HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE agenda 03142022 AGENDA
Orange County Commission for the Environment
March 14th1 2022
7:30 p.m.
Virtual Meeting (Zoom Link...)
Time Item Title
7:30 I. Call to Order
7:32 II. Additions or Changes to Agenda
7:34 III. Approval of DRAFT Meeting Summary — Jan. 10th, & Feb
14th, 2022
The CFE will consider approval of summary from the last two meetings.Action needed
(Attachment 1&2)
7:35 IV. New Member and New Sustainability Project Manager
Introductions
Staff/Chair will introduce two new members,and the new Sustainability Project Manager may
introduce themselves.
7:45 V. CFE Officer Nominations and Elections- Action Item
The CFE will nominate members to serve as Vice Chair for the following year. Once nominees
are decided,the CFE will vote.Action needed
7:55 VI. OWASA Long-Range Water Supply Planning Update
OWASA staff Ruth Rouse and/or Mary Tiger will present materials regarding the Long-Range
Water Supply Planning efforts,and critical decisions that are being made.Time allotted for
questions following presentation. (Attachment 3)
8:30 VII. Committee Breakouts
The CFE will break out into committee assignments and discuss goals/projects for the year.
8:50 VIII. Updates and Information Items
Staff and/or CFE members will provide updates on the following items:
• Earth Day
• In-person meetings?
Any other new information from CFE members and staff
9:00 IX. Adjournment
• *Next Meeting Date: April 11 th, 2022;if requested by CFE
(Virtual)
Attachment 1
Orange County Commission for the Environment
DRAFT Meeting Summary
January 10, 2022; 7:30 pm
virtual Zoom Meeting
Present: Kim Piracci, Kim Livingston, Frank Binkowski, Bill Ward, Eric Scheier, Jaya
Nair, Kristie Mather, Carrie Fletcher, James Eichel, Veronica Penn Beattie, Jessie
Birckhead, Jane Harris
Absent: Jeremy Marzuola (excused), Alan Parry (absent), Elizabeth McWhorter(absent)
I. Call to Order
Kim Piracci called the meeting to order at 7:31 pm.
II. Additions or Changes to Agenda
Kim Piracci requested to conduct CFE Officer Nominations and Elections prior to
Approval of DRAFT Meeting Summary from the December 13th, 2021 meeting.
III. CFE Officer Nominations and Elections—Action Item
Kim Piracci stated that she would be happy to turn over the role of Chair. Carrie Fletcher
nominated Kim Piracci to continue to serve as Chair and Kim Piracci accepted but only if
some of the new members would be open to the position next year. Kim Livingston
stated that she was going to step down from Vice Chair. Frank Binkowski nominated
Jaya Nair to serve as Vice Chair, but Jaya Nair declined, so Kim Piracci nominated Eric
Scheier and he accepted. Vote for Kim Piracci as Chair; all in favor; none opposed; Kim
Piracci shall serve as Chair of CFE for 2022. Vote for Eric Scheier; all in favor; none
opposed; Eric Scheier shall serve as Vice Chair of CFE for 2022.
IV. Approval of DRAFT Meeting Summary—December 1311, 2021
Motion by Frank Binkowski; seconded by Carrie Fletcher; all in favor; none opposed;
motion passed.
V. Community Climate Action Grant Proposal Review
Asset Management Director, Steven Arndt,presented a FY 2021-22 Community Climate
Action Grant proposal from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) titled Creating
a Solar Future at CHCCS. The proposal calls for the installation of a 100kW rooftop
photovoltaic array at three campuses (Chapel Hill High School, East Chapel Hill High
School and Carrboro High School) to offset energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and incorporate sustainability-related educational content for students at
CHCCS. Of the $268,000 currently available for the public school system, CHCCS are
requesting $250,000 for their project. After a lengthy discussion, the CFE agreed to
recommend approval of the grant application to the BOCC with two recommendations.
Page 1 of 2
Orange County Commission for the Environment
DRAFT Meeting Summary
January 10, 2022; 7:30 pm
virtual Zoom Meeting
One, CHCCS hire an appropriate consultant to manage the design and negotiations with
the utilities to ensure that the schools receive the maximum environmental benefit from
this project. Kim Piracci asked Veronica Penn Beattie to summarize her additional
recommendation thoughts. She then asked Eric Scheier to summarize his
recommendation ideas on Renewable Energy Credits in two sentences. First, the
environmental benefits go with the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). Second,the
schools should therefore build the system so that they keep the RECs. Since there was no
agreement about how the second recommendation should be worded, David suggested
that we come to agreement via email. Motion to approve with recommendations by Bill
Ward; seconded by Frank Binkowski; all in favor; none opposed; motion passed.
VI. Updates and Information Items
None.
VII. Adjournment
Frank Binkowski motioned to adjourn the meeting at 9:09 pm; seconded by Jane Harris;
none opposed; motion passed.
Page 2 of 2
Attachment 2
Orange County Commission for the Environment
DRAFT Meeting Summary
February 14, 2022; 7:30 pm
virtual Zoom Meeting
Present: Kim Piracci, Kim Livingston, Frank Binkowski, Bill Ward, Jaya Nair, Kristie
Mather, Carrie Fletcher,Veronica Penn Beattie, Jessie Birckhead, Jane Harris,
Elizabeth McWhorter
Absent: James Eichel (excused)
I. Call to Order
Kim Piracci called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
II. Additions or Changes to Agenda
Dave Stancil requested to go ahead and inform the CFE that Brennan Bouma's vacant
position had been renamed as Sustainability Project Manager and had been filled by Amy
Eckberg. She will start on March 7ch and will be active within the CFE.
III. FY 2022-23 Orange County Outside Agency Application
The CFE was asked to review an application from Piedmont Wildlife Center for County
funding and provide ranking via the provided Orange County Outside Agency
Application Scorecard. David Stancil led the discussion and informed the CFE that they
would need to collectively agree on the ranking numbers within the Scorecard. The
Piedmont Wildlife Center is requesting $9,000 from Orange County to support their
Earthkeepers Afterschool Program. After considerable discussion, the CFE agreed to
recommend that the program receive support and ranked it with a score of 87/100. The
Scorecard will be forwarded to the County Manager who will ultimately decide on
program funding.
IV. Working Group Review of CFE Bylaws and Policy
Kim Piracci notified the CFE that there was a rules review in progress of the Orange
County Commission for the Environment Policies and Procedures that was adopted by
the BOCC on 11.8.12. This effort is being done to ensure the document is up to date with
current Orange County Board of County Commissioners Advisory Board Policy and
Rules of Procedure for the Board of County Commissioners.
V. Opportunities for Earth Day Outreach
David Stancil informed the CFE of the upcoming Earth Evening event to be held in
Hillsborough on April 29, 2022. This event is typically in coordination with
Hillsborough's Last Fridays event. Bill Ward expressed interest in having a booth set up
for his nonprofit, Electrify Orange, at the event. Kim Piracci talked about having a CFE
booth at the Carrboro Earth Day event to inspire people to apply to be on the CFE. CFE
Page 1 of 2
Orange County Commission for the Environment
DRAFT Meeting Summary
February 14, 2022; 7:30 pm
virtual Zoom Meeting
members brainstormed ideas to draw interest to a CFE booth. More discussion to follow
at next month's CFE meeting. Wesley Poole also mentioned Orange County's Creek
Week coming up March 14-18, 2022, at which County employees are going to do their
part and clean up trash from local streams in the area.
VI. Updates and Information Items
Kim Piracci discussed potential presentations that will be coming up for the CFE in the
next few months. Staff will be reaching out to OWASA for a presentation on updates to
their Long-Range Water Supply Plan and to Solid Waste for a presentation on updates to
their recycling and composting programs.
VII. Adjournment
Veronica Penn Beattie motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:58 pm; seconded by Kristie
Mather; none opposed; motion passed.
Page 2 of 2
Attachment 3
Orange Water and Sewer Authority
OWASAOWASA is Carrboro-Chapel Hill's not-for-profit public service agency
delivering high quality water, wastewater, and reclaimed water services.
To: Orange County Commission for the Environment
From: Mary Tiger, Strategic Initiatives Manager
Date: March 3, 2022
Subject: OWASA's Long-Range Water Supply Plan Update
We look forward to presenting information about our Long-Range Water Supply Plan and
receiving your feedback at your meeting on March 14, 2022. This memorandum provides some
brief background information to include in your agenda package. If you have any questions
about this information, please contact Ruth Rouse, Planning and Development Manager, at
rrouse@owasa.org or at 919-537-4214.
Ensuring our community has ample water supply for generations to come requires advanced
planning. OWASA is committed to providing high quality drinking water to the community, and
the planning, permitting, and partnerships required for new supply development can take
decades to develop and secure. That is why we are planning for the water needs of our
community two generations ahead.
After completing a methodical, inclusive analysis of alternatives, the OWASA Board of Directors
has determined that augmenting our local supplies (Cane Creek Reservoir, University Lake, and
the Quarry Reservoir) with treated Jordan Lake water is the most viable alternative for
providing resilient, high quality, and cost-effective drinking water for years to come. We
considered other alternatives, but they did not perform as well against a multi-factor suite of
guiding principles that considered drinking water quality, the ability to improve the resilience
and reliability of our water supply, cost, environmental impacts, and social impacts.
There is a Partnership of local water utilities which is moving forward to design and build a new
intake and water treatment plant on the western side of Jordan Lake. OWASA faces a near-term
decision on if and how we want to engage with them to access our allocation of water in Jordan
Lake.
We are currently engaging with the community before finalizing the Long-Range Water Supply
Plan. More information on our planning efforts can be found on our website at
https://www.owasa.org/plans/owasa-long-range-water-supply-plan/.
400 Janes Ferry Road,Carrboro,NC 275 10 a 919-968-4421 0 infc@owasa.org 0 @7a OWASAI www.owasa.org