Return to 2012

Green Communities Act

The Wellfleet Community Forum will hold a discussion of the Green Communities Act on Wednesday, March 14 at 7:00 PM at the Wellfleet Library, 55 West Main Street Wellfleet, MA.

The town will vote on several articles related to this topic at the Annual Town Meeting on April 23.

The purpose of the meeting is to explore the implications of the Green Communities Act and the impact on the town of its adoption.  Truro has just become a Green Community.

Marcus Springer, architect and Chair of the Wellfleet Energy Committee, Craig Meadows, president of CTI Energy Services and a member of the Wellfleet Energy Committee, and Art Hutlin, president and owner of Hutlin Construction will discuss various aspects of the Green Communities Act.

To qualify as a Green Community the town proposes to:

  • rezone the landfill area to provide as-of-right siting for a photovoltaic array;
  • implement an expedited permitting process for this zone that allows for reviews to be completed within one year;
  • commit to buying only fuel efficient cars (where practical) in the future;
  • adopt a plan to reduce energy consumption in town buildings by 20% over the next five years; and
  • adopt the stretch code in new construction, renovations and additions. Buildings complying with the stretch code achieve a 20% lower energy usage than do buildings that just meet the existing building code.  This is done mostly through the use of insulation and windows that meet more than the bare minimum requirements of the exiting code.

If the town succeeds in becoming a Green Community, it would be eligible for grants under the act to help it attain the energy reductions of the plan.

The panelists will be:

  • Marcus Springer, RIBA LEED AP BD+C, is a specialist in energy efficient design.  He is a member of Governor Deval Patrick’s Zero Net Energy Buildings Task Force.
  • Craig Meadows’ has 30 years of energy conservation industry experience includes having owned an energy auditing and design firm with more than 100 public housing authorities as clients.
  • Art Hutlin is an experienced contractor, familiar with the unique requirements of building on the Outer Cape and a registered Energy Star builder.

There will be brief presentations, followed by a question and answer period.

Permanent link to this article: http://wellfleetforum.org/previous-programs/2012-2013/green-communities-act/

Leave a Reply