Climate Task Force May Hire Consultant to Help With Plan

Pickleball Lines Will be Added to Refurbished Tennis Courts, Real Estate Transfers, and Safety Grant Discussion

Sep 01, 2023

BAR HARBOR—The town’s Task Force on the Climate Emergency has a challenging and intensive set of goals to meet in the relatively near future.

The task force met August 28, and while the meeting was scheduled to start at 4 p.m., it got off to a slow start due to a lack of members present. Task Force Chair Ruth Poland, Secretary Jennifer Crandall, and member Ezra Sassaman were there initially with Vice Chair Tobin Peacock showing up shortly after. Member Norman Burdzel arrived at 4:35 p.m. and Town Council Representative Gary Friedmann arrived at 4:40 p.m..

According to its bylaws, the task force was formed in 2020 and is meant “to define and recommend climate goals with the objective of drawing down carbon from the atmosphere and reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by December 31, 2030.” Governor Janet Mills pledged three years ago that by 2045, Maine will be carbon-neutral. Being carbon-neutral basically means that you put out the same amount of carbon as you offset.

The hope is that by becoming carbon-neutral, people, communities, and businesses can help decrease greenhouse gasses. As MIT’s Climate Portal explains, “Greenhouse gases are gases—like carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane, and nitrous oxide—that keep the Earth warmer than it would be without them.”

This summer the task force members had hoped to redraft the Climate Action Plan (CAP), hire a sustainability coordinator, install new EV chargers at the Town Hill and downtown ball fields, and begin work with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute on sea level rise vulnerability assessment. That work would align with work in the Landscape of Change project, the historical society’s initiative with Acadia National Park, Schoodic Institute, the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, College of the Atlantic, and A Climate to Thrive

CLIMATE ACTION PLAN

The first item of regular business for Monday’s meeting was to review edits to the latest draft of its action plan, the Climate Action Plan.

Poland suggested that the committee may want to hire a consultant to assist with the finalization and polishing of the CAP so that members can focus on other goal items and not spend so much time on the CAP. There was no vote taken on this subject, but the members in attendance agreed that this was a good idea and noted that the task force has funds remaining in its budget to do so.

The CAP is currently 19 pages long but may lose some content due to redundancy. There are many multifaceted goals, laid out by the Town Council and the task force, contained within the plan.

Below are some of the goals that the Town Council has laid out for fiscal years 2012-2026. The full document can be viewed here.

Address the climate change emergency with meaningful energy conservation efforts, including:
- Develop a strategic education program to improve Town Council’s “climate literacy” in preparation for adopting a Climate Action Plan (2021);
- Develop a Climate Action Plan reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 12/31/2030 (Fall 2021);
- Prepare a solar ordinance that will allow free-standing, primary use solar arrays on public and private land (Town meeting, November 2021);
- Develop a community solar farm on the Higgins Pit lot to power all town facilities and schools and offer low-cost power for nonprofit organizations and low to moderate income households. (2022);
- Replace ton vehicles with electric vehicles as vehicle life is reached and suitable vehicles are available;
- Increase electric vehicle charging stations in Bar Harbor;
- Include climate standards for buildings, energy use and transportation in the update of the BH comprehensive plan and LUO;
- Develop mitigation strategies for projected impacts of sea level rise to protect municipal infrastructure and public and private property.

Sassaman suggested that the committee members make the plan more of a living document so that the task force and Bar Harbor residents could see the progress as the plan goals get actualized. Sassaman went on to suggest that they could have a printed copy of the plan for reading consumption and an electronic copy that contained a section which could be update when any step of any goal was completed. This would help keep everyone informed and also help track the forward progress of each goal, of which there are many.

PROJECTS STYMIED

While the CETF is working diligently and making progress on not only the CAP but also its goals, sometimes projects can be held up by other entities that play a crucial role in making the project a success.

For example, the Higgins Pit solar array which is meant to provide solar generated electricity for municipal buildings and schools in Bar Harbor, is awaiting a quote from Versant Power. Finance Director Sarah Gilbert said that Versant Power was supposed to have given the town a number for what it would cost to tie the Higgins Pit array into the electrical grid by August 11. As of August 28, the town still had not received a quote from Versant. The project is on standby until that dollar amount is received and the interconnection cost approved by the Town Council. There is currently $476,800.00 budgeted for that part of the project.

The town has done many projects to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels in the last decade, many of them before the inception of the CETF.

Town projects that reduce the use of fossil fuels:

2013 Keel cooler located in the harbor (both heat and a/c) at Port Security Building, but due to continued maintenance issues it is being replaced with a heat pump;
2014 New PW garage built with pellet boiler system;
2015 A 73.44 kw solar array on the PW Garage; no up-front capital costs but the town signed a PPA with ReVision Energy; solar reserve fund in the CIP budget to purchase the array in 2022 at fair market value ~$80K;
2016 Solar Farm on the PW pole barn, 9 Emera customers, 25-year lease;
2019 Parking enforcement hybrid vehicle- 2019 RAV 4;
2020 PW Garage Tesla battery storage system to eliminate demand surcharges (equivalent payment is made to ReVision Energy. The batteries allowed the PW Garage to change from and M2 to a B1 class. No up-front capital costs. The town will own the system in 5 years);
2020 LED streetlight conversion (431 fixtures, decorative and cobra head streetlights). Project costs paid from parking revenue. Total cost $372,000;
Sewer and water departments use remote communication systems to monitor tanks and pump stations that eliminates driving to and from sites;
Radio reads on 75% of water meters that significantly reduces quarterly vehicle driving;
Numerous energy improvements on buildings such as insulations, windows, and lighting fixture conversions through Efficiency Maine.

Pickleball Lines Will be Added to Refurbished Tennis Courts

The MDI Regional High School Board of Trustees held a very fast meeting on Monday, August 28, because one of the presenters did not show up. William Stockmeyer, one of the school system’s lawyers from Drummond and Woodsum, who focuses on school finance and construction issues was supposed to review the legal requirements for the potential high school renovation project with the Board of Trustees.

Prior to his absence being realized, the board did vote on and approve the agenda, the minutes, a couple of payment vouchers, and the minutes from the last meeting. Board Chair Rob Jordan kept the meeting moving and the group decided to move Stockmeyer’s presentation to the end of the list in the hopes that he would show up.

Mount Desert Island High School Principal Matt Haney gave an update on the refurbishment of the tennis courts and stated that they had received a final bid from a company in Vermont for $268,608.00. Board member Carole Plenty asked if it would be possible to add pickleball court lines to the tennis courts during the refurbishing process. School Athletic Director Bunky Dow responded that this had been a popular request and that after investigating the possibility of pickleball court lines on the tennis courts, he was planning on having the lines added.

The motion to award the bid was made, seconded, and passed unanimously.

School Superintendent Mike Zboray then gave an update on a meeting with Haley Ward regarding the wastewater situation at the high school. Zboray said that the meeting was very productive and that they had gone over Haley Ward’s draft report so that they could present a final report at the next trustees meeting.

Member Chad Terry asked if this meeting had been recorded and Zboray said that it had not. Terry said that it would be nice if these types of meetings were recorded.

Zboray then gave a brief update on the PFAS community meeting that took place on August 21, and which you can read about here. Zboray said that they should have the final Haley Ward report before the next trustees meeting which will occur on September 25, and should be able to review it then. Haley Ward should also have some estimated costs for each of the three possible solutions to the high school’s wastewater issues at this meeting.

There was no new business or further discussion and since Stockmeyer had not shown up by 6 p.m. the meeting was adjourned.

SAFETY GRANT DISCUSSION

An article in the Mount Desert Islander by Malachy Flynn mentions a recent safety grant received by the town. It was received last winter and was discussed at a department head meeting this week.

Flynn writes:

“The grant, which was awarded by the Bureau of Highway Safety in the amount of $200,000 with a $50,000 municipal match, will be used to create a Transportation Action Plan. The goal of the plan is to eliminate fatalities on Bar Harbor’s roads, some of which are considered fairly dangerous, which is why the town qualified for this grant.
“ ‘That plan is for zero fatalities on our multimodal roadways, meaning vehicles pedestrians, motorcycles and bicyclists, to have the road be safer for all,’ said Finance Director Sarah Gilbert.

Our earlier story about the grant is here.

The pedestrian safety grant was part of Bar Harbor’s “Safe Streets for All” federal funding request to help secure a regional comprehensive transportation action plan.

The hope of the plan according to the October 2022 application is to “reduce our very high roadway fatalities. Numbers and percentages, including non-lethal, but serious vehicular accidents; make us more climate change ready; and increase the overall safety of our shared network of multi-modal roadways.”

BAR HARBOR REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS

Recent Bar Harbor real estate transfers include:

The Town of Bar Harbor to BFI 2018 LLC: land with any buildings or improvements
Paul Weiss, Bar Harbor to Brian Matthew Zavestoski and Kathrine Elfrieda Zavestoski of Seal Harbor as joint tenants: land with improvements.
Pokie Nightmoon LLC, Bar Harbor to Gina M. Murphy and David L. Murphy of Prospect, Kentucky as joint tenants: land with improvements