Charlestown Township
Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC)
Meeting Minutes
Monday, May 13, 2024

Armstrong opened the meeting at 7:09

Attendees:
Carol Armstrong (Chair), Dan Walker (Vice Chair), Meg Solomon (Secretary), Anu Soundararajan, Pete Goodman
Guests:
Jill Green, Lou Rubinfield (new supervisor)

April minutes approved.

Place Holders

(Reminder of EAC-initiated projects for next 6+ months):

New Business

  1. HOAs – Influencing HOAs to reduce /eliminate pesticides and toxins on their properties- Solomon to volunteer on Architecture and Landscaping committee for Charlestown Oaks. We discussed the HOAs in Charlestown and tried to identify a contact in each community.

Ongoing Business

  1. Invasive/ Native Species Day (combo event) – May 16th. Will have a table at Brightside Farm Park to provide residents with information on invasive plants that are common locally, and to provide information on the riparian and grassland restoration projects. Green, Goodman, and Armstrong and others on EAC are working on year 2 of the kid’s art contest. 61 submissions were received. One winner and one runner up for each grade K- 5. Change The Committee agreed to change prizes from gift cards and plants to birdhouses (made by Dan Walker). Green to provide Armstrong with the winners. Questions on native plant and animal species will just be provided on the 16 th at Brightside to use as discussions about native species with residents.
  2. WeConservePA EAC Gathering conference – happening in fall. Armstrong discussed hosting a meeting. We don’t have the resources to do this right now. EAC membership in WeConservePA-BoS may be interested in the township EAC having a membership. Goodman to follow up.
  3. EAC Membership Recruitment – No update, letters to HOAs have been distributed soliciting interest.
  4. EAC Logo – Goodman showed the committee his proposed revisions to the logo. Goodman to send all of his suggested versions to the EAC for review.
  5. Recycling/Composting of Food and Waste in Charlestown – Solomon having trouble getting in touch with composting/waste at the community garden in Brightside. Rubinfield volunteered to contact Charles Buck to see if he could get a response.
  6. Adoption of Charlestown Road, cleanup for PennDOT – April cleanup took about 2 hours and participants cleaned up Charlestown Rd. between Charlestown Elementary and Charlestown Mill. Walker to write an article on the success of this program for the August Charlestown Newsletter.
  7. Single Use Plastics Ban – Heleniak invited 17 members of businesses in Charlestown to attend a meeting on May 13th. No one attended. What is the next step? Should this go back to the Planning Commission - Walker to ask this question at the next Planning Commission meeting. In the meantime, Anu and Armstrong to update the ordinance with suggestions from Farren Savitz of PennEnvironment for resubmission to the Planning Commission.
  8. Nature News topic for July – topic is again going to be about Food Sustainability.
  9. Bird Town program – Motel, Goodman, Walker checked all 15 bird boxes that they set up. Goodman gave an update on what they found in each box.
  10. Parks for a Sustainable Future – BoS asked Heleniak to discuss with the sports associations about the possibility of working with them to encourage sustainable parks. They would participate in managing their fields organically.
  11. Township Newsletters – (due dates are 1/15, 4/15, 7/15, 10/15.) Armstrong to check with Solomon and Goodman. July submissions - Armstrong to write an article on Native Species day. Walker to write one about the road cleanup and Goodman will write one on the progress of the birdboxes.
  12. Riparian buffer maintenance – Goodman and Armstrong did a status check at Brightside. Phase 1 plants from the wetland to the spring - there were a lot of dead shrubs. Armstrong to send out another request for a planting day. Deerfield section of the buffer was mowed. All but one winterberry had died.
  13. Battery Collection – bought 5 new boxes. New signs were posted - Caution about the non-alkaline batteries. They should be taken to the Narvon reclamation center. We are on budget for this effort.
  14. Information for PC on increasing stream temperature – Armstrong working on this.
  15. Community Education – Ideas include invasive species, speaker from Birdtown.
  16. Stream Naming – we got the approval from the US Board on Geographic Names - Kwiamwis Siput(Lenape tongue) (Hawk Creek) stream flows generally North into French Creek.
    Armstrong to inform Lenape nations. We need interpretive signage for along the stream.

Meeting adjourned at 9:06.