##VIDEO ID:kvtm5Ia9u2E## uh so yes good afternoon my name is Diana Vasquez I'm the Berto review board manager uh I will now 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 uh sure I nominate Stephen Ellis thank you board member Jacobs is there a second second thank you board member farooqi uh so on the motion to nominate board member Ellis to serve as acting chair how do you vote in favor opposed or abstained uh I believe board member boy is not here board member Ellis in favor board member frie in favor board member Jacobs in favor board member ladimore in favor and board member Nelson in favor great thank you all I will hand the meeting over now to acting chair Ellis thank you Diana and good afternoon everyone I'm calling this public meeting to order at 4:34 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 bird overview board will hold a virtual public meeting at 4:30 p.m. on November 25th 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 deliberations of the Birdo riew board the public May access this call through telephone and video conferencing for the record I am Steven Ellis acting chair of the board we will now conduct a roll call of board members board members please say your name in the order that they appear on the slide Steven Ellis Hassan farooqi levette Jacobs Gail ladimore Jack Nelson staff will now introduce themselves Hannah pay director of neutrality di Vasquez Berto review board manager oh sorry uh Aiden Ken Berto program manager um Claus Martinez policy and Equity advisor ziki chin Berto review board assistant thank you here is the agenda for today's meeting we will start by vot voting on flexibility met application we will then hear from the environment department on a reporting update following the November 15th extended reporting deadline we will then vote to approve the meeting minutes from the last meeting and hear administrative updates finally we will adjourn we will end with an adjournment we will hear some information about flexibility measure applications and discuss and vote on the applications I will now hand it over to Zig hello so first we were doing the YMCA uh so this was submitted through pathway one it have seven buildings in theut of Dorchester Chinatown Fenway Charles to hi park Brighton and West Roxbury the applicant meant all El eligibility criteria and the application was deemed complete um these are the standard conditions that apply to all pathway one applications and so their building uses were assembly and lodging and you can see on the calculated Blended emission standard six of the buildings had uh assembly as their default and one had lodging as their default and um you can see the portfolio emission standards down below and that is a quick overview and I'll hand it over to the representative before doing that I will give an opportunity for any representative of this application to introduce themselves for the record hi I can introduce myself real quickly um I'm Eden Floyd from power options and I believe Helio Rosa from the YMCA is here as well yes good afternoon everybody my name is Helio Rosa I'm the vice president of facilities in real estate for the YMCA of Greater Boston good afternoon Eden and good afternoon Helio thank than you for being here thank you I will now ask each board member if they have any questions or comments I'm actually going to start in reverse order just because so I'll be starting with you uh board member Nelson hi Halo um I haven't seen it in a while hope you're well I have no questions thank you Steve thank you board member Nelson board member lore thank you no questions thank you board member Latimore board member Jacobs thank you no questions at the moment thank you board member Jacobs and board member faruki thank you um welcome good to see you both uh my standard question that I ask for everyone are there any um challenges that you envision with compliance with the emissions reductions targets Eden I'll take that one uh yes there are challenges um part of the reason that we're before the board today is um we have developed a strategy to best face those challenges for us as an organization um we have beyond the seven that are on this application the YMCA Greater Boston actually has 13 locations spread around Greater Boston and the suburbs um I'm happy to share and excited to share that beyond what Berto is requiring us for these seven properties uh us as an association has have made the Strategic decision to get to Net Zero by 2050 across all 13 of our locations um so Berto has certainly given us the push to go down this path but we know that um this problem is not going away and as an association as a nonprofit as who we are um within our communities uh as I said strategically we want to lead um in the sustainability effort so to that end we have some challenges um both from our buildings themselves as how they're constructed how they are uh designed in all of our systems and also as a nonprofit financially how do we get our arms wrapped around this challenge that we have uh this application will allow us to be more thoughtful in how we approach this effort uh none of our buildings are are alike and they all have different challenges so by going through this port portfolio application it does give us a little bit more time and H allow us to have that intentionality of how we go about it we have older buildings that are not on this list that need more pressing addressing than the ones on this list so if we were limited on a building by building um or from a building byb building standpoint it would really not make us as effective both um on the strategy and financially so this this is really a Global strategy to position Us best to meet these needs by 2050 all right excellent thank you so much uh no further questions thank you board member faruki and uh Helio thank you for that explanation I'm glad to hear that you have all set a Net Zero by 2050 goal uh for the YMCA uh properties here um in general I thought the application looked pretty straightforward to me I I didn't really have um many questions uh in general uh the only thing that I was just curious about is the mentioning of the older buildings and it seems like you expressed some difficulties uh just out of curiosity for you or maybe even a city are are there any other buildings that you're planning on apply for applying for for hardship or have you considered any hardship applications just out of curiosity not beyond the seven and through this this this application um fortunately um I have great executive leadership within within the Y as well as general board leadership that have uh backed this up with um with some Capital to move forward I can't answer that question five years from now um so we might have different discussions but right now we this is the um this application is kind of the first building block to help us on that pathway for um to figure out where we're going to be financially okay thank you very much ELO I appreciate that response uh just to check one more time with the board are there any other further questions before we move on hearing none is there a motion to approve YMCA's application with standard conditions so moved is there a second second on the motion to approve YMCA's application with standard conditions how do you vote in favor oppose or abstain uh I'll start with myself in favor how do you vote board member farooqi in favor how do you vote board member Jacobs I want to vote in favor but I wasn't here for the last me so I'm not sure if I should abstain or I can chime in you you can vote in favor there's nothing I don't believe anything from the YMCA's application was discussed at the last meeting okay so yes I'm in favor thank you board member Jacobs and Diana board member Latimore in favor and board member Nelson in favor the eyes have it the motion passes YMCA's building portfolio has been approved per the regulations the environment department will send you a copy of your written decision of the written decision letter within 7 days thank you Helio and Eden thank you to the board Jack really nice to see you take care second on the agenda is to discuss and discuss and discuss okay that word and is throwing me off I apologize second on the agenda is to discuss an update on borderer reporting I will hand it over to Aiden yeah thank you Stephen um yeah we can go on to the next slide great um yeah so you know really I I want to present on U you know the the Berto reporting you know compliance year um you know the 2024 reporting year based on 2023 data give you a sense now that we have you know passed that final November 15th you know extension request deadline um you know how how are our numbers looking um as it relates to the reporting as it relates to overall engagement and um looking ahead to the first emissions compliance year how are the buildings that have reported doing compared to those limits that they'll be be subject to um so and before diving into the those numbers specifically just to give give you an overview of you the types of buildings that are you know engaged with with Berto uh and um and the first emissions compliance year that they're being held to um so uh over 3,600 buildings are going to meet that um are going to have to meet the 2025 uh limit um and over 1,800 um are are subject to having to start meet those Meeting those emissions limits in 2030 um you'll notice that uh the uh Boston Housing Authority and city of Boston are all going to have to meet the 2025 limit um should they uh received approved uh applications for portfolios as every building no matter what this their size uh will be subject to that 2025 limit um uh go on to the next slide please okay so here's a breakdown of of what our reporting numbers look like right now um I broke this out by residential commercial and total breaking out the compliance numbers by both the number of buildings that have reported and the total square footage uh so for you know residential number of buildings uh we are we're looking at 64% of the building residential buildings covered under Berto have successfully submitted their data uh this year um the total s residential square footage uh is significantly higher at about 76% um and I I made sure to break out those two numbers um because it can oftentimes be misleading uh the total engagement under Berto uh you know if if you're really just looking at that building by building breakdown the total square footage that's covered under Berto um is I think better aligned with the total emissions uh that is covered under Berto and so you know we're seeing 70% of the uh residential square footage uh having successfully reported commercial numbers are are about the same a little bit higher um when it comes to the number of B commercial buildings that have reported and then showing the total compliance rate uh for the 2024 Berto reporting year again based on 2023 data um so if you would go on to the next slide I made sure to just compare these numbers to the overall engagement rates so um residential uh the about 77% of the total number of residential buildings that are covered under Berto have been claimed meaning they have started the process at some point whether it's they've claimed their building reported one year but um maybe they didn't report this past year um or maybe they they started the process and got to the point where they had to hire a third party verifier and and fell off um so I wanted to break out the difference between the total number the total percentage that we have engaged that we have a contact for um that have have engaged in in some part of the process um with us relative to um the total compliance rates for for this year specifically I think across the board we're seeing about a you know 10% you know increase or or difference between those two numbers uh next slide please um so of the buildings that are completely unengaged you know we've been sending them letters for a few years um we are you know trying different ways to to engage these folks uh but still have yet to um have a point of contact over there whether it be with ownership property management or a third party start that reporting process with us um I I wanted to break out you know the the building use types uh that our assessing Department designates to those buildings to give you sense of really what this unknown you know portion of Berto covered buildings um is so you know one thing to note very clearly here is that you know the two highest categories of buildings are you know condo and um other residential buildings uh that have just yet to report to us uh that have yet to engage with us um and you know if you if you go to the next slide I just want to highlight a few key takeaways here um you know we're seeing reporting and engagement rates very consistently higher across the board among buildings with a larger square footage buildings that are subject to 2025 emissions limits as opposed to 2030 emissions limits um in 2021 our our reporting threshold for what buildings were covered under Berto dropped and so we had a lot more you know smaller buildings um engaged in the Berto reporting process overall the compliance rates for those smaller buildings are still much lower uh than the uh the larger buildings the the buildings with larger Square more square footage with higher emissions uh that are looking to that that 2025 date um uh you know why is there a difference between the engagement rates uh you know being 75 85% as opposed to the reporting compliance rates for this year being you know 65 to 75% um you know and that's because you know owners might start reporting one year and then drop off and you know fail to report uh this past year maybe they you know reach out to thirdparty verifier but just never complete that process um you know maybe somebody else has taken over and they find the process to be overwhelming and just simply don't don't complete it um and uh you know I I would also note too that the 2030 buildings subject to Berto uh account for about 34% of the total buildings covered uh under Berto but only about 10% of the square footage and again that square footage number is aligned with is better aligned with the emissions that Berto is covering uh that that it aims to to decrease um so really looking at these 2025 covered buildings you know about 90% of the total emissions that are covered under Berto uh are are subject to 2025 emissions limits um next slide please okay so um you know with the information that we have uh that that has been reported to us we're able to project um you know how building owners that have reported to us are are doing relative to that upcoming limit that they are subject to uh so these are really all Berto building subject to 2025 um and of those buildings that have reported about 85% of them are already meeting that 2025 limit uh and then we see about you know 170 or so of the buildings that are not meeting the limit can meet that limit by um taking advantage of renewable electricity opportunities whether it be Boston Community Choice electricity enrollment and power purchase agreements uh renewable energy certificate purchases on site solar um and then we have uh the you know 7580 or so uh buildings that uh where you know renewable energy purchases are are are just not going to be enough uh they're also going to have to look at alternative compliance payments or um take advantage of other flexibility measures that uh Berto has to offer uh so you know our Focus you know over the next uh year um really given the number of buildings that are already meeting 20255 you know we're we're messaging a lot of you know having to plan for 2030 you know when that emissions limit decreases and and uh many of these folks will not be meeting that 2030 limit so really for most folks it's looking out to 2030 but making sure that um uh the building owners that are not currently meeting 2025 are well informed of that fact and know what their options are uh heading into that time period um next slide please so you know of the the buildings that are not currently on track for 2025 I just wanted to break down the building use types the reported building use types of those buildings uh so you know majority of those are are multif family um and then we see a just a breakdown of other building use types as well so um and I believe that is it from for my end so more than happy to answer any questions okay thank you Aiden uh so I will now ask each board member if they have any questions or comment I going to start with myself I have a lot of questions but I'm going to limit them as much as possible so I just uh to jump in really quickly uh I noticed on one of your slid that says the analysis does not include public owned buildings I believe it was the last slide there and um I'm just curious where is the city at in terms of are you on track for example that's my first question and then building on that I'm I'm going to ask a question about of the status of where the city is at with their uh building portfolio and perhaps Diana or Ziggy can give us a little bit of an update on where they're at with that so Aiden I'll turn it over to you for a moment so I I can't speak to that question with absolute certainty right now it's my understanding that if if um pursuing the portfolio option the city would have a bit more breathing room to uh be meeting those emissions limits at least until 2030 um I don't know the exact year that um where where they would should they continue with business as usual and and not make any changes in buildings that suddenly their portfolio is not meeting that limit um so you know happy to follow up just to provide a bit more clarity there um but we just excluded that from the that graph because we just wanted to show the really the the external Outreach that we're going to be doing uh to to to building owners that are simply not meeting that upcoming 2025 limit these are the folks that we're having to to work with outside of the city so um uh that's what I can speak to there and and I may turn it over to Diana Ziggy on on anything as it relates to the city's portfolio sure I'm happy to report back on the city's building portfolio application so as for context uh for folks who maybe missed that meeting the city of Boston is also subject to Berto uh and all of the buildings are subject to Berto and the city uh will be applying or has applied for a building portfolio uh because the city has to apply via pathway 2 that uh allows the building uh the review board to request a hearing and so that happened at the last meeting the city of Boston came before the board the board sought a hearing but I will say that meeting also brought up a lot of good questions and it turns out that our staff person who unfortunately is not on the call today who does oversee the city of Boston's portfolio um has some updates that he would like to make to his application so we have chatted with him and he believes he would like to come before the board uh initially was hoping today but it just wasn't the timing didn't work out um and because the December 9th meeting is the residential tenants meeting we think it will happen on January 13th which will be the first meeting in 25 so we believe he'll just come and do a hearing um for the building portfolio application and highlight any updates he made to the to the building portfolio itself thank you Diana I see Hannah has unmuted so I'll pause in case there's something that you wanted to add Hannah I think Aiden and Diana covered it um yeah I think the just the the reason for taking those out of the analysis is as you saw there are a lot of BHA in city of Bost building so those can kind of dwarf the analysis especially knowing that um you know the city of Boston is is has already applied for a portfolio and we expect BHA to be applying for a portfolio as well so um kind of taking that out helps um with the analysis thank you Hannah uh speaking of BHA I I will say uh upfront I'm slightly concerned about it being subjected to that same 20125 uh limit and and wonder if whether or not flexibility given the uniqueness of those buildings the age of those buildings and the type of work that needs to go into those buildings whether or not it might offer the city a little bit of a wiggle room just based on what we're noticing with non city-owned buildings residential buildings seem to be an area where there is room for concern in terms of meeting that compliance so I do worry for the BHA application and whether or not it should in fact probably have a 2030 versus uh the overall building so I'll pause to see if anyone from the city May have a response or a thought on that I know the ordinance states that you would subject yourself to 2025 but I I'm just calling out uh uh a noticeable Trend that is happening at least in what I saw yeah appreciate that um concern um the Berto team is meeting with BHA and we were in touch with them um and talking through their um reporting and um working on their portfolio application making sure they have everything they need for that but um certainly and kind of broader conversations about decarbonizing BHA as well so um conversations are happening um and we hope they'll come before the board soon with their applications thank you Hannah uh last thing I'll say for now is um I think in the future it'll be helpful to see some sort of mapping of where where these problem areas are where you're not getting the kind of Engagement that you're looking for I know we've provided a map before in the past and so that's just something that I'm going to put out as a request just to see that again in the future when we go through another round of of reporting and compliance so uh no comments necessary there I just wanted to put that out there all so I will now pause and turn it over to board member for Loop thank you uh acting chair um is the BHA compliant with the reporting requirements to the best of our understanding right now yeah yeah yeah we've been working with BHA to to get them cross the finish line they have over 5 to 600 buildings um and you know it's it's about 50 or so properties uh but you know as as Berto requires building by- building reporting it it can take a lot more time to have that just additional level of granularity across all reporting statistics so it's taken them some time uh but uh yeah we're working with them to uh to make sure that they're we're continuing to develop more efficient process uh moving forward so that they can um get reported in time and not have to rely on uh you know extensions moving forward totally okay great thank you yeah I I um do see you know board member Ellis's uh concerns around this around bha's compliance and um so I would be my first question of course would be where they're at in terms of their emissions right now so I I'm looking forward to hearing from them whenever that's uh possible and I totally appreciate they're in a difficult position um overall thank you for this data this is very very helpful um I'm curious if we can go back to that slide about um non-compliant building types and I do recall that the the condo buildings were uniquely um non-compliant with the reporting requirements um this also tracks with a lot of things I've heard anecdotally from folks um I'd love to just hear some of the Outreach strategies that the city has used to uh work with condo boards and condo owners and I know that you all have done a lot and uh so I I just want to understand what things if there are possible opportunities for us to recommend further actions the city can take uh but also perhaps most significantly if there are ways that the review board can leverage our connections with condo board members to help speed along their engagement with you all yeah so so I can I can start and then if other other staff want to to add in um so yeah condos have have you know always been you tricky in terms of you know the Outreach to begin with um you know and then successful successfully getting in touch with the condo associations or the right you know condo member um that would uh be able to report on behalf of of the building um a lot of that does have to do with just the nature of the assessing department and you know the condo associations are not a taxable entity and and so the owner mailing address that the tax assessor database might have um may not be the best address for us to be able to reach them effectively and so um you know we we have to we've had you know over the last year taken a number of measures to you know increase our our Outreach tactics one of which was over the summer we went door Todo to every single building across the the city that um was unengaged with us um where you know we we did not knock on doors but we we took note of any Property Management contacts that were were tied to the building um or any other other contact information just posted on the building itself uh where we could just better successfully engage whether it be the property management company or the condo association directly um we're also doing just additional um research internally you know using you know an application um uh real estate application to uh find additional Property Management contacts and ownership contacts tied to these buildings um so we've had good success there um and for our mailing Outreach uh ahead of next year we're going to have a much more robust set of mailing addresses uh particularly when it comes to non-compliant buildings or unengaged buildings um and uh so I I I speak to that just on on the engagement side of things um you know that that's it's been a it's been a consistent um you know challenge overall and that's that I think is in part why you see such a skew towards um towards that un you know just non-engaged uh buildings there um you we we have also worked uh over the last uh couple months to develop a handbook specific for uh condo associations condo condo owners um on just how to better navigate the process of you know building decarbonization um and compliance with Berto uh so you know when it came to perhaps lack of resources being a barrier um resources specific to condos and how they make decisions um we're just better bridging that Gap uh now with resources that we currently have um but this is certainly going to be an ongoing effort uh and we're going to have to continue to rely on all different sources to to reach these folks um and so you know we've you discussed you know giving you know having the the unengaged parcel numbers and the the property addresses um and working with um you City liaison City counselors um on just how to best uh you know reach these these condo associations specifically but um you certainly want to just continue to collaborate with review review board members as well on best practices there um so so I don't know if anyone from the the rest of the staff has any anything to add there it was a great summary um I would just add two things that I you may not you may have said but apologies if I missed it um we had a webinar um with our condo handbook so that was really um got a lot of condo associations engaged because the um law team that we worked with um for that had does a lot of condo work already in their day-to-day practice so they were able to reach an a large number of folks that way um and then we did try also mailing indiv some individual condo owners um from the assessing data because we have uh mailing addresses for the condo owners not well we have mailing addresses for the condom main but sometimes they're out ofd and inaccurate so we did try that as well um we didn't mail every single condo owner every single um piece of mail because that can be like hundreds of unit owners per building but tried to send it to a good sample and say bring this to your condo association so that did work to some degree as well and then I think you know we're continuing to follow up on the door to door that we've done and hoping that we'll get even more folks and a lot of those um condo associations that have property managers engaged to great all right that's wonderful uh very helpful and and you mentioned that you're doing door to-door Outreach but you're not knocking on the doors is that right is there any reason why that is um yeah we're just uh really only um you basically accessing the the lobby where where there's you know just Property Management contact information if there's a doorman we will ask him for some contact information for for the building owner or the property management company um but beyond that we are uh yeah we are really just taking note and and uh you know not not knocking uh uh specifically you know we're just taking down the information specifically and I I I don't know if uh I'm not sure if Hannah or somebody else can confirm if if that is just in line with our best practices within the environment Department yeah so um we're we try to be very careful about like soliciting um and like knocking on doors uh in particular because of a lot of um competi competitive electric suppliers um kind of go knock on your door and ask you about your energy bill and we didn't want to confuse people with that so that's why we're avoiding that but a lot of the properties you know should have posted on their you know on their building the information for their property manager so that's really what we're doing is a bit of a a foot exercise of going and tracking that down where we have not had other means to get that information sure okay great yeah thank you that's very helpful to know makes total sense and I don't have any other questions right now so thank you thank you board member farooqi I would be nervous to see what your footsteps would be for the for the environic Department if you were tracking them but nevertheless let's move on uh board member Jacobs I don't have any questions at the moment thank you thank you board member Jacobs uh board member Latimore yes um I guess I wondered uh on the chart that is uh the project did emissions the same chart um compliance by 2025 um 8 well it's a different chart 85% of buildings are on track for 2025 emissions does that include um if I understand it maybe I got something wrong but um some folks are asking for adjustments to those those Benchmark standards so does that factor that in or is it just those who are reaching this the 2020 2025 standards emission standards perod yeah so this is really just based on that purely Based on data that's been reported to to the city um uh that does not factor in any flexibility uh and so so the the buildings that are not currently on track um many are you know taking advantage of portfolio compliance um perhaps pursuing hardship um but also potentially using a blended emissions standard too um so you know mixed use Office lab building um you know if it's 60% office 40% lab uh will be able to take advantage of a an emissions limit that is just the better aligns with how they use their energy um but right now that we are not uh factoring in that Blended standard uh so uh so building owners that that will adjust the numbers further once building owners opt in to uh to a blended emissions limit thank you and then my only other question is uh on that un unengaged Slide the one that I think um um board member farqi was um um talking about the other exempt building what what is other exempt building like can you describe what type of building is in that I'm sorry if I missed that before I can jump in on this one so these are the these are the land use categories from the assessing department so I will say they are um they are used for taxing purposes they're not going to necessarily align with the Berto building uses that we talk about um so I think other exempt building my hunch is that will be a non- taxable parcel so it might be owned by a nonprofit um it might be owned by um a university or we just don't have a lot of insight into that my I mean we know that our universities are very engaged so I I wouldn't expect it to be those but typically non- taxable land is what that might what I think that would be but sometimes things get miscategorized or they're all like based on old data so I wouldn't read too much into this as um with detail but it also it could also be like a a state or federal building or something like that but those are my hunches okay yeah I know for um as a nonprofit developer our buildings are all you know subject to real estate taxes so uh we're we're not exempt and I agree that the universities are definitely they definitely seem to be you know taking care of their Barto um issues so I wondered like who that was and um and that does not mean that they even if they're tax exempt they still have to meet their those standards correct yep yeah there's no um it's just a it's the because we use assessing data and their their goal is property tax um that's where there's just not always a perfect alignment in terms of what our goals are of building emissions reduction but yes buildings that are non- taxable are still subject to prod thank you no other questions thank you board member Latimore yes I was staring at that other exempt as well I was I was waiting so appreciate you asking that question uh board member Nelson thank you could you go to the second to last Slide the one just previous to this no the next one yeah this one so um have these entities um who are not going to meet the 25 standard have they has there been a special notification from the city or will there be um identifying this issue yeah we we have um yeah basically reached out to to everyone that is not you know met the the 2025 um emissions limits to inform them of you know one what what year they're subject to and whether or not they're they're meeting it um and we will be sending out another uh email uh to to those building owners uh now that the reporting year is officially ended and we'll have the final disclosure data available uh within the next few weeks to be able to kind of officially inform people uh that just took that extra time uh to uh to have to meet that those emissions limits or to have to report their data excuse me um and so yeah these are really the the buildings that we are going to be focusing on specifically so that's we're going to have to you know make sure every every single you know whether it be the just third party property manager owner everyone is well aware of of you the um where they stand relative to that upcoming limit um and what flexibility they have to be able to take advantage of um and just give them a clearer sense of what their options are just again given the fact that vast majority are meeting that 2025 limit you know the the general messaging is towards planning but we're going to have to work very specifically with this subset subset will will the names of the building owners be listed on the website eventually um so we are going to be updating our disclosure um for and you know the the owner name listed in the assessing records um would be um you know part of that but but it there our disclosure at this time is not noting what is in compliance or out of compliance with with the 2025 emissions limits um and so folks can go in and make those calculations themselves based on the disclosed data um but uh we are not kind of listing out the the buildings and the building owners that are um are not currently beating that uh you know in in any separate capacity okay so the I know that the data is available but someone has to go through that process to figure it out uh yeah yeah exactly yeah and G given all the flexibility um that that folks have to be able to take advantage of um you know these are of course just not the finalized you know who's in compliance who's out of compliance so um yeah we're we're not you know positioned to be able to you know in of you know out of compliance with 2025 or in compliance with 2025 we just have these this information internally to be able to to to work with them right Y and Hannah I'm not sure if you wanted to add anything there yeah I mean it's something that we've um discussed in terms of the disclosure and I think could potentially add a projected emissions to the updated disclosure um one of the challenges is what Eden was mentioning of like there are so many caveats to this like how do you present this data in a way that like people can understand that um they may be you know pursuing a blended emission standard they may be um pursuing uh you know portfolio or something like that um that level of like detail we are data is not to that point yet where we can kind of share that but um yeah I think there's kind of pros and cons to having that data out there to say you know these buildings likely will need to take some action um and these ones probably won't um so that's something that we're still discussing for kind of this next update so I'm curious um board member Nelson if there's anything specific that you think would be helpful in having that be more publicly available well if I was a building owner and I knew that that was going to be exposed I might get a little more serious about things but you know I I'm glad I'm not sitting in UF seat because that's a tough decision to make on how to handle such a matter um we will um we will certainly disclose compliance with emission standards so once the things are reported in 26 compliance with the 2025 data that will all be public it's just this kind of projection where yeah I understand yeah still good amount of unknowns yeah you look at the nine hospitals I mean Boston has a lot of hospitals but it's not that many more than nine so yeah um you know that's a blatant problem and many of them will be uh buying renewable energy um so uh right that it changes things so that's yeah we've been yeah really using this to try to Target who we're um messaging to and one other thing I'll just share is we also sent a postcard to everyone who um we expect to be subject to the 2025 emissions limits we s that gosh a a while ago um many many months ago um just to tell people this is coming you know make sure that they have that information too okay well nice work thank you thank you board member Nelson um if we can stay on the slide for one second I I just want to make sure I'm also understanding similar to the question board member Latimore asked earlier so these properties that we have in front of us this also does not take into account any flexibility measures that they may have already applied for is that correct yes that's correct okay all right and so my next question building on that is uh I guess I'm if I'm understanding this correctly what this is saying is that uh you know if they haven't taken any necessary steps to show how they're going to approach flexibility by before the end of the 2025 reporting period they could essentially be finding themselves in some difficult areas is with respect to the ordinance and so knowing that you know the application deadline for building portfolios and IC closes on January 6 I guess what does one do if you know if some of these condos are finally responding and say the middle of February about reporting and needing to seek flexibility I know the city is always going to work with them but if we go past the deadline for building portfolios and IC what what is our options what are excuse me and it's not directed at aen anyone can take that um it's a it's a good question um so I think there are a few things I mean one we would we want them to in this case these buildings have reported right so we have their information I think many of these buildings will like I expect many of them were already seeing in some application so um you know think that's a good prompt for us to do another push of like hey this deadline's coming up um to just to make sure everyone has that information um I think the the other thing is um you know I think there's always the ability to make alternative compliance payments or to buy um renewable energy certificates um and so those those are an option and sometimes you know because the limits in 2025 aren't the most stringent sometimes those are fairly reasonable payments to be making um and then once a building reports also and if they're really above their limit and um you know there is an option to apply for a short-term hardship compliance plan after the deadline so those are can be accepted on a rolling basis um you know I don't think we want to encourage people to do that in the first step a lot of times people jump to I need hardship when they haven't even reported or know what their emissions are um and a lot of the times once we see people's energy data they're actually not as far away from those um limits as they they think they might be so it might be something you know like they can do a small maybe they have time to do a really small Energy Efficiency project that gets them over the edge but um more likely than not might be you know doing some like buying some renewable energy or making a small alternative compliance payment and maybe that works um but in some cases you know we do expect there will be you know there may be some people out there who despite our best efforts we still have not been able to like really reach them or engage with them and they just need a little bit more time to um make a plan to come into compliance and I think that's where that short-term hardship compliance plan we would want to work with them to see if they might be eligible to apply for that room thank you Hannah all right I'm going to pause for a second but I will return to the board um just to give the members of our public uh a moment to ask questions if there are any so I would like to open a public comment period 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 star9 and send your questions to staff via email at Berto reviewboard boston.gov again as a reminder we are limiting questions to 3 minutes to ensure everyone has a chance to speak we also ask members of the public to introduce themselves and your Boston Neighborhood we will now wait to give members of the public the opportunity to provide questions or comments okay hearing none uh Diana Ziggy you know my Spiel are there any questions that were sent to the birto reviewboard boston.com email no questions uh in the inbox thank you all right so turnning it back over to the board are there any further questions or discussions you would like to have hearing none I will just prompt one more excuse me all right so the federal buildings uh can you talk to us a little bit about how you intend to handle the reporting with respects to I feel like you've answered this before but I'm going to ask again uh you know seeing them on that list is uh it just brings up my curiosity of uh what will you expect in terms of compliance yeah um this is still something we're working through um I think most likely they um will not end up reporting to Berto but we're still um working working through through that um the state buildings have been um have been reporting their data um but Federal buildings um have been trickier and we are still reviewing um kind of our ability to um require them to report so okay best of luck Anna and thank you thank you all for your comments and Aiden thank you for putting together these slides all right third under meeting agenda is to approve the previous meeting minutes from November 12th are there any questions or comments regarding the meeting minutes is there a motion to approve the minutes so moved is there a second second on the motion to approve the meeting minute 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 board members abstained say abstained abstained abstained the eyes have it uh the motion passes for the meeting minutes moving on next there oh there are administrative update Ziggy hello um so I want to give an update on the number of build portfolio or just flexibility applications are receiv received so far so we are up to 21 building for portfolio applications we have not received any new submissions for IC uh or hcps or no resubmissions and also want to give you all an update on the equable emissions investment fund Awards the verto team has met with all three recipients and sent out the grant packages for them to sign uh the recipients are reviewing the grant packages and we're waiting to receive sign um the signed agement back and hopefully we'll able to distribute the money soon uh Diana touched on this again uh before but just saying that um city of Boston's building forol application updates are still ongoing and hopefully uh we'll estimate a hearing on January 13th which will be the first review board hearing for 2025 um I also wanted to update the everybody on the building disc carbonization advisor program or bdap uh the review board voted early in the year to allocate $500,000 from the fund to help fund beat that program and so the vendors um will help provide Berto building owners with Zer overtime plans and they have been chosen they're down below is new ecology uh thoron tomasi jaros Bowman bolos and grer U and awards awardees will receive free decarbonization planning services and technical assistance and may be eligible for funding to support the implementation of the conversation projects so the application is currently open um I put the link down here on on the slide deck and we'll close on December 12th the eligib can be found on the Google form and the application link can also be found on the Berto website at boston.gov Berto and S can I just jump in and make a plug um we really want to spread the word about this program and um you know it is funded in part by the Equitable emissions investment fund so we're like really excited to get it out there um so if you have any connections with Berto building owners um please share this around um it's a pretty straightforward application um and we're looking to start the first cohort in January and then we'll be you know assigning new um folks um as time allows like throughout the the year so um definitely encourage people to get in soon but also if you know it's the holidays time if if they can't get it until January there's like no worri about that but we're hoping to start the first group of buildings to get their services in January um and this is another thing that is available to condo owners so just flagging that as well and then um just reminding everybody again about the Berto Workshop in auson Brighton which will be uh fil at the fu Branch Boston Public Library uh on December 10th from 3: to 7: the workshop will provide free Berto assistance for building owners in Aon Brighton and more information can be found at on the Berto website as well and then there's the RSP here in the link as well and then looking at hus do you raise your hand maybe at the end thanks yeah um and then so looking at our timeline uh the next and final meeting for the year will be the tenants meeting on December 9th uh the city will share resources tenants will have an opportunity and T will have opportunity to gaug with the review board also um I will send the invitees to all the review board for the 2025 hearings um after like in mid uh December but the full 2025 calendar meeting dates is up on the Review Board website if you want to check it out and see how that aligns with your schedule and then the next meeting is scheduled for December 9th will be which will be the last meeting for the year and that's all the administrative updates thank you zi I did see our board member L MO hand go up first all we'll start with her thank you let me put my hand down okay um yeah I was curious about the time frame again for the building dearb advisor program because I thought I heard Ziggy say the 12th but then some other information said the 2nd of December is the deadline so just want to ask what the actual deadline is yes um the deadline well the first deadline we should say is December 2nd so we're going to begin reviewing applications after the second um I know that is next week so very soon um but we really want to just get the first cohort moving and get them assigned to the building science firm so they can start in January um so it might be a smaller cohort um of buildings um we are accepting applications on a rolling basis we expect this program the contract for this program are like two years so um we have time um but we also want to get people as much help as early as possible um so it it is it will be until the funds run out um that we're running this so this is really that like first deadline if you want to be considered immediately to get started in January get your application in by next week and otherwise you we'll probably have people start in March thank you no more questions yep thank you board member Latimore board member for thank you do you know how many applications we've received so far for the decarbonization advisor program sorry I was having trouble unmuting um last I checked we had we have 10 so okay great thanks right and thank you for that update uh and just uh seeking clarification if it can be publicly said I know that you had sent out a um uh a sort of survey to the board and so it looks like Monday at this time will continue to be the time that we're utilizing based on the feedback from the board members is that correct that's correct yeah it'll be the second and fourth Monday at 4:30 got it all right thank you very much and thank you for sharing the the schedule there uh Diana are there any other questions from members of the board chair if I may yes pleas this is uh of course the board members please feel free to ask more questions but I did see there was a a message in the chat asking Hannah if there's literature or Graphics I can share out and I think this is related to the building decarbonization advisor program great question um we were working on it and I don't I was out most of last week um so I've been scrambling playing catchup I don't know that we have something yet but something we've been working on so we'll definitely um share it around and the the we have an email to and Lydia I think I linked the application you can follow up with me and I can share you that information um we have an email invite language um and the application is good to share around and we were working on Graphics but I don't know that we have them yet thank you Diane and apologies Lydia that your message got lost for me in in the chain there I I I I hope you will all consider some type of social media outreach as well as uh helping the the other organization the vendors to also do some social media outreach I think Greener you maybe has sent out something already I'm just familiar with that organization nevertheless are there any other questions or comments from the board hearing none is there a motion to adjourn this meeting motion to adjourn is there a second second on the motion to adjourn the meeting board members in favor say I I I I okay uh board members opposed say nay I believe the eyes had it uh the motion passes uh this meeting is adjourned at 5:35 p.m. thank you all and have a relaxing and hopefully enjoyable break you too bye thank you thank you all Happy Thanksgiving