CFE minutes 021317 - Laserfiche WebLink

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VI. CFE Committee Break-out Sessions - New members Nikodem and Parry indicated they would join the Air and Energy Committee. Marzuola will join the Land Resources Committee. Air and Energy Committee Meeting Notes: Newby discussed a possible 12% budget cut at EPA and many grants may currently be frozen. The Air and Energy committee will continue to monitor the issues. Alan P proposed an article to look at the state of clean energy economy in the County. NCSEA audit could be used as a framework. Could bring up potential to use solar and wind in rural areas to assist otherwise underserved populations. Becker discussed an interest in ensuring that the CFE maintained its focus on reducing food waste. Taking responsibility for the website and Facebook page content may be a good role for the committee . Traditional news articles have the benefit of being the underlying content that can then be posted elsewhere. Then the social media pages could go into more detail on topics that couldn’t fit into 600 words. Newby talked about some tools related to air quality and carbon emissions that are available for our use. The focus on Climate Change could respond to Carrboro’s Climate plan and see if there are options for the county to align with it. The green building item was discussed, and while laudable there were several obstacles including expense, and legal restrictions on incentives. The committee could be involved in educating about Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing. This could relate to the priority on working with utilities to increase energy efficiency. Water Resources Breakout Meeting Notes: Stream buffers were tabled from further consideration at this time as they’d already been addressed in some ways. They discussed an article identifying entities and agencies that are involved and what they do: Soil and Water, OWASA, FEMA, etc. They also discussed the water supply and thought about capitalizing on the recent water supply crises in Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Hillsborough. Educating on what went well and then in general about who supplies water and where it comes from. Land Resources Breakout Meeting Notes: Article idea to interface with Air and Energy to look at pros and cons to changing landscapes to allow for renewable energies in Orange County. Also could detail the land use implications of transportation. Comprehensive Conservation Plan was discussed as something that may currently be stalled. Rich was part of a regional group that was going after a grant, and we’ll get in touch with him when he returns to ask about the current status. This committee is also interested in finding in-person actions, including:  Ways to educate homeowners on pollinator gardens and rainwater management sys tems. Carrboro has a pollinator garden, and maybe we could recreate that, or maybe set up kits. Becker asked if the Land Conservation Committee had any information about the CFE’s ongoing interest in the responsible management of food waste. Marzuola will reach out to the SWAG for an update. VII. Updates and Information Items – Information in the following items was provided: a) Monitoring and Evaluation of County’s Goals from January BOCC retreat; b) Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility Goal Update; c) Annual Work Plan Discussion at BOCC Work Session, 7:00 March 28th, Whitted Building; d) 2017 Nature of Orange Photography contest; e) Eno River Watershed Hydrilla Public Information Open House; f) DEAPR Earth Evening event, April 28th, 2017; g) Triangle Land Conservancy’s Brumley Forest Preserve Grand Opening, April 22nd, 2017; h) Price of Solar Panels. VIII. Adjournment- Cada motioned to adjourn, and Marzuola seconded. Meeting adjourned at 9:28 pm. Summary by B. Bouma, AMS Staff Next meeting: March 13, Richard Whitted Building, Hillsborough