a bunch of plants.  Do people have green spaces accessible. 
• Matt:  pavement is for 
• Debby is on the board of the Farmers Market;  the current location is unsatisfactory and expensive and so she 
• Terra:  the paving is problematic to her.  The lack of green space in West Acton is a problem, and there are hundreds of disabled people.  Why not just use gravel.  She wants all the new spaces to be handicapped accessible.  Hopes that we are strongly on the EJ path. 
• Jim Snyder-Grant.  Recent history:  Community Preservation Committee has not decided about Dog Park and Gardner Field.   A lot of the parking is where the basket ball court is now, so it is not all new paving. 
• Heather:  what about gravel?  Probably not, for wheel chairs and for Farmers’ Market vendors. 
• Jones field on Martin Street is  handicapped accessible. 
• Took a straw vote on whether there was likely a path forward to an endorsement.  several thumbs up, one thumb down, several abstentions.   
• One advocate volunteered to talk with the ‘thumbs down’ person to see if there is a way forward. 

• Assabet Co-op Market/GA event: discussion

• People starting a food coop wanted to come talk to the Green Acton meeting;  Jim et al said let’s have a larger meeting.  But it got publicized as a co-sponsorship… but it hadn’t been discussed by the Directors.  
• We can frame this as an informational meeting hosted by a member of green ACton, not be Green Acton itself. 
• Danny has some concerns about the coop, but none are an objection to further discussion.  If it were a matter of endorsing the full coop venture, that’s problematic.
• Straw vote on informational meeting with Assabet Food Coop, all thumbs up. 

• Event/action announcements

    • Acton Power Choice GREEN Live Event: April 29, 7:30pm   

• See above

    • social media: next steps at May meeting

• Expect a modified proposal in May

    • other?

• Biioblitz coming up.  There are co-sponsors (ACT, others).  Download the free app iNaturalist.  Acton-Boxboro Bioblitz.   April 26 kickoff event, spend a moment talking about how they value biodiversity. 

• Checkout