Environmental Council
Minutes of April 13, 2006
4:30 pm, 145 New Library
Submitted by J. Byrne
Present: Diane Munroe, Nan Jenks-Jay, Charlotte Tate, Drew Macan, Glenn Andres, Sebatien Marembio, Austen Levihn Coon, Moriah Helms, Jon Warnow, Jack Byrne, Don Mitchell, Matt Landis
Minutes of Previous Meeting
Charlotte moved to approve the minutes of the March 30 meeting. Austen seconded and the meeting minutes were accepted without change.
Master Planning Briefing with Planning Consultants
The members of the council discussed an upcoming meeting with Michael Dennis Associates who have begun the master planning process for the college. The following points and concerns were made to be brought into the conversation with the planners:
Introductory background:
-The Environmental Council is a standing committee, advisory to the president --
-it has a mandate to represent the environmental concerns of the broad college community.
-is anxious to collaborate in the planning process any way that it can
-can serve as an instrucment of implementation
Middlebury has a long history of environmental initiatives--
-important to college self-image (recognized in mission statement and in strategic plan)
-plays and should continue to play a regional leadership role
-deals with developments at a scale where things can happen and have spin-off -- transferrable
-importance of furthering this pattern by considering environmental responsibility and innovation as
fundamentals of the new master plan, integrated throughout
-support for the idea of a sustainability consultant in the planning process
Need to research what other institutions are doing so that we aren't reinventing wheels
How do other (i.e. not officially organized) voices with environmental concerns get heard in this process?
Circulation:
-Dispersal of campus facilities and activities makes circulation difficult
-Bike paths, covered bike parking
-Parking policy needed--
Parking tax
Rates and parking preferences based on fuel efficiency
-Patterns of parking lots (peripheral vs. distributed)
-Enhanced pedestrian circulation
Buildings:
-Minimal expectation of LEED silver standard
-Incorporate Framework developed by Environmental Affairs into the master plan
Energy infrastructure:
-Energy conservation
-Carbon reduction -- move toward carbon neutrality?
Use of College lands:
-Environmental stewardship on all College-owned lands
-Residential developments for faculty and staff on College lands near campus to enhance walking and
biking?
Interaction with community:
- Regional circulation -- planning to allow circulation corridors in appropriate places across or around campus,
shorten and facilitate commutes to campus.
- regional as well as campus-based energy schemes -- e.g. hydro at Middlebury Falls
Strategic Visioning for the Environmental Council '06 – '07
Jack described a short version process of strategic visioning to follow up on the consensus at the previous meeting that it would be valuable to devote some of the remaining meeting times to setting the stage for the EC when it reconvenes in Sept. '06.
The slides below outlines the process and the results of the work done at this meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.