##VIDEO ID:4qK4Aw-gipY## uh so hi everyone the Berto review board does not currently have an appointed chair so I will lead us in a vote for acting chair does anyone on the Berto review board want to make a nomination for acting chair for today's meeting nominate Steven Ellis as acting chair thank you board member lore is there a second second thank you board member for RI um on the motion to have board member Steven Ellis serve as acting chair how do you vote board member Boyd in favor uh board member Keta sapata yes board member Ellis in favor board member farooqi in favor board member ladimore in favor great uh the motion passes I will now hand the meeting over to acting chair Ellis all right thank you Diana good afternoon I am calling this public meeting to order at 4:44 p.m. in accordance with the building emissions reduction and disclosure ordinance regulations adopted pursuant to the building emissions reduction and disclosure ordinance Boston city code ordinances section 7- 2.2 the Berto review board will hold a virtual public meeting at 4:30 p.m. on January 13 to review the following Topics in regard to the reduction of greenhouse gases from building energy production and consumption so as to promote the Public Health and Welfare of Boston residents in accordance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts executive order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law we are conducting this public meeting online to ensure public access to the deliberations of the Berto review board the public May access this call through telephone and video conferencing members of the public will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide public comment to do so please raise your hand or type in the chat and application via the zoom meeting platform if you are calling in and cannot use the platform you can raise your hand by pressing star9 or send your questions to staff via email at Berto reviewboard boston.gov for the record I'm Steven Ellis acting chair of the board I will now conduct a roll call of board members board members please say your name in the order that they appear on the slide Rashida Boyd councelor KET is about Steven Ellis Assan farqi y LaMore staff will now introduce themselves Hannah Payne director of carbon neutrality in the environment Department Diana Vasquez uh Berto review board manager in the environment Department hi everyone Claudia Diaz Martinez polic and Equity adviser environment Department ziki chin ber board assistant environment Department thank you here is the agenda for today's meeting and hearing we are going to start with voting on three building portfolios then we will switch our public our meeting to public hearing where the city of Boston will present next we will approve the meeting minutes from the last meeting and then we will hear administrative updates finally we'll end with an ajour adjournment first up we will hear some information about the building portfolio applications and then discuss and vote on those applications I will now hand it over to Diana and Ziggy hello um so the first one is Diamond Rock hospitality company so it was submitted through pathway one and it's for two buildings in the hoods of downtown and seport the applicant meant all elib criteria and the application was deemed complete these are the standard conditions that are part uh go with approval at pathway one applications um the building Ed type was lodging for both buildings and those are the addresses of the buildings below and since both of the buildings have a lodging use type um the Blended emissions was um the same as the default admission standards for lodging and that was a quick summary and back to you chair thank you zigi before I ask each board member if they have any questions I want to give an opportunity for any representative of this application to introduce themselves for the record this is Mike mcgilligan can you hear me yes good afternoon Mike Hi how are you all thanks for having us uh I'm here representing Diamond Rock if anyone has any questions all right thank you very much and my name is uh plov I also represent Diamond Rock welcome plaman thank you for joining us hey hey good evening everybody my name is shw I adir from net gains you know we work as a as an as an engineer uh assisting Comm on his hotels thank you for joining us shrenik okay I believe that is all the individuals uh that would like to introduce themselves I will now ask each board member if they have any questions starting with you board member Boyd no question Mr Ellis thank you thank you board member counselor Keta dearta no questions thank you thank you counselor I also don't have any questions I I believe that when I reviewed this application uh that it that was pretty straightforward so I had no issues with this application so thank you Mike plomin and shrenik for putting this together now turning it over to board member F thank you uh yeah pretty straightforward application thanks for doing this uh big question for me is are there any other challenges that you anticipate with full compliance with Net Zero over the coming years uh I I can probably take a stab I think you know that's a that's a good question I think what we are doing in uh is for for Diamond rock is we are in the process of uh uh assessing different options for compliance you know as it relates to uh Berto uh and it's it's sort of a work in progress right now I think we'll have a much better idea you know probably six months from now if you I don't want to throw uh wrong information but it is it is something that has been looked at and being evaluated as we speak right that's that's a that's a good synopsis the only it's not really a challenge that you guys have to worry about but one building's 100 years old and the other one's you know 20 years old so there's a there's just a difference in the way we have to go about it but we'll figure it out sure yeah that's helpful to know thanks um no further questions for me thank you board member Fuki board member Latimore no questions thank you thank you board member Latimore is there a motion to approve Diamond Rock Hospitality proposed uh excuse me portfolio application with standard condition no moved is there a second thank you all right on the motion to approve Diamond Rock hospitalities company's application with standard conditions how do you vote either in favor opposed or abstained starting with you board member Boyd in favor councelor K Zapata in favor I am also in favor board member farooqi in favor and board member Latimore in favor the eyes have it the motion passes uh Diamond Rock hospitalities company's building portfolio has been approved per the regulation the environment department will send a copy of the written decision letter within 7 days thank you Mike palman and shrenik for joining us today thank you everybody thank you uh now I'll turn it back over to Diana and Ziggy thank you chair I will pre presenting uh on the applications under pathway 2 and I just wanted to take a quick moment to remind folks uh some of the differences between pathway 1 and pathway 2 so with pathway 2 applications as a reminder review board the review board may vote to hold the hearing so in a hearing we invite as we'll see with the city of Boston the review board invites the applicant to prepare slides at a subsequent meeting and present on their application maybe follow up on any questions that came up during the meeting uh and then the review board also accepts public comment during the during the public hearing uh the review board may vote to approve with standard conditions approve with special conditions or deny the application and then I just a quick summary of special conditions so so our regulations state that these conditions special conditions must be conditions that are relevant to the distribution of benefits that come with decarbonization uh particularly when they're relevant to environmental justice populations so an as an example you may remember our EJ Maps we have maps on environmental justice population asthma rates uh the urban heat island index and then respiratory Hazard index so if you see that some buildings have are are um concentrated around maybe like a a a district that has high asthma rates you may say you know where feasible ESP special a special condition is that you prioritize decarbonizing the buildings that are in high asthma rate populations so just wanted to give a quick reminder and I know we can discuss more and have more questions oh yes chair do you have a question thank you Diana and um just want to dive a little bit deeper into special conditions for one moment here because uh this is the first time that we're really coming across either the opportunity to use them or even considering them later on with the city of Boston presentation can you just give me you know another example like uh what would it look like if board the board wanted to uh essentially recommend a special condition that really has to do about detailing information about say a central heating plant um I'm I'm going to turn it over to Hannah for a moment hopefully she can give us a response on that yeah I'm happy to you chair um so special conditions um can be applied to the pathway 2 portfolios um and really when we think about special conditions um we want them to be tied to kind of the relief that is being granted from the flexibility measure so special conditions can also be applied to hardship compliance plans um but when we think about them with a pathway 2 portfolio the reason we ask for all of the information about the environmental justice impacts and kind of where the properties are located within the portfolio is to be able to get a sense of the kind of distribution of the properties in the portfolio and then um to really see you know when the bill when the applicant comes back with their emissions compliance plan which really will spell out how they plan to decarbonize across their portfolio to see if there are um kind of adverse um impacts to certain areas that are already overburdened by you know air quality or things like that or that I've already seen a lot of investment right so I think um and so one kind of example you might think of is if there's a portfolio and it has one you know a combined heat and power plant or there are few combined heat and power plants in a neighborhood that has really poor air quality in the city so let's say Chinatown versus um another building that's out in uh Rosland Dale right that has better air quality metrics right and is not um as doesn't have as many environmental justice criteria in that neighborhood that uh the board may you know create a special condition around um and ask the applicant if they could prioritize investments in um the decarbonization that are um in Chinatown over their properties in other neighborhoods I think when we're thinking about that um you know because the applicant has a chance to come back with their um emissions compliance plan that that that's an opportunity to apply special conditions again so just to to the board um you don't have to you know decide everything when you when you approve the portfolio There's an opportunity to do that when you're reviewing that emissions compliance plan and some of those distributional related standard conditions that you might want to consider I think would benefit from being able to see what the applicant's plan or the portfolio owner plan already is and raise those um then so um I did that explain it and I can kind of go into a little bit more detail with that um I think the other thing that I would just say is that um we want to discuss any special conditions um with the applicant before they're voted on so we don't want um an applicant to have to agree kind of on the spot to something that they might not be able to commit to so if the board is considering special conditions I think raising those um during the initial meeting or during a hearing is important and then um you know whether they need to kind of hold on that to make a decision about the portfolio itself or if that's something that could be addressed in the forthcoming um compliance plan thank you Hannah that's definitely helpful for consideration as we go through these applications today and uh how we sort of think about either special conditions today or think about conditions with respects to the emissions compliance plan so that's helpful um Diana I'll turn it back over to you great thank you chair thank you Hannah uh so yeah so the first applicant under today's agenda for pathway 2 is Mass General bringham next slide please so for some background information uh the reason they're applying under pathway 2 is because they have on-site on-site combined heat and power plants that use non-renewable or Co CO2 emitting fuels um that are located environmental justice population so the building portfolio is consisting of 30 buildings in the neighborhoods of the West End Longwood Medical area Charlestown Jamaica plane and Alon uh and the application and the applicant meet all of the eligibility criteria and the application was deemed complete uh as a reminder here a list of the standard condition so I won't review these I think we've seen them a lot uh next slide we'll see each of the buildings uh listed so 30 buildings so some of them share a campus which is what that c campus ID is and then the next slide has the second half yep and so 30 buildings total uh the owner is Mass General brium the building use types include College University healthcare office storage and Technology science and the next slide has the Blended yeah the Blended emission standard because there's so many different um building use types there are several different defaults for the different buildings but the final row is the final building portfolio Blended emission standard for the full portfolio and because they applied via pathway 2 uh they also had to submit these uh environmental justice Maps so if you can see there's a green pin there are actually two chps two combine heat and power plants uh they're just kind of close together so it looks like one pin but there are two green fins um and then each of the blue any section where there's blue it is it does mean that that um census tract meets one of the definition criteria of the Massachusetts environmental justice populations uh and then you all should have access to this also in your folder if you want to like zoom into the pictures I know it's a little small on the slide um next slide they also have they also submitted an asthma prevalence map uh next slide their Urban heat island intensity map and then one more our side their respiratory Hazard index map um and you kind of get an idea of the sloth and a distribution of the buildings in this portfolio and that's it thank you Diana before I ask each board member if they have any questions or comment I would like to give an opportunity for a representative of this application to introduce themselves for the record I can go first I'm Eden Floyd I'm the junior energy data analyst at power options um here with a couple other members from MGB but before I let them introduce themselves I just want to clarify where the little green Scion pin is there's only one CHP but it serves two buildings thank you and welcome again Eden thank you yeah hi this is John mury I direct design and construction and I also oversee the um utility program at MGB welcome John thank you I'm Dennis vua also representing M briam I'm the director of utilities energy strategy and procurement hello Dennis good to see you again or hear you I should say yeah same here right hi this is Emma yashar I am a real estate attorney with the office of the general council at General Bri welcome Emma thank you any anyone else all right hearing none I will now ask each board member if they have any questions or comments I will be going in reverse order so I'll be starting with you board member Latimore thank you I do have a couple of questions I reviewed the application and I have to say that I was a little confused when I looked at the map so um when I looked at the list of uh um property addresses I was like H which one of these are in EJ neighborhoods and I could really decipher that well when I looked at the map so I guess if if someone from Mass General could um indicate like if you have a sense of what percentage I now see uh from Diana's explanation a little bit more clearly where those EJ pieces are but if you have a sense of percentage of your properties that are in EJ communities um anyone else feeling to jump F free F to jump in I do not have an exact percentage but I would say most of them are in EJ communities there is a few that are not though okay so most of them are okay just from the addresses I was like oh I don't give me a sense of that but thank you and I guess the question I have because one of the things that I think the review board has the um it has an interest in in the ability to to ask about is um you know how just what the process is going to be for determining um the priority for you know the decarbonization and meeting the the emission standards what how are you going to determine which buildings to approach first Dennis or John would you like to jump in for this one I can also take it if not this is John I we we have uh we're in the process of completing a decarbonization master plan for all of mgb's uh facilities um across Massachusetts and um um there are a number of different Pathways uh to decarbonize obviously um uh committing to uh carbon-free fuels is is an essential component and um we are 80% uh renewable electricity as we speak the 20% that's not renewable is basically U generated by the matet plant and utilized by the brigam um under a long-term contract that extends to uh 2051 um that we are not uh legally able to exit um the uh second pathway is through electrification and uh we that is a longer process to Electrify all of our buildings the majority of them operate on uh Steam Heat um and so uh Trad I should say heat pump technology certainly doesn't lend itself to steam heat so that there's really a pretty significant engineering modification required to uh many of our existing facilities in order to to move in the direction of electrification utilization of Technology such as heat pumps and then the the third approach Third Leg of the stool if you will is through um uh continue reduction of our um uh density of of utility use of power use or energy use on a square foot basis and and that's a metric we're keeping track of since 2009 we've reduced our power density uh on a square foot basis by 47% across the MGB um uh set of buildings so um just to more directly answer your question if I can uh I think there are continue to be if you will lwh hanging fruit uh that we can address more easily than other approaches to um uh decarbonizing and and so I think some of them are going to be multiphase multi-year strategies others can be achieved uh more or less in a year or so and that's part of the decision process we are going to have to be making over the next several months um as we finalize the decarbonization plan um it's a it's a as you might imagine a significant uh Capital uh expense to uh and uh being a regulated healthc care provider there's not a penny of additional Revenue uh associated with our decarbonization um so but nevertheless it's something we have to do and we recognize that and um as a healthare provider we want to minimize uh our environmental impact on the communities we serve so uh it's a commitment that we' made at the corporate level and have made public commitments um uh to decarbonize and to meet U the 50% by 2030 standard for instance um but it's going to be uneven and and I think that's just the the nature of having to uh address the very different engineering challenges we we find at each of the addresses that we've listed there I certainly appreciate you know the approach you're taking and uh I know it's not easy um and just curious about the time frame you mentioned you know for finalizing um the decard master plan and facility master plan yes what is that time frame I'd say by this summer we will haveed yes and it sounds like the a lot of the properties are in EJ neighborhoods and so that so my question was to the to Diana's Point early or I think it was Diana maybe um oh actually it was Hannah you know um I'm certainly interested in prioritizing decarbonization in EJ neighborhoods and that was kind of the nature of my question about kind of how are you going to there's there's you know different approaches to looking at which which which property needs it the most you know financial matters but then EJ Community um issues and you know how that might factor into the prioritization of you know which buildings get um decarbonized first well that that that would certainly be one of the factors uh we I should say we have a a very active um group of um healthc care providers inside MGB who are also studying the health impacts of um air quality on our patients and we have data from medical records um to to support that work so we're going to be operating on a number of different levels here certainly directly around uh the decarbonization of of our buildings but also being proactive I think in trying to attempt to address medical conditions in the patients that are prone to um uh health problems as temperatures rise for instance especially during the summer so um I I can't give you a specific answer as to how we we are going to address each building at this point in time I I think it's a reasonable question and uh deserves an answer but I I'm afraid I can't give it to you today I have a number of other questions but I'll just ask this last question so that others can um get to their questions and that is does the uh Mass General Brigham have an MBE minority business Enterprise women minority business Enterprise utilization policy for its capital work does one exist both in supply chain generally yes and uh and also um certainly within the city of Boston we are uh we have to comply with the city of Boston residents uh job program and uh we're finalizing an agreement with the Boston Building Trades that uh amplifies that commitment thank you no more questions thank you board member Latimore board member farooqi thank you thank you for the work on this I appreciate this is a pretty difficult set of buildings to decarbonize so um I know this is challenging you mentioned uh Capital expenditures being a challenge I know that's not uh unique to you all have you all looked into some of the tax incentives and the direct pay Provisions from the inflation reduction act that could help alleviate some of those costs danis would you like to take that one uh yes absolutely Dennis Vana uh yes we we incorporate that in the evaluation of which um initiatives we tackle first um and and it's you know it's taken into consideration and a specific more specific answer that you would need for that so yeah we we do Ira we work also with the state whatever incentive we can get from the utilities or from uh governmental oras governmental institutions like Mass CC and uh and others so yeah we do consider all uh sources of funding sorry I'm out of breath I was in my steppers yeah no no worries you're good that's helpful to know um that's good and have you found the direct pay Provisions have been helpful in alleviating some of those Capital pressures well it is it is very helpful to know that there are incentives available uh to tell you the truth there is uh it is not very straight forward to jump to all those hles that for example the IRS uh the IRS the IRA asked for to meet the requirements but we are looking at every opportunity and we have done quite a bit of uh good work uh we have power options as a consultant to um to our team to uh run a screen tool that considers all of that on every project that we will do forward all right great [Music] um the next question I have is is um on the matep plant and I'm glad you mentioned this and I know it's not exclusively in your jurisdiction but uh that is certainly a big concern that I hear from residents a lot about the you know fossil fuel use in the environmental justice population um do you have a sense of how you're going to reach Net Zero if the mate plant is not decarbonized yes we have evaluated that um that's really we are you know um held responsible for long-term contracts here so um we are looking forward to work on a partnership with with um District systems and this includes not only MAA but also uh vicinity uh from Cambridge and um um you know that what is under our control we are trying to do as much as we can uh in reducing our energy consumption from those sources uh but we are going to collaborate closer with them to find a path forward um in the carbonization okay great sounds good John I saw you com come up you did you have anything to add on that no I just wanted to make sure you got an answer yeah no no I appreciate that no thank you yeah no I think that's that's good to know uh that you're working with the the plant providers um and then the uh energy effici efficiency measure that you're taking sound really good to reduce the electricity consumption um do you have a sense of how that may impact the uh demand for and use of the mate plant uh we can yes uh I think we can at least um produce between 15 to 25% but um again we have space constraints technology constraints that we are going to need to sort out uh in in order to evaluate um um implementation of those measures here but uh that would be my my best guesstimate will be between 15 to 25% reduction from uh on a square footage basis got it okay so 15 to 20% reduction of your building enery consumption yes 15 to 25% anywhere between that yeah okay great um all right I don't have any other questions at this time uh so I'll yeld back to the chair thank you board member faruki uh so over to me I I just want to say thank you for talking about the decarbonization master plans I think uh uh board member lore's question uh helped address some of the questions that I was going to ask with respects to that however I when we were talking a little bit about the environmental justice uh concerns here forgive me I didn't capture all of it but I believe we were talking about the data that you have uh John uh on Health Quality or more so the the data that clinicians are are collecting I believe is what was stated inside of your application and uh you know one of the things that I'm curious about is how that information will be disseminated shared uh will it be in your decarbonization master plan is there an intention to share that out uh to the broader public so that they understand what is going on with respects to your buildings and and the surrounding areas well that's a that's a that's a good question uh Mr chair chairman I uh um I I don't think it was our intention to include it in the decarbonization master plan per se which is really more of an engineering study about how do we how do we uh technically get from here to there um but in terms of um what other opportunities we may have to try and reduce the impact on um uh environmental justice communities um I I think there is there is work also on the clinical side that can be undertaken and and that that's really what I was speaking to that there is a there is a a group and it's it's it's not unique to Mass General Brigham um Boston Medical Center also has a group working on that um that we're aware of but um I think it's an area where uh there's an opportunity to be proactive and and not wait for um uh medical conditions uh to draw people to the hospitals for treatment but rather try and uh anticipate through the data collection and through weather projections and temperature and air quality and all the rest of it to uh get a better understanding of um what today's risk may be for you as a patient with your health conditions and and tomorrows and the next days and uh at the same time um what we may be able to do within the parameters of our insurance to be able to proactively address some of the uh environmental conditions within which you're living that's that's a real stretch right now um but uh there are precedents in other parts of the country um to to to uh that have brought Insurance payers into uh same problem solving uh uh mode and that have seen benefits from primarily uh addressing um uh cooling uh during heat waves those kinds of things um so uh again nothing specific to to present today uh and and it's it's sort of separate from what this hearing is about anyway but it's nevertheless uh a part of the puzzle about how we all can um be proactive in reducing the uh Health consequences of uh of carbon Emissions on our environment and and our health thank you John all so definitely I agree not completely related to uh the decarbonization plan as you mentioned it's an engineering plan sometimes I think of decarbonization plan the way I think of climate action plan so I I got to disassociate those things a little bit um nevertheless I am not going to necessarily state that I see this as a special condition for the building portfolio however I do think that that information will be useful in your uh in your emission compliance plan within two years so maybe include that piece of the puzzle is what I'm going to encourage uh at this point in time but uh nevertheless I think you've answered uh my question and I I'll yield my time okay over to you counselor K Zapata I just want to thank my um my colleagues here on the board for their very thorough questions I I definitely appreciated uh board member lamore's prioritization of EJ communities and just grateful to the MGB team for um including just want to get it right here an EJ narrative I I am reviewing that and so when I'm um when when I'm talking about this I I am referencing uh that document as part of your application and so it does seem like the third pillar of this EJ narrative is ensuring equity and so I I am grateful that there's going to be a combination of community- based Physicians the health impact data The Building Systems engineers and financial planning that will help inform your uh decarbonization planning and and project prioritization I will of course advocate for uh areas that have the highest need um and it seems like you all have uh the data to make those decisions um I would like to see some sort of uh phased approach uh utilizing that framework but it does seem like your work here is going to be rooted in equity and so I do appreciate that um so I that is more of a comment than it is a question uh but just thank you for your work it seems like a our um a lot of a lot of hands uh went into this presentation as it is but I look forward to working with you all and thank you so much thank you thank you thank you counselor uh board member Boyd no questions thank you all right one moment let me just jump back to my script here all right so you know based on what we've discussed today I you know I before I go into the question of whether there's a motion to request a hearing I want to turn it back over to you momentarily board member ladimore because I know you said you had quite a few questions and just want to check is there anything else that you wanted to ask before I ask my question yeah no thank you um you know I I appreciate the responses I I do want to understand better you did um acting chair Ellis uh acts one of the questions that I had which was how the community would be engaged that was one of the follow-up questions that I had but wanted to you know leave time for others so you kind of touched on that and I heard some response I also read in the EJ narrative about the clinician group but you know I wonder how that clinician group um has been engaged or has commented on kind of capital work and the implications of the hospitals um kind of capital Improvement or Capital work on the community I just it it I I saw that comment but it wasn't I wondered if if there was anyone on the call that could comment on kind of how that Physician Group actually what the implications are for the capital work from that POS uh from that group that to me is an important issue since that seemed to be you know a piece of your EJ strategy and so I wanted to understand that better if there are examples of how that Physician Group has impacted uh kind of the capital work or the implications of the capital work on EJ communities or patient communities um with the with the uh the capital Improvement staff if there are any examples um I don't know that there's a specific example but I can tell you that there is a um a a standing committee that actually just met this morning um our climate and sustainability um uh action committee and uh it's chaired by our CFO uh neam Gandhi and it has uh an even balance of physician representation and uh non-physician representation and it's within that form that issues uh and are discussed such as our strategy around decarbonizing such as our uh work on U better understanding the health consequences of uh of uh a quality and Emissions for instance and exposures and heat U on the health of our patient populations so uh there is a there is a standing committee that can uh can uh discuss and will discuss the prioritization of of projects once we have a proposal to make to them about how the how the projects will be prioritized um it's not it's not a special group that we need to call together just to address that issue it's part of a more comprehensive overview of how can MGB as a corporate citizen do a better job uh addressing through their own activities as well as activities activities external to the hospital um the kind of health challenges that you're raising so um again uh a fairly General response but uh I'm afraid that's that's the best I can do and just assure you that there is a there is a there is a committee there is a forum within which to have that discussion internal to the MGB thank you I don't have any other questions well I have one more but I think I could hold off on that one and um wait until we get to the point where we're making a decision on this application thank you thank you board member ladimore you know it just goes to show you know one of the things that I mentioned earlier it may not be a special condition pertaining to whether or not to agree that Mass General bringham deserves to have or should have this uh flexibility measure um it's more so I think what I'm hearing from both board member ladimore as well as the counselor is really detailing that approach especially really highlighting that a little bit more and I think that will be expected of you all at this point when it comes to your emissions compliance plan and so I you know depending on what we do today I do look forward to seeing your emission compliance plan and a development of what all the work the clinicians have been doing ties into the work that are related to the structural improvements that need to be made so with that being said I I'm going to start off by asking is there a motion to request a hearing I think given the questions that have been asked about the um prioritization of EJ properties uh the MBA utilization strategy the engagement strategy I would move to have a hearing okay thank you board member lore and just to be clear here you know can you specify the exact question that you you would want to be the core focus of this hearing so some of the questions that have been asked and that you just referenc uh or at least the statement and comment you just made about kind of how um how will buildings be prioritized you know and you know what how you know not necessarily the approach to doing the decarbonization but you know how buildings are going to be prioritized you may have a building that has perhaps more potential to have more carbon savings but another one that is in an EJ community that has a lot of you know environmental challenges otherwise and so you know that's one question that I that I still have even though you know and I put it out there but that's it's not 100% clear to me about you know how that will happen the prioritization of the properties I also am curious and maybe this is not kind of a thing that I where this is new for the review board to some extent in terms of these you know either you know hearings or special conditions but I am curious about the MBE utilization piece for the hospital and how the hospital has tracked on that in terms of their Capital work and then just you know the clarity on the uh the use of the um clinician group as relates to you know how that how the clinician group would be engaged uh with on this decarbonization work I'm still personally I'm not overly clear on that so the and then just Community engagement in general especially in the EJ communities how that might happen around some of this work so those are my questions still thank you board member ladimore I am going to second that uh motion to request the hearing uh for Mass General bringham uh what I will say and in terms of uh whether or not we we go forward is that if we do choose to vote in favor that I'm going to request both the board members that are online today as well as the the ones that are watching this recording please make sure to send the question to the environment Department staff so or yes the environment Department staff so that they're able to share all the questions that we have in advance so that Mass General bringham can be able to prepare so on the motion to request a hearing for Mass General bringham Building portfolio application board members May votee in favor or oppose those in favor of requesting a hearing please say I or show your hands I I I those oppose say nay the eyes have it and the motion passes the Mass General bringham uh Mass General bringham excuse me is invited to present on their building portfolio at a hearing at a future date we look forward to hearing from your team so thank you for joining us today Eden John Dennis and Emma uh we look forward to hearing from you in the future and just to clarify chair uh the environment department will will reach out so we can schedule that uh hearing and follow up with any questions that the board has uh with the applicant directly thank you di thank you thank you okay I will now turn it back back over to Diana and cityy thank you chair uh so next uh we have the Community Builders they also have a pathway to building portfolio application so they submitted via Pathway to because they have a combination of residential buildings located in both an environmental justice population and non- environmental justice population so just to clarify that means their portfolio has residential buildings that are in both of the EJ and non EJ populations these are for this portfolio is 10 buildings uh and they're located in the neighborhoods of Jamaica plane Charlestown downtown Dorchester and Roxberry and the applicant met all of the eligibility criteria and the application was deemed complete um next slide please so here are the addresses for the 10 buildings and the Berto IDs uh I'll just say or actually I'll say it in the next next couple slides so mostly multif family housing uh but they also had some education retail and storage uh most of the buildings are uh multif family housing with some like additional building uses uh and so you can see this the default would be multif family housing um and then the Blended emission standards on the bottom row here and the next slide so the pins I just want to I know these a little challenging to see on the slides uh the one residential building that is not located in an EJ population is the yellow pin in the charl town area so you may see that that yellow pin isn't in a gray area that means it does not meet any of the EJ population criteria um and so I just wanted to specify that is the one building that is not in an EJ population and so this is the EJ population map I think we skipped one uh oh there you go uh this is the asthma prevalence map the respiratory Hazard index map and then lastly the urban heat island intensity map uh and then I because all the pins are different colors it might be a little bit confusing but a reminder that the yellow one where Charles toown is is the one building that's not in an EJ population and then I'll hand it over back to you chair thank you Diana before I ask each board member if they have any questions or comments I would like to give an opportunity for a representative or any representative of this application to introduce themselves for the record hi I'm Mike kson uh project manager and the preservation team at the Community Builders thank you welcome Mike thank you hi Will lip and Cott nice to see everyone again I work for RPM where engineering Consultants uh help put together the application thank you will anyone else okay I will now ask each board member if they have any questions or comments starting with you board member Boyd no questions thank you thank you board member Boyd counselor Keta zapart uh not none at this time thank you thank you counselor all right over to me uh one second so one thing that I was curious about with respects to how we're going to be talking about environmental justice populations here and in your memo that you provided us uh I was reading into the the community life model as well as the resident champion model I'm hoping you can Enlighten us or tell us a little bit more about this model and how it would be utilized to you know essentially help address the impacts or provide benefits uh to EJ communities yeah so uh the Community Builders uh Community Life model is our uh Social Services Program uh you know we we use that program to to connect uh help connect ten our residents with with resources um specifically around decarbonization we are in the very early stages of uh creating uh a plan around bringing every Department into involvement around uh our our decarbonization work um but in terms of of Justice work you know our the primary goal of the community life group is to uh you know connect uh EJ communities who are our residents with with resources that support them thank you Mike and so the way you go about connecting is it through that res champion model that you that I also asked about earlier um I can't speak to to the residence champion model personally thank you okay I'm going to pause on my questions for right now uh and turn it over to you board member F thank you um what challenges do you envision with Net Zero compliance for the buildings in this portfolio yeah so for for the most part you we're you know the big reason that we are applying for for the portfolio standard is that uh our our buildings are are publicly subsidized all of them they were built with public funds um they operate with many of them operate with with public funds we don't have on hand Community Builders have have the cash on hand to to make the Net Zero uh Investments on our own um so we rely on on public sector sources for for decarb organization to get to Net Zero um which means that uh you know we have to apply for competitive funding um and uh the the state needs to to choose our projects and the city needs to choose our projects um and you depending on the project they're competitive for for different reasons and um they are a variety of of Ages some of you know some are more like 5 to 10 years old and you know it's it's too soon to to apply for for funding for decarbon ation others are older and it's it's about the right time um so it's and you know but but we also don't know what the what state priorities will be at any given time we're we're really very uh subject to to what those priorities are um you we we do get to to choose priorities uh on our own to to some extent but it is somewhat limited um which means that we're we're going to phase through the buildings as as we go um building 104 is is going to be a a priority um in the in the short term we purchased that a few years ago with the uh with the goal of a of a large project uh New Franklin Park is another priority we applied for for funding uh partially from HUD we didn't receive it but you know that's kind of the nature of of our industry is you know we apply we see what we got and we see what's possible um given the public resources available all right great that's good to know it's very helpful I totally understand the uh well certainly I very much understand the grant issue um have you all looked into some of the uh inflation reduction Act tax credits and the direct pay Provisions that wouldn't have to be competitive Grant applications yeah so we've looked at the at the direct pay tax credit uh it's helpful with solar in particular it's not going to uh let us Electrify our buildings um without without other funds um my team is also responsible for developing a a strategy around accessing the greenhouse gas reduction funds um unfortunately although we applied for um uh the grp uh which is was a part of the inflation reduction act um for New Franklin Park which which which is several of the properties in the in in our portfolio we we did not receive funding for that one um so we've we've been focused we've been very focused on accessing those funds and it has been challenging um there there are a lot of uh others going for them too totally yeah sorry to hear that um how my last question can you tell me a little bit more about how your uh buildings are metered are all of the residents paying their own electricity bills or are you all paying the bills on on behalf of the residents uh so that depends on the property um it there are so even where our residents are paying their their utilities uh they have a utility allowance so their rent is decreased by an amount that is you know approximately the cost of of utilities um but we we do have buildings where where we pay uh for the utilities such as building 104 uh that's a low income senior building Section 8 um you know extremely very low income uh residents um and it's it's more typical for senior buildings for for the owner to to pay for utility costs great uh for the buildings or at least for all the utility accounts that you all control have you all considered opting into to something like Boston's Community Choice electricity or some other kind of renewable energy procurement strategy we have a long-term contract to get uh lower cost electricity um you this is this is a challenge for us because you know for some of our properties we fund our our community life Services which are very important to our our mission off of uh building operations and maintaining low uh operating expenses is is important for can be important for our community Life program um so his Al we focus on on keeping electricity prices low um we're currently locked into a contract until 2026 at which point we're we're going to reevaluate and and be focusing more on uh uh green as well as cost got it okay great I have one more question but I'll yield to my colleagues for uh their questions thank you board member faruki board member lore thank you um I'm familiar with the the Community Builders and also know Elizabeth uh Gonzalez Suarez who runs the kind of Resident Life component of Community Builders and you know have a lot of um you know impressed by that model um uh and uh but do have one question and that is and Mike or um William probably Mike more so this question for you any any examples of um resident engagement how resident engagement has been uh around Capital issues and you know what impact residents have had on any Capital project that TCB has done rather that is a decarbonization effort or a general Capital project um so our residents uh rrive our capital projects for existing building buildings in the sense that you know we we try our best to be as responsive to our our resident needs um as as we can and you know where where we see that we have buildings where we could be serving our our residents better and where we're hearing from uh the people on the ground like our community L staff and our property management staff that uh you know we we can be serving our our residents better by making a capital investment you know we we try to to prioritize those sites um in terms of had another thought but I think I lost it um we also it's also been really important to us in considering electrification and the fact that our tenants are are paying uh for their own utility bills much of the time that um you know it's it's incredibly important to us to to not increase the the cost to Residents when we uh pursue an electrification Pro uh project and sometimes that is the main Challenge and and we don't always have good Solutions um to to that and we're we're working on it and it's uh it's been something that we've been asking all of our Consultants when we uh ask for for zero overtime proposals I I I've been uh including the question like I need to know what the cost to our residents is going to be um which is not a standard uh across the industry um but we're we're bringing it into our process thank you I appreciate it no more other questions thank you board member lore I you know just to check in on something here and maybe it might be directed to will or to the city staff you know how are you doing currently or how is the portfolio looking to do right now with respects to meeting the 2025 uh threshold like are you still below that threshold are you at that threshold based on the challenges that I'm hearing Mike sort of reference I'm wondering how you're doing with respects to that right now so it depends on the site yeah um I believe four sites have fines um I'm just trying to pull up the report I prepared um but if this um building portfolio is awarded it'll eliminate 2025 finds be so interested just to kind of give them some breathing room to really flush out their plan and come up with priorities about which sites to you know prioritize first um so yes I think four sites have fines in 2025 assuming this does not go through okay thank you William are there any other questions from the board board member farooqi yes thank you I promise this will be my last question um in terms of the residents who are paying their own utility BS um have you all conducted or considered conducting Outreach about Community Choice electricity for those residents uh we have we have not done that that yet um you know they're all opted into the the default uh you know I'm not sure if anyone has decided uh to to opt out um but for for the most part we've assumed that um our residents are not going to be interested in increasing their their costs but again this is something as we consider how to integrate uh community life into our decarbonization plans is going to be more valous totally okay great yeah I I think the utility allowance structure that you have is really interesting and you know increasing that allowance could offset any cost increases that come with the residents opting up to the green 100 option um just as an idea but I recognize you know still some residents may not take you up on that so um but that's good to know and I appreciate that you're really approaching this whole thing with the resident cost angle in mind it's a good thing to see I do want to flag that that our uh utility allowances aren't so flexible they're they going to be set they're set in contracts uh that we can't at present you know maybe with some statutory change sometime in the future but we can't present alter a utility allowance for someone because they often didn't between Choice electricity they would bear that cost I see okay oh that's good to know all right all right that's helpful all right no further questions for me thanks thank you for asking that question uh board member faruki it was on my mind so uh what member ladimore thank you not really a question but more of a comment um you know I very much appreciate also as um member farqi said the focus on you know the impact of decarbonization on low mod income residents because there there can be implications for cost particularly as we increase you know go electrification for those that you know have to fund their own electric bills and so I I definitely appreciate that we've heard that comment from our um affordable housing residents for sure they're concerned about increasing electric cost so just want to say I appreciate you know that you are factoring that into your your considerations and uh just one thing that we have been thinking about is that we're going to have to um in order to offset the additional electrical costs which are almost inevitable you know look at solar you know how does solar help bring costs down to the extent that we can as at least the common area cost if not other costs so just want to make that comment I appreciate that you have factored that into your analysis thank you thank you I appreciate that all right I acknowledging that there is a comment into in the chat there for you Mike uh coming from Arlene unfortunately we don't have a official public commenting period join a public meeting but I just want to call out there for you to take a look at I in in the interest of time I'm going to start off with asking if there is a motion to request a hearing you know based on the discussion today I I didn't really see us going in that direction so I'm going to ask my secondary question is there a motion to approve the community Builder's uh application with standard conditions so moved is there a second second okay on the motion to approve the Community Builders application with standard conditions how do you vote uh starting with you board member boy in favor councelor K dep in favor I am also in favor board member fi in favor and board member Latimore in favor okay the motion passes the eyes have it uh the Community Builders portfolio building portfolio has been approved further regulations the environment department will send a copy of written decision the written decision letter within 7 days we will now switch to our public hearing I am calling this public hearing to order at 548 p.m. we will now hear from the city of Boston about their building portfolio can the representative from the city please introduce yourself yes hello my name is Chris Kramer can you hear me yes I can welcome Chris I will now hand it over to you great thank you so much I am happy to be here again I first attended i i attended my first review board meeting in October and I first want to acknowledge and appreciate your patience and in our uh kind of the efforts that we put in and the time it took to resubmit a slightly amended portfolio and answer the questions and prepare information um that you requested so with that I will um Ziggy I believe if you could go to the next slide we will get into the agenda um this information should some of it uh should seem familiar um I'll be reviewing information regarding our proposed building portfolio amended proposed building portfolio what changed exactly uh reviewing the Blended emission standard that we've calculated showing the maps uh the pathway 2 maps that we've generated and as well as some of the Energy Efficiency and decarbonization initiatives that are mentioned in our narrative uh submitted with our application those really haven't changed much but uh maybe a little bit more detailed and then at the end I will get into answering some of the inquiries from the review board that have that have come in in the last couple months specifically around combined heat and power or Coen units residential and school tenant engagement plans um BPS student engagement and um I believe actually it doesn't appear oh I think there were some additional questions that didn't neatly fit into these categories around portfolio selection and size as well as how maintenance is performed so with that Siggy go to the next slide so this slide hopefully is familiar to everyone uh it's the nature of our portfolio we have 369 city-owned buildings uh last time it was 370 so the one adjustment that we made is we removed a Condo building that was previously under a a CH a parent child kind of property campus um configuration for uh the Boston Public Health commission so that building is no longer in our portfolio and I'll explain why later in the slides um we also recategorized a a building on Long Island uh that was kind of categorized in error as multif family housing that was recategorized to residential care facility uh which is a more accurate building typology um and I'll just note that I think last time the combined heat and power units listed were a little bit different we our our combined heat and power Fleet as I'll call it has fluctuated over the years uh we've had as many as I believe thir 29 units um active but currently we have 20 units active at 16 locations uh 16 City buildings um all schools so I that's an update as well uh and and just a reminder that we did not include the uh Boston Housing Authority um and we also did not include seven Trust owned buildings that are managed by the city's Treasury Department but um are not city-owned per se so uh Ziggy if you could go to the next slide a familiar slide again uh I'll just note that our Blended emissions uh standard our our portfolio emissions standard did not change as a result of the removal of that one Condo building our absolute emissions limit did go down as you as you would expect and our and our dominant building typology is education 2third roughly 2third of our Municipal conditioned square footage is is in Boston Public Schools our current emissions uh from 2023 the most recent calendar year with data available was at about 77,000 metric tons of CO2 for this portfolio so that's about a 16 we're about 16% below the 2025 to 2029 threshold next slide these Maps will be almost identical to the ones you've already seen um and the main difference is that we no longer have any buildings marked as residential um so this is the um the environmental justice map overlay uh the next one is the asthma prevalence um Urban heat island index is the third and respiratory Hazard is the fourth and uh next slide believe I discussed this briefly last time but we have a Energy savings performance contract in the city so one of the many it's the kind of it's the program that is exclusively focused on reducing energy consumption in City buildings and and we are now trying to Pivot a little bit so that if for those who know anything about performance contracts they're really focused on eliminating kilowatt hours therms any sort of energy unit but not on emission savings so uh the the structure of those agreements and the financing is is not immediately um suited or tailored to emissions reduction so we are currently kind of trying to reimagine uh what renew Boston trust looks like in the future but the all these details are in our inti are are in our narrative and I probably presented on them last time uh but we've uh some some highlight projects um going back to phase one we are about to have over two and a half megawatts of solar capacity on uh City roofs um across I believe 10 locations and with the hope to do more of course uh We've recently replaced all basically all of the lights in City Hall which will save over a million kilowatt hours of electricity per year and and there are some other other highlights U I think we're close closing in on reducing carbon emissions from build bus uh by about 4,000 metric tons a year as a result of this program alone next slide a couple other Energy Efficiency and decarbonization initiatives that you may be aware of the mayor's executive order eliminating the use of fossil fuels and new construction major Renovations of City buildings the city has completed uh in the in the last year I would say two fa facilities condition assessments one for Boston public schools and one for non Boston public school buildings and um that will really be a uh you know there's a group of facilities managers that are meeting regularly to kind of understand the implications of those facility condition assessments how to use the data that was collected um to inform Capital upgrades uh and so forth so that's kind of an ongoing we have we have the information now what what do we do with it certain a couple key more than a couple U projects I wanted to highlight that are outside of renew Boston Trust but you know the city does a lot of capital work um new construction major Renovations across all departments not just Boston Public Schools but you'll see here you know I've got I've got four Boston public school projects that are um active or just nearing completion um 26 cour street is a city administrative kind of uh staff building that is currently under development or major renovation uh new community center in Dorchester is in design uh we've got a couple libraries that are going to undergo major Renovations and all of these or I would say most of them are in the context of the mayor's executive order it there is a a matter of Permitting um and which ones apply and when the permits were uh um acquired by the general um construction or general contractors but nonetheless uh and then and fire department new construction and many more uh you go to next slide please okay here is where we get to some of the questions that I wasn't able to address um last time specifically around combined heat and power units this is the reason uh one of the primary reasons we are pursuing pathway 2 um because we do have 20 active combined heat and power units in across 16 schools so the initial fleet was installed between the years of 20 2002 and 2008 as I said earlier the maximum Fleet size was 29 units at one time with five almost six megawatts of generating capacity uh currently the fleet side is is at 20 uh with a generating capacity of more four megawatts of electricity the some of the benefits of a of a combined heat and power plant is that it can be uh although not always enrolled in demand response programs so it can a combined heat and power plant can reduce grid stress during SU months uh during peak times actually they can also be used during the winter although they actually I should say they're basically on um most of the winter so they aren't used in in the random demand response events that that might come up in the winter another big benefit is reducing operating costs overall we've had a net savings um of four $4.7 million uh from the year fiscal year FY one uh 15 2015 through fiscal year 2023 and for those who don't know we have a July 1st to June 30th fiscal year uh that net savings is total electricity savings plus demand response Revenue minus any operating operations in maintenance and gas costs um so pretty substantial I I didn't put that in terms of what our operating budget is uh for utilities but nonetheless does offer savings and then the waste thermal heat is one big one big benefit it reduces uh these combined um heat and power units reduce stress on existing hydronic uh heating equipment boilers um and and domestic hot water heaters specifically I didn't want to leave out some of the downside so this combined heat and power units do increase type one direct carbon emissions so you are burning more fossil fuels on site um and and uh and not purchasing electricity from the grid as a result there are ongoing specialized oper and maintenance contracts associated with these um we don't have you know a full City staff team to to maintain um them so there's kind of a procurement administrative element uh to having these units run properly and then uh there was a question that came up that I'll bring up a little bit later but end of life strategy uh the mayor's executive U order uh fossil fuel free executive order leaves it a little bit ambiguous to us uh currently as to how we proceed how we maintain um and whether we whether or not we can legitimately make a claim to replace these units um if if at their end of the use of Life despite the benefits um but as a result of the executive order so as and and that's kind of reflected in the current Fleet size you know some some units have are no longer functional and they've basically been mothballed uh on the right is just a photo of one unit that we recently this past summer upgraded the controls on so it could participate in demand response program um and you know improve Data Tracking and this is at the orberger school next slide please this is a graphic that tries to address a question that came in today uh about emissions and it's you can kind of ignore the N the the the numbers that are listed but perhaps pay attention to the relative Mission so this is an EPA this is from the EPA CHP benefits uh website and or web page and it it essentially shows due to efficiencies in part from not having to purchase electricity on the grid that loses a lot of um where there are line losses uh and and the direct use of waste heat uh there's a there's an emissions benefit to to CHP units but I will I will be totally upfront that there are a lot of big caveats here the um Power station fuel in the upper leftand corner is a US average so every part of the country has a different kind of resource mix and therefore grid emissions so the the New England's grid is one of the cleaner grids so the the numbers might be a little bit closer um but there there is I think a well documented emissions benefit in totality for having CHP units but of course those emissions are now uh brought on site as opposed to um left in some Central Power Plant uh in in some other part of the of Massachusetts or New England next slide please some more details uh to answer questions that came up on our existing Fleet this is part one of two so on the right side you'll see schools that have CHP units their capacity in kilowatts their age and the total or the annual utilization hours so the percentage of hours during the year where they are actually running um based on most re recent data available generally speaking the heat utilization in other words the percentage of waste heat that's actually used in our hydronic Loops is upwards of 55% uh and that's variable based on the season but as highest in winter when we're using a lot of waste heat for for space conditioning uh the overall the total efficiency energy output divided by energy input of these units for new new units it's around 80% uh when we we tested and monitored data in 2016 um so you know a good while ago and that showed a range of 40 to 70% in existing uh units so that's what we're looking at for a total efficiency and then and then emissions controls and standards so there we have a little over 50% of our CHP units have what's called a catalyst think of it think of your catalytic converter that um reduces uh major pollutants um from being discharged or from being exhausted and so those are inspected and replaced uh regularly as part of our um operations and maintenance contracts uh and and those standards that the emiss the way that those I guess an emission standard is maintained is by monitoring the exhaust temperature and the oxygen um levels uh of of the unit operation again these are all questions that came up um that I'm trying to answer uh from from as far back I think as November resiliency benefits most of the so none of these units are Black start capable which means they cannot if the grid if the electric grid grow goes down they are not currently set up to re-energize the building um they can't provide electrical power to emergency for emergency needs um I should say that first and I think when when people wonder about resiliency benefits for CHP the first thing they think about but I can say that most of the CHP units are located on rooftops um so there is not a major flood concern um uh related to the CHP units I.E having mechanical equipment on the ground floor the one exception is at the old Cleveland school at nine uh Dorchester or 9 Charles Street in Dorchester but based on my uh research and discussion with colleagues that is not in a flood zone today nor is in it um in a modeled flood zone in in 2050 or 2070 or at least not one with high likelihood so that's positive and then West West Roxbury units West rockbury High School units um are equipped with absorption chillers which give uh give an extra cooling I don't know if I'd call it resiliency but it does provide a cooling benefit in the summer next slide this is the rest of our Fleet here on the right side and I'll just point out that orberger because it was kind of under construction we were installing new controls was not really operational this year but it will be back online in5 uh these are I because we received another five questions today I just wanted to copy them into the slide here and I will try to go quickly through uh my responses so the first one are any of the CHP units utilized for standby power I already addressed that standby power AKA are they black Shar capable and they not what is the plan for the units when they reach the end of their useful life eliminated or replaced so uh this is a kind of a case by case and I'll just say um off the bat that there's no formal plan at this time for how we treat every CHP unit currently due to budget constraints um and implications of the mayor's executive order some CHP units may be abandoned in place I mentioned that's already happened um and it's unlikely that we would replace them uh units that are no longer operational by themselves Maybe be harvested for parts at other locations where units are running well and could benefit um so we kind of see how uh we have limited operation and maintenance contract dollars to maintain these and to do any major Capital upgrades every year uh so we we try to be really strategic with those um and uh I will just also note that incentives that once existed from utilities uh that funded the the the installation of these units no longer are available um just because with math Safe program is gone um and to address number question number three of course I got this these questions today so we don't have an a carbon footprint um for each CHP unit when compared to Grid electricity plus gas so the alternative that I showed a few slides ago um but it's it's something that we we could calculate um and and that other slide does suggest that PHP units are competitive if not lower in emissions um the fourth question is regarding the The Greening of the grid and at what point um uh Coen or CHP units become more emissions intensive than purchasing Grid electricity that is also unclear uh and and we'd be interest that would probably factor into our long-term plan which is question number five and I think I st it before we don't have a plan for what to do with each one of the units at the end of useful life um something that we're looking at next slide please I'm gonna so there's a lot of information in this slide I'm sure many have been waiting for it this is the slide that explains why we removed two residential well we removed one building from our portfolio um but we no longer have any residential buildings in the amended portfolio uh just quickly those two buildings one was at the North hton campus which is what we call the kind of collection of buildings um surrounded by massav uh Northampton Street Harrison Avenue and I believe aliny Street uh and um just high level there are actually two condo buildings there um we originally uh had modeled as one um because of shared systems and uh there are two build there are two condo buildings um we only really removed one from portfolio so that was another kind of error in in our um application they are currently under 98-year leases uh that began in 2013 between Trinity financial and uh bphc Northampton Square Development Corporation which is a nonprofit they are triple net leases Trinity is responsible for all capital upgrades and utilities uh they pay the um uh nonprofit Northampton Square Development Corporation a lease uh annually and all units are rented to tenants uh so there none of them are owner occupied who pay 30% of their income which is between 60 and 70% of the Boston Ami average mean income uh so as a result kind of these factors considered and looking at the uh regulations um and and policies and ordinance we removed these from our application and Trinity Financial will be reporting these buildings as part of their emissions whether they decide to apply for a portfolio or not um and they would be able to we'd be happy to put um the board in contact with uh any and all of our context attorney Financial but they would be able to better answer questions about short and long-term capital planning um and Resident displacement concerns that came up the other building uh was a little simpler uh we had in error incorrectly labeled a building on the Long Island Campus is multif family housing uh all of the other buildings um many of the other buildings out there that had any sort of residential uh component were labeled residential care facility so it was an error on our part and um we removed or we we changed the building typology and I should just remind folks that these buildings don't qualify as being vacant under the ordinance but they are currently unoccupied un not used um for regular everyday Services uh to City residents I'm really I thought I was I had a lot here um I'll try to get through because I want to take questions I know there will be some so there were some questions about charter schools there are three charter schools that um we lease City buildings uh to Charter Schools um and actually so on the left you'll see three these are kind of there are different names for these buildings uh depending on who you ask within the city but the Lucy Stone apologies for the typo Berto ID 10279 is no longer Roxbury Prep charter school and it will be added to the as of last year it will be added our portfolio um after a full year of utility data is available uh the Hamilton school um uh is in Brighton a current lease is through 2020 FY fiscal year 2025 for us BPS staff uh staffs the building with custodial services and and and um pays utility bills or we do pass the utility bills onto the the tenant but we we pay for Capital upgrades so that one's in our portfolio and then the dickerman school which is Al known as the Roxbury prep Dorchester campus aay for utilities uh repair work staff building with C custodians B lease is through 20 FY 28 and that building is as a result of those uh kind of details is currently excluded from our portfolio this uh on the right we I'd like to be able to spend more time on it and I can answer any questions specifically but as far as engagement with students specifically on decarbonization I will say that the environment Department the energy team specifically my team we have been uh working with Madison Park uh Technical vocational high school and Boston green Academy specifically on curriculum development um energy audit support we actually we um uh for Boston green Academy specifically we have uh facilitated two energy audits of the old state house um and so we've been involved and this there's kind of just a historical element my predecessor uh establish some connections with these two schools but we we would always be interested in finding other um opportunities with Boston Public Schools to add uh curriculum um in already very tight teaching kind of schedules admittedly around some of the renew Boston trust work or any other Capital upgrade work that is energy and carbon emissions focus and then I'll just add that there are some Community benefits that we will be exploring in purchase agreements in the future and and those could go to benefit in in standing up uh um vocational programs or or further funding uh for vocational programs around Green Technology next slide and uh on deferred maintenance we this is a big kind of category or B big question uh but there's a there was a question about how deferred maintenance is prioritized um and it's based on fundamentally on need and available operating Capital dollars it's kind of a non-answer but that's the reality um Capital plans are developed in fiveyear increments and we're currently in the first year of A Five-Year Plan and they basically just go out an extra F an extra four years with every new year um I would encourage folks to go to the budget um Department web page to learn more about the budgeting process there's a lot of really good information there um Capital plans Maps um and and our operating budget is approved by the budget office annually um uh Department building owner departments submit their ongoing maintenance needs emergency needs obviously receive the highest priority finally uh and I'm sorry for speaking so fast but I want to make enough time um separate portfolios for large uh versus small City buildings a question came came in about uh whether we considered breaking up our portfolio because some of our buildings are not required to report until 2030 uh we consider different port many different portfolio submission permutations I should say uh but more based on the owner departments and the building use type and not necessarily the size acknowledging full well that that there isn't a a compliance requirement up until 20130 we are again leading by example um so I think actually including you know there there's a ease factor of including more buildings into one portfolio but we are fundamentally holding all of our buildings to the 2025 comp liance uh cycle um and we're not waiting to comply with Berto uh we we really wanted to balance the desire to implement emissions reduction projects in in buildings uh on the various Berto timelines but also frankly to streamline our compliance and reduce administrated burden on City staff um on myself and and those who report to me so ultimately we decided that the larger portfolio with all City buildings was the sensible approach with that I uh would like to turn it over to the board I'll answer any questions um and I just I want to say I appreciate the time to talk about our portfolio and our buildings uh feels like the work that we do in planning and Reporting kind of happens in the dark um so this is actually a great for forum for for me um and I look forward to the questions thank you thank you Chris uh in the interest of time what I'm going to do is limit our questions or comments to one right now so that we can allow members of the cup public to provide any questions or comments that they have so I'm going to start with you board member Boyd no questions thank you thank you board member boy counselor k departa no questions thank you thank you counselor I'm going to forego my question for now uh board member faruki I'll do the same but just want to thank you Chris this answered all of my questions it's very thorough thank you board member faruki and board member Latimore yeah I want to also say thank you Chris I mean it's uh really good presentation I I would wonder uh ask I don't know if I've seen this presentation before this meeting in terms of the materials that went out so I would love to get access to this presentation if possible I have comments and questions but I'll since we're limited to one and I appreciate the time cons St now I'll stop there thank you thank you Bard we will now open this meeting to public comment as a reminder to members of the public to provide public comment please raise your hand or type in the chat in the application via the zoom meeting platform if you are calling in and cannot use the platform you can raise your hand by pressing star n or send your questions to staff via email at BTO reviewboard boston.gov are there any questions from the public or comments lak hi uh thank you for for that presentation um it was great to see that there's work being done for BPS engagement since this is a huge opportunity to showcase green jobs and green skills um but I just wanted to ask and you may have touched on this already uh but are there any conversations going on with BPS schools other than Madison Park and Boston green Academy to to continue this engagement um with students across the city since that that green curriculum could be really huge for for everyone um since you know we are moving towards a green economy and you know students should learn more about what jobs are out there for them yeah I I can say from my vantage point thank you for the question um from my vantage point uh in what I would I could only describe as a constellation of individuals who are uh involved in some way in Berto compliance um I don't know of any uh specifically um any any other schools that um that have a decarbonization building Energy Efficiency curriculum um not that I or the environment Department have been involved in directly that doesn't mean that they don't exist I've received kind of a a casual email here and there uh from and frankly this goes back a couple years from from teachers uh look interested in learning more about the Energy System you know grid and and things um there is a process of getting uh kind of norm alizing or or standardizing new curriculum uh that goes through kind of a stem Department um at BPS um their administrative staff uh so the short answer is I'm not aware of any connections uh specifically making those connections but um and I would I would encourage you to perhaps reach out to um I be happy to provide some points of contact after the meeting but um to BPS and and their stem team specifically uh because they could tell you a little bit more about the nature of uh curriculum and obviously it varies from school to school um and and student body to student body mostly by age right um and and subject matter detail I appreciate that that was that was really helpful thank you thank you ronac I just want to acknowledge the comment not a question in the chat here from Jessica Boatright uh wanted to commend Chris and the city for this very thorough piece of work about what I know is a complex what fio thank you for the presentation are there any other questions or comments a comment from Maria Jones thank you everyone from the city I'll give it about maybe 30 seconds just to check okay I will now close the public comment period um if there or actually before I close it I forgot to do my typical Spiel uh Ziggy and Diana are there any questions or comments in the emails uh that we have received no questions or comments uh in the email chair thank you Diana I will now close the public comment period and go back to the board to see if you have any additional questions or comment but before we do that since we started this meeting a little late uh I just want to check uh if you any of board members or if all board members would be willing to stay past 6:30 since we started late I'm seeing yes from Hassan Gail Rashida counselor yes I do have a hard stop at seven o'clock not a problem thank you counselor and it is a yes for me as well so thank you all for being willing to do that I will now ask the board if there are any questions or comments that they would like to to discuss but before we start I should note that if we are entertaining special conditions today we will have to continue this application to a following herein in order to review and discuss those special condition with the city of Boston alternatively we may make requests of the applicant for items we would like to see in their emission standard compliance plan when it is submitted in 2 years requests for the emission standard compliance plans are not considered special condition with that being said I am going to go in reverse order and start with board member ladimore thank you again I thought it was a really helpful and thorough presentation and I appreciate you know the amount of work that it takes to put it all together so thank you Chris um and I appreciate the examples of the student engagement and the question that Rach asked as well um so uh let's see I had a I had a question and well first of all would love sure Rach will follow up because I think we it would be great to understand the the context you just referenced for stem Etc so I'm sure Rach will follow up with you on that um in full disclosure um Rach is a staff member at the agency that I manage so um I certainly appreciate that um but the question that I had on the um EJ narrative as I was rereading it again this weekend um it just generally question about the uh it mentions that BPS has a a list of infrastructure repair and Improvement projects and and some of those included boiler Replacements and hbac repairs and I just wondered you know as you're looking at boiler Replacements are you looking at what what type of Replacements are you looking at there I mean I assume we can inst you can install um fossil fuel power but just wonder generally about you know the to boiler Replacements and HVAC issues yes thank you for the question um remember L more I uh I believe without having um their kind of detailed Capital plan in front of me I could see that that is a note that they that they have boilers because I've seen a facilities conditioned assessment reports and they are publicly available that say that boilers are at the end of their useful life what that means in terms of what is installed next is a different question and I think that's where um the you know the the the real deferred maintenance or Capital planning comes into play I uh it does say in the executive order that emergency Replacements are you know like buildings need to be heated so if if a if a if a boiler fails catastrophically in in the middle of winter it's going to be replaced with a new boiler um but there is a degree of forward planning um to in order to kind of stick to the spirit of the executive order that we don't just want to let boilers because because it's hard or difficult to uh change a fossil fuel supported hydronic system with a water source heat pump system just because it's hard doesn't mean we want to let boilers get to their the catastrophic failure just so we can maintain the boilers right that logic that there's no logic there so um if if there I again I would have to look and I I appreciate this was in my narrative um but I suspect that many notes about boiler replacement requirements are uh and I don't know if does it say this the school exactly because I might be able to tell you I didn't note the schools I just saw in a couple like three or four boiler Replacements were needed in the assessment and I just was like okay so what are they going to replace those boilers with I assume they're all fossil fuel fired yeah yeah um I so I mean OB the the quick answer is either electric boiler or water source heat pump but that's a major engineering kind of undertaking uh or a minor engineering undertaking in the case of an electric boiler perhaps but nonetheless uh that's a that's a that's a key consideration thank you just another one other question and that is when I I and this is more less about the uh emissions I think and more just a general question when I was looking at again the um the EJ plan um it talked about I think it was the EJ plan it talked about drinking water asset initiative and just curious what what does that entail the drinking water assets meaning what kind of work is going to be done under that initiative yeah I um I think that the I I know that that the long-term BPS Capital plan is going to have more details can offer but I I also know that there are a number of there are schools that have recently received new drinking water uh lines basically because um I don't want to speculate too much because I think some of this happened before I but there was a time and still in some schools there are no drinking bounds because the pipes weren't safe so I think that the idea there is to install new pipes um and and provide drinking water new drinking water Hardware thank you no more questions thank you board member ladimore board member farooqi uh yes I um curious if there are any combined heat and power plants that will reach the end of their useful life within the next two years which just to say before we're going to see the emissions compliance plan great question I think the answer is yes let me pull if you don't mind Ziggy going back to the part one I can just kind of off the top of my head based on discussions I've been a part of I believe yes um there are a couple uh I can say and the older they are the more likely uh they are to I guess fail um none of these are ringing a bell uh the next slide I believe possible that the Murphy even though it's 12 years old um I I I seem to remember that the Murphy uh was on yeah there there are one or two but most of these units as we've kind of narrowed the fleet um and not rebuilt an engine frankly I think in in a few years now um we're just kind of trying to maintain the ones that are running well so a few have dropped off recently and and it's possible to Murphy I can definitely get back to you on that okay got it thank you yeah um yeah I would uh request certainly and and advocate for an end of life strategy that decommissions the fossil fuel infrastructure as quickly as possible and so um you know certainly to the extent that the Murphy or any other schools are implicated in that you know within the next two years uh hopeful we can find a resolution that's you know within the um within the means of the city but that that can actually uh transition those CHP unit so um that's really my main uh interest here and um and then I second board member Lattimore's question about the boilers as well this has also been something we' engaged with the city about uh so no further questions at this time I I'll you back to you Mr chairman thank you board member farooqi um so first off I want to thank you Chris I should have thank you earlier for your presentation and um also thank you for talking about a bit more about the decarbonization uh uh with respects to student engagement there's a huge opportunity there I I must say that I found that to be missing from your the EJ memo that the city had put out and so I'm glad that you had discussed that here today um and I'll accept what was said publicly as as as record uh first and foremost uh secondly you know one of the things that I saw in in the EJ I believe it was in the EJ memo if it wasn't there then I apologize but I I took the quote here that stated that the city intends to have a ranking methodologies for all of their buildings um in the port portfolio and the ranking methodology will account for environmental justice Public Health emissions and and energy cost intensities and so as it relates to Berto in general and so one of the things that I'm curious about is will this list be made public uh you know on the website or in any shap or form uh anything that we do is uh subject to Public public records uh request but you're asking specifically if we'll publish it um I I currently I'll I'll be honest it is a um uh as I said we are you know one but of many people in a constellation and not uh you know that that make decisions about Capital planning and and so this would in some ways be a tool it would be a methodology it would be used to advise or shall I say break tie when trying to decide how to make Capital dollars Investments and it's never that simple um and one thing that but but I but your to your question um there the idea behind the methodology is that you could Prov you could apply different weights to each of those categories um and there's no one correct way to weight each of those factors um so I the only reason I I can't admit to making it a publicly available tool is because I don't actually know if it will be used um or if it will go anywhere it's more currently it's just been more of a like a research how much do uh these different factors actually impact the ranking of buildings um but again anything that we any any anything that we do is is public uh record so um I just I'm not prepared to to say we'll make it public only because I'm not sure it will be used in the first place that makes sense Fair that's fair so Hannah if if you're still on the call I I want to ask this question here because this is sort of what I was referring to when it came to ideas around special conditions and so turning over to you for a moment you know I don't necessarily want to say it needs to be a livable page or but it should be something that's digestible for the public in in some type of way would this be something more applicable toward an emission standard compliance plan or would this be more applicable as a special condition to this building portfolio um great question um is the intention of getting this information really to kind of see how the city is planning on making decisions um on different Investments yes but so I think that is something that would be articulated in the admissions plan um um that would be forthcoming if the portfolio were approved so I think that I think in that plan is where Chris and the rest of the city team would more clearly articulate how you know what what plans are in place for like in um decarbonization measures and how will decisions be made kind of going forward um so I think it would be I think it would make sense for that request to come during that part of the process um because it really is about the like sequencing and timing of those decisions thank you Hannah and I directed it to you because I recall um this section stated that this would be managed by the environment Department if I if I remember correctly and so I I appreciate your response and so one other aspect that I'm just calling out it is an opportunity you know to always highlight what the city is doing and always uplift Berto whether it through the climate action plan or through Berto itself and so thank you for that response and you know I will I want it on record I guess that I would like to see this in the admissions compliance plan whether it be some sort of public facing website or it would be something that would be reoccurring on an annual basis that it is easily able to be understood by our residents what the city is prioritizing over the next few years if if I may just uh further respond um we envision I think the the best version in some ways of this tool is uh a a pretty simple um summary page where you can put put the the the waiting percentage for each of these factors that we're considering and I guess maybe a a constraint there is that we've decided on the universe of parameters that are important subject to discussion um and you could put in percentages and as long as it added up to 100% you could click submit and you could see how all of our buildings were ranked based on that waiting um that is what we've internally talked about as being a useful like tool for us um and and I would love to get to a place I mean there are a couple reasons it hasn't happened one is just internal capacity um but but I think it could be a really useful tool um so yeah thank you for the question yes and thank you both Hannah and Chris for your response that that's extremely helpful um I have no further questions at this time uh and I'll now turn it over to counselor col I can come back to the counselor uh momentarily and turn it over to board member Boyd no questions thank you board member Boyd once again counselor Keta tapata all you may have pressed the unmute button twice counselor um just double checking okay I am going to move on momentarily and just ask are there any other questions or comments from the remaining board members Bo member lore no I thank you for your comment acting chair Alice about kind of uh you know the maximum extent Possible having transparency around the prioritization of the work um and particularly EJ communities and I Echo if that's I think that's what I I at least I inter did you were getting that I think that's very important there was a line I was going to mention that there was a line in the city's at the end of the city's EJ narrative and I think that that needs to be emphasized being able to look at how decisions are made about which properties are um which buildings are prioritized um and keeping that EJ screen in mind I think is important very important um and I'm not sure to what extent you know the board has any um you know uh ability to um talk about other matters like um you know getting back to kind of how this relates to the students in the school such a huge opportunity given that there's so much Capital work related to energy efficiency and decarbonization that's going to happen you know how and I really appreciate the examples you gave Chris of you know the Madison Park and the green Academy and also appreciate reo's question because you know uh I really love to see as much as possible some of this work that is being planned and being done being at least described and to the students for their edification and as broadly as possible across as many grades and many schools as possible and um so just wondered about what What U might be done or what right the board has if any to um s make suggestions about things like you know you're going to have tons of Trad people and the city's going to be letting tons of contracts and I know from the perspective of where I sit you know as of an affordable housing developer that also has a lot of Trades um trades that we do business with um millions of dollars worth of work where we sometimes say we' like you general contractor to you know support us and this way you know also and so to what extent can the city look at it Contracting process related to this decarbonization work and kind of build in some thoughts about how contractors may just simply present to various classrooms the work that they're doing and you know again I'm not sure what what special if that's could be considered a special I don't know what right we have I'm I'm still trying to understand that but I I just make that comment as a way of thinking as you know about without and I know how hard it is to do any Capital work as an affordable housing developer and um but if there's any way that there can be some tie between you know the the millions and millions and perhaps even a billion or who knows how much when you're talking about 369 or whatever number of properties over the next you know 5 10 15 years or at least five years um that's a huge opportunity uh huge opportunity to kind of make sure that our students understand what's going on in their own schools and also what practicums or practical experience they can have as relates to that at minimum understanding and that's where some of the the Contracting and how um how we can get maybe in a way that is not as heavy a lift for the students you know for the you know ways of of the city building in those mechanisms for you know contractor types and you know vendors to come and present the work in and hopefully working with teachers to do that in in ways that the students can absorb and understand so I I really want to and again I don't know Diana and Hannah you know what what our you know ability is to and you know asks for that formally but I I do think that this is a huge opportunity Hannah yeah if you I can jump in on that um yeah Gail I completely hear you I think and I I wish I knew more about what the city's already doing on this because I know there is a number of things um that are um that the city's already doing in this I would say that could be again something that um would be good for Chris to highlight in the in the plan ad missions compliance plan um and again I think that what important things to keep in mind for the board or when you know we're thinking about special conditions that they should be um tied to the relief that's being offered and um feasible um and you know that the that the applicant can commit to them also um I think those are all really important things you're raising so I I don't I don't know exactly what it is but I would say I would definitely kind of both speaking from like as a representative of the city and also thinking about future applicants who might be in in similar situations I would want to get more information first on what's already being done and then what opportunities there might be kind of for additional work there and I think in in this case I do think that again a kind of coming with the emissions compliance plan could be an opportunity to take a look at that um kind of for the city and and of also for other P folios that are developing those plans thank you thank you Hannah all right uh in general are well before I say that I just want to acknowledge that I I believe the counselor may have hopped off around 6:37 or at least that's when I've noticed it so that's just for the record um are there any further discussions or questions hi I I apologize I was um I I was having technical problems but I I think a question was asked if I have any questions or comments and and I don't I just want to um say thank you to the city uh for for coming and providing this uh presentation luckily um I work closely with the city the administration rather so uh I'm I'm grateful for their work but I just wanted to have the record reflect that I that I am here but I also don't have any questions thank you thank you and welcome back counselor all right uh and I just want to acknowledge one more comment that was in the chat from I hope I'm not saying the name incorrectly but yamini uh thank you for the invite and thank you to the board uh moving on um is there a motion one second there was something that popped up in the chat thank you Diana is there a motion to approve which standard condition and make a request to include information regarding publicly disclosing EJ screen and the Boston Public Schools engagement in emiss in the emissions compliance plan my goodness I'm GNA have to say that again is there a motion uh I'm going to pause I do see Chris's hands up yeah it was just a minor Point um I wanted to address uh more specifically bember lore's question about boilers in our narrative um I'm happy to do that I just pulled up and I was trying to find a section that um they were referring to and I only found one mention of boilers in our um in so anyway I I'm more better prepared to answer a question about a specific section of the narrative I'll just say that okay thank you is there a motion to approve with standard condition and make a request to include information regarding public publicly disclosing the environmental justice screen and the Boston Public School student engagement in the emission standard compliance plan so move so Mo I've heard that and I'll take that as a second on the all right I'm going to have to say this all again one moment on the motion to approve with standard condition then make the request to include information regarding publicly disclosing the environmental justice screen and Boston Public School student engagement in the emission standard compliance plan how do you vote board member Boyd in favor councelor Kad D in favor I'm also in favor board member farooqi in favor and board member Latimore in favor the eyes have it the motion passes the city of Boston's build-in portfolio has been approved per the regulations the environment department will send a copy of the written decision letter within 7 days thank you Chris and thank you city thank you okay third on the meeting agenda is to approve the previous meeting minutes from December 9th are there any questions or comments regarding the meeting minutes I would just want to call out and acknowledge I I did appreciate that meeting with the residents um at the end of last year so thank you all for putting that together and also thank you to the member of the city to presented on the various decarbonization opportunities that residents have to tap into so uh I appreciate that and I look forward to the next one that we have uh with our city residents again is there a motion to approve the meeting so moved is there a second second on the motion to approve the meeting minutes board members May vote in favor oppose or abstain if they did not attend the last meeting those in favor of approving the meeting minutes say I or show your hands I I I uh board members abstain say abstained Okay board member board I see your motion now okay thank you uh the motion passes the meeting minutes have been approved next are administrative updates zigi your turn yep uh I'll try to make this quick but we have quite a bit of administrative updates um so the deadline for IC and building portfolios was January 6 is uh so in total we have 38 building portfolio applications and five IC applications we review we're working on reviewing the 15 building portfolio applications and the one ICS application we got on the deadline we've received two new short-term hardship compliance plans and we're checking uh the submissions for completeness at this point uh Jessica a boat right it's planned to join the review board by the end of January the regulation state that within 3 months of referral to uh the council the nominee shall be presumed to have been approved and appointed to the review board the three-month Mark for Jessica's nomination will be January 30th also wanted to update you on the equable emissions investment fund Awards we have received all three Grant agreements back and are working on Distributing the funds to the recipients as soon as possible um there was um so bur disclosure again uh just to manual was posted on October 1st for 2024 uh and in mid December it was updated to include the energy data for the buildings that had a reporting extension uh until November 15th so if uh that it's available on analyze Boston so please check it out it has all it should have all the the most updated um energy data for all the buildings and so also an update for the building this carbonization advisor program or bab oh um this is the program where wores will receive free decarbonization planning services and technical assistance and might be eligible for funding to support the implementation of decarbonization projects the application for the first core her uh closed last December and 22 building owners were chosen the majority of the accepted applications were for multif family housing and uh with five uh owners being nonprofits and also um househ of worships as well applications we've received on a ruling basis and we'll be assigned to a future group the next Cort is expected to begin in April 2025 and keep going sorry uh the build uh the burle team is going to host a series of webinars in the upcoming month months the first webinar will be on February 19th covering the launch of the 2025 Berto reporting session and more dates will be reported soon on the Berto website I also want to give an update on the Austin Brian Workshop which was our first inperson Workshop um it was held at the fenel branch on December 10th and uh also in Brighton and the bual team had 20 inperson consultations with building owns over four hours and they were categorized into these four tracks getting started with Berto and applying for free Berto reporting and verification Services track two completing Berto reporting track three getting started with missions compliance and track four exploring flexibility measures um so the team is planning to conduct more inperson workshops in different neighborhoods this year and the next one that we're currently planning for is and Fenway and then looking at our meeting timeline the city is proposing to the board to forgo the next review meeting on January 27th to give uh City staff time to review all the applications received after the deadline and so if we do that the next meeting will be scheduled for February 10th does any Review Board member oppose this sounds like you're good Z all right so then our next meeting now is schedule for February 10th and that's all my administrative updates thank you zigy all right is there a motion to adjourn this meeting no moved is there a second second I was about to say y'all want to stay longer all right on the motion to adjourn this meeting board members in favor may say I I or raise your hand M okay board members oppose say nay the eyes have it the motion passes this meeting is adjourned at 6:52 p.m. thank you all see you in February be safe thank you everyone good night good night