By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
Belchertown, Easthampton and Northampton were among 35 cities and towns named to the state's first "Green Communities" list Tuesday, qualifying them for more than $8 million in grants for local renewable power and energy efficiency projects.
Local officials were thrilled to hear about the designation, especially the potential to access state dollars.
"I think this designation speaks highly to our commitment as a community to being green and to trying to make our city as sustainable as possible in every way," said Northampton's City Council President David J. Narkewicz, who is also a member of the city's Energy and Sustainability Commission.
In Easthampton, City Planner Stuart Beckley praised the efforts of the mayor and city council in advocating for green technologies and said he hopes the designation will help secure funding for one or more local energy projects.
"I think this shows that the mayor and our city council believe strongly that energy reduction and finding alternative energy sources is important," Beckley said.
The funding will be distributed by the state's Department of Energy Resources' Green Communities Grant Program.
The grants aim to reward communities that were designated green for meeting five clean energy benchmarks, which include adopting zoning or bylaw ordinances meant to ease the way and expedite permitting for green energy projects; establishing a municipal energy use baseline and a program designed to reduce use by 20 percent in five years; purchasing only fuel-efficient vehicles for municipal use; and requiring that all new residential construction over 3,000 square feet and all new commercial and industrial real estate construction reduce their life-cycle energy costs.
Beckley in Easthampton said he doesn't know exactly what kind of projects the city will apply for, but said a consultant has been hired to look into possible opportunities.
In Northampton, Narkewicz said a formal proposal is still being crafted by Chris Mason, Northampton's energy and sustainability officer, but he believes two solar panel projects will likely be included.
Those projects, planned for Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School and Jackson Street School, would require installation of panels on the school's roofs and would reduce the amount of electricity needed to power the buildings.
Northampton is also on the verge of inking a $6.5 million energy services contract with a firm that will tackle about 125 energy-conservation and renewable energy projects at nearly three-dozen public buildings. The city might apply for state money to offset some of those costs, said David Pomerantz, director of the city's Central Services Department.
"Being a Green Community will now give us even more options for the performance contract work," Pomerantz told several councilors at a budget hearing Tuesday night.
May 14 was the deadline for cities and towns to apply for a Green Community designation in order to qualify for the first round of $8.1 million in Green Community grants.
Other municipalities that earned the designation were Acton, Arlington, Athol, Andover, Becket, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Greenfield, Hamilton, Hanover, Holyoke, Hopkinton, Kingston, Lancaster, Lenox, Lexington, Lincoln, Lowell, Mashpee, Medford, Melrose, Montague, Natick, Newton, Palmer, Pittsfield, Salem, Springfield, Sudbury, Tyngsboro, Wenham and Worcester.
All towns added to the list have until June 4 to submit applications for grants that will be awarded in late June.
In addition to grant eligibility, each Green Community designated Tuesday will receive a Big Belly solar waste compactor, to be delivered before June 30. Big Belly compactors can hold several times more trash and litter than similarly-sized trash receptacles, reducing the number of garbage truck trips required to empty them.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettnet.com.
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