12/2/24 Meeting & Holiday Mingle!
6:30-8:30 pm
701 Laurel Ave
Updates (10 minutes)
Fundraising focus (Jess)
December 3rd Giving Tuesday (tomorrow!) campaign: Please appeal to friends and organizations for donations to L4P. Holiday giving and tax write off! Reshare Facebook post, forward the email.
Sweitzer garden (Brian)
New signs about the benefits of leaving stems for wildlife
Group weeding event in March
Raincheck Rebate for planting native gardens (Jimmy)
Jimmy is volunteering to be the point person on tracking this new funding source that will be available directly to residents
Proposal for buying pickers, business cards and t-shirts (Cheryl, Pauline, Holly H)
Discussion (20 minutes)
Proposal for buying pickers, business cards and t-shirts (Cheryl, Pauline, Holly H)
Requesting City Council take action on one sustainability priority (Mike)
Considering the administration's priorities, what should we engage the City on: pervious pavement, geothermal renewable energy opportunity via Inflation Reduction Act grant
Maryland bottle refund bill (Holly)
Discussion of endorsement by L4P
12/2/24 Minutes
Attending the meeting – Jess Bolz, Brian Coyle, Mike McLaughlin, Holly Hoglund, Pauline Apling, Mike Maxwell, Melissa Holland, Dave Everett, Heidi Hess-Webber, Cheryl Dyer, Jock Haight, Liz Humes, James Kole, Jimmy Rogers, Stosh Comisiak.
Updates
Fundraiser Focus (Jess) – Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday. Members can use email and Facebook to share with our communities and ask them to donate to L4P. Heidi suggested that we consider an actual fundraiser. Suggestions included selling gear, hooking up with a restaurant or having a plant sale. A plant sale could happen at a farmer’s market or in conjunction with a litter cleanup. We could preorder plants for a spring sale.
Litter Cleanup (Holly/Pauline/Cheryl) - Holly has come up with a process for managing litter events. There need to be more people checking in volunteers and managing groups of kids during events. The kidds do a great job but need an adult lead. It would be great to use the banner and signs at Litter Free events so that people know who we are. The committee has a wishlist to purchase the following- 1) decent grabbers - the City’s grabbers are breaking and they aren’t going to be replaced, 2) business cards - so that we can let people know who we are and how to get involved when they see us out working, 3) t-shirts with our logo on it. Quality grabbers will cost about $20 each. Business cards are about $17 for a hundred. T-shirts with a two-color logo will cost about $20 each. T-shirts might be cheaper if we order in bulk. James says that there are a couple of local shops that could do the job and might give us a deal. We could also consider vests since we could wear those over our clothes when we’re doing volunteer activities. Right now, there is no money for purchases but all these ideas are a good goal. Stosh and Cheryl will look at possibilities regarding creating t-shirts. Jess will look into the possibility of having business cards made. Holly says that we would probably want to purchase ten good quality grabbers to start with. The next litter cleanup is set for February 16th.
Sweitzer Garden (Brian) - The chronolog website is worth checking out. The link to it is on our Laurel for Patuxent website. There is discussion in the community about how untidy the garden looks in the winter. Do we cut the plants down so that the community is more interested in native gardening or leave it standing because it is important to native wildlife? Perhaps we can replace the current sign with one that explains why the garden looks unkempt in the cold-weather season.
Raincheck Rebate (Jimmy) - Conservation landscaping (native gardening, lawn elimination) is being added to the Raincheck Rebate. The Chesapeake Bay Trust oversees the program. This is a huge deal because potential gardeners can get a tax credit per square footage. The purpose of a rain garden is to capture water and runoff. Conservation gardening is about making the ground more permeable. Jimmy will be attending upcoming meetings to learn more details about the new program.
Legislative update (Jimmy) - A Maryland native plant group is working on updating language regarding native plants. They are talking about strategies regarding weed enforcement so that legislation doesn’t allow for natives to be treated like weeds. Jimmy will be tracking this effort.
Bottle refund bill (Holly) - The bottle refund bill is coming before the Maryland legislature this year. L4P should consider endorsing the bill. Only a quarter of beverage containers get recycled. In states that have a bottle refund law, the beverage producers take the containers back. There was some discussion about what happens to the containers after that. In general, aluminum is recycled, plastic generally goes to the landfill (although it was acknowledged that Prince George’s County has an excellent plastic recycling program), and glass is usually crushed and then sent to the landfill (where it serves a purpose as filler). The value seemed limited to some folks but Jimmy pointed out that the purpose of a bottle refund law is to help protect the waterways. People are incentivized not to litter because bottles have monetary value so all of those bottles are kept out of the rivers. A vote was taken to endorse the bottle bill. Mike McLaughlin suggested doing a document drop-in to all offices before testimony on the bill begins.
City of Laurel environmental projects - James is chairing the Environmental Affairs Committee now. He wants to update the resolution for the committee. As an example, he shared that a solar car park is currently not allowed according to the city code.
Brian shared that there is currently federal money available for community installation of geothermal and solar heating systems although this money could disappear in the new federal administration. The state now has geothermal credits as well as solar credits for point of sale rebates. While the new administration can stop the program, Maryland already has the money. James said that there are currently no permits needed in the city to install a geothermal heat pump. Also, he is proposing tax credits by the city to incentivize folks to switch to more environmentally responsible sources of energy. Heidi suggested that we organize a special presentation to educate residents about the programs.
Also, the City needs to pass a new reforestation plan. The new Master Plan appointments happen this month. The last time that the Master Plan was developed, there was a discrepancy in the wording that allowed Pulte to get the parcel of land that they are now planning to develop. L4P members are frustrated that the City Council made the Pulte decision without input from the community. James reminded the group that the Master Plan is a plan, not a law, so we need to make sure that we are involved now to avoid more such contradictions in the plan in the future. Mike Maxwell reminded us that we want to make sure that the City preserves fringe areas that are forested such as Bear Branch and Contee Road. Mike McLaughlin suggested challenging the city’s self-governance for zoning to stir the pot.
Lastly, James is currently looking at greenscapes on hellstrips (which are the areas of grass between sidewalks and the curb). There is inconsistent enforcement of the ban on planting in these areas. Definitely, tall plants that are placed close to intersections are a problem because they impair visibility for drivers. Perhaps the City could make suggestions about what plants are acceptable for planting in hellstrips and provide clear guidance to residents who want to beautify these areas.