Simsbury committee launches Part 2 of sustainability plan to tackle waste, aims for selectmen endorsement

The Simsbury Sustainability Committee on the most recent meeting moved to restart work on Part 2 of the town's sustainability plan, focused on waste reduction and management, and to update a draft carried over from last year.

"So kicking off the sustainability plan part 2, waste," the moderator said, noting the committee had passed Part 1 (energy) previously and is aiming for board-of-selectmen endorsement on 2026-10-31.

Committee members said older drafts that include waste goals live on the town's shared drive under "sustainability plan 2024," with the most recent dated Sept. 26. Speaker 8 offered to email the correct file and include stakeholders such as Jen Weymouth and members of the waste working group so the committee can resume edits.

Members discussed process steps: identify what is already in existing building, planning and zoning guidance, compare language and best practices from similar communities, and use the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) as a checklist for action items to assign and track.

Joe (Speaker 6) said he would post the committee's "Sustainability committee rules and procedures" (2023) to the meeting and reminded the group the document states ex officio members do not vote, a governance detail the committee said it will observe.

The committee agreed to reconvene working groups to review the shared-drive draft, refresh it where state or regulatory changes warrant, and identify which town boards and school-district officials to consult before a final draft is presented to the board of selectmen.

Next steps: committee members will circulate the identified draft and a list of recommended stakeholders, then begin targeted outreach and revisions ahead of a final presentation to the board of selectmen.