Charlestown Township
Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC)
Meeting Minutes
Monday, February 10, 2025

Walker opened the meeting at 7:04

Attendees:
Dan Walker (Acting Chair for Armstrong), Meg Solomon (Secretary), Jill Green, Pete Goodman, Anu Soundararajan, Faith Talnack.

January Minutes approved.

Place Holders

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

New Business

  1. Ordinance on Release of plastic balloons into the environment. EAC will review Talnack’s proposal for discussion in March’s meeting.

Old Business

  1. Review of BoS, PC, P&R meeting highlights – (Green - BoS, Walker - PC, Armstrong - P&R). Kevin Kuhn is new chair of BoS as Frank Piliero has moved out of the area. Maddy Carlson was added as new supervisor. P&R - Dan Mount has terminated his position as Chair as of 2/20. Green will attend their meeting on Thursday night. Suggestion is to combine EAC FB page with P&R.
  2. Beyond Meat – the smell has caused complaints among nearby residents. Is this in EAC’s purview? The company did take actions against noise complaints, but smell issue remains. To be discussed again in March - should be on agenda for March.
  3. Bird Town Annual Report and Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 14-17. New bird box (#16) (Barn Owl) installed. Bird walk on Monday Feb. 17th at 8:00 associated with the Great Backyard Bird Count.
  4. Adoption by EAC of Charlestown Road for PennDOT – next clean-up April 5th, 7-10AM. Green to contact P&R to get it on their website and Facebook pages. PR materials need to be posted. Green to contact Audrey Song from Ecology Club at GVHS.
  5. Creation of EAC Events calendar, Social media subcommittee of EAC – Green will share the calendar of EAC activities (those that are known for 2025) with P&R.
  6. Charlestown HOA Sustainability Plan – Talnack will reach out to her HOA to discuss (Charlestown Hunt). To be discussed further in March.
  7. Swiss Pines – no update. Meeting next week.
  8. Kwiamwis Siputët Signage interpretive sign vs. PA historical marker debate (maybe both). P&R is ok with us posting either type of sign. Have not received feedback from the Lenape Tribes with whom Armstrong is in contact.
  9. Single Use Plastics Ban Ordinance – Passed by BoS. Will be effective in 6 months. Soundararajan working on signs and FAQs for website.
  10. Status of EAC membership in WeConservePA – They need support and help with future events. Goodman plans to talk to Kuhn about this - no update.
  11. EAC Logo – Green will talk to P&R about branding.
  12. Nature News topic for January – continuing with sustainability concerning the little things we all forget about.
  13. Township Newsletters – (due dates are 1/15, 4/15, 7/15, 10/15.) Armstrong to submit an article about Beech Leaf Disease for the spring issue. Soundararajan will contact Csete about the possibility of writing an article about the single use plastic ordinance. Walker to write an article about the road cleanup for the winter issue.
  14. Riparian buffer maintenance at Brightside and Charlestown Parks – we received a grant to allow the EAC to have the PA Outdoor Corp from the Student Conservation Assoc. team for 4 days starting April 28th. This will be free for the township this year. Armstrong trying to get access to weed wrench.
  15. Battery Collection – Armstrong took 3 boxes to FedEx. The township will purchase new boxes. Prices for the boxes have risen.
  16. Stream Warming – Armstrong still working on it.
  17. Community Education – Microplastics in our bodies. Live presentation by Armstrong. March 13, 7:00 PM in Township Building Conference Room. Armstrong to discuss technical setup for capturing the live presentation with Helniak. Preference is to have both live and streaming. We tested the setup during the meeting and were successful in getting both the live presentation to display and to have it recorded.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:06