Greenfield Recorder – Leyden designated as a Green Community, commits to reducing energy use in towns and cities

LEYDEN — After making a commitment to reduce municipal energy use by 20 percent over the next five years, Leyden has been recognized as a green community by the state Department of Energy Resources (DOER).

This designation opens the city up to the opportunity to apply for an initial, non-competitive grant of $126,540 for energy efficiency projects.

“I am very moved and grateful to the teams of people who have stepped up,” said Selectboard member Glenn Caffery, who has led the effort to transform Leyden into an environmental community. “Cities like ours need this, and so many such smart and community-minded people have done outstanding work.”

Thanks to the latest round of Green Communities pledges, which also included Gosnold, Newbury and Peabody, there are now 295 Green Communities in Massachusetts. In Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, Monroe and Phillipston are the only cities that have not become Green Communities, according to a map provided by DOER.

“We are very proud to welcome Gosnold, Leyden, Newbury and Peabody as our newest Green Communities and provide funding that will help stretch municipal budgets as communities fight climate change at the local level,” DOER Commissioner Elizabeth Mahony said in a statement. “When our cities and towns reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their buildings and fleets, they create cheaper and healthier places to live and work while helping accelerate the transition to clean energy in Massachusetts.”

Caffery commended the boards and professionals involved in the multi-year process, which required four criteria to be met along with an Energy Reduction Plan aimed at reducing energy consumption by 20% by 2029. All criteria are set out in DOER’s Green Communities Designation and Grants Program document under Green Communities Act of 2008. The program is run by the Green Communities Division within DOER, which aims to provide funding to support local renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, according to DOER.

The selection committee has 90 days from April 24, the designation date, to submit a grant application to receive the $126,540. The city is also working to prioritize funding. The application requires a plan to design municipal buildings to be more energy efficient.

“That’s what we’re doing now,” Caffery explained. “This is exciting. Over the last two years, we have been very fortunate to have a huge number of volunteers in the city who have stepped up both formally and informally.”

Currently, the city’s main areas of concern are buildings requiring better insulation to reduce heating and cooling costs. According to Caffery and Selectboard member Katherine DiMatteo, these include City Hall, city offices and public safety buildings.

“It is gratifying to see interest from our citizens in these initiatives that advance the sustainability and resilience of our city,” DiMatteo wrote in an email to the Recorder. “I am very grateful to those who have spearheaded these initiatives – the Planning Board, the Solar Advisory Committee and the Building Needs Study Committee.”

In March, the city began a search for volunteers to serve on the new Open Space and Recreation Plan Committee to help plan future projects with the well-being of Leyden residents in mind. The Commission will address several other issues that need to be resolved.

One of the criteria for applying for green communities is to help municipalities produce more solar energy, which required the creation of zoning bylaws. The Solar Advisory Committee and Planning Board were able to develop this bylaw that allows the city to pursue solar projects in efficient and safe areas. According to Caffery, these groups worked with the Clean Energy Extension at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which prepared an assessment to help develop regulations, identify the different types of solar installations that could be built and locate areas available for construction.

In addition to solar zoning, a “stretch code” is required to minimize the “life cycle cost” of newly constructed buildings by requiring that they be constructed in a way that uses significantly less energy than buildings covered by other past and present building codes, according to DOER.

“Becoming a green community has been challenging and ultimately inspiring,” Planning Board member Sarah Bartholomew wrote in an email to the Recorder. “I am very proud of all of us who have supported this process; it was a real victory. As a small city, we need to attract new sources of income in the form of subsidies and create a vision for a completely sustainable future.”

For more information about Green Communities, visit tinyurl.com/3axy963e.