Green status would mean that Amherst would be eligible for state grants.
Amherst Town Hall AMHERST – At the annual Town Meeting, voters unanimously agreed to adopt the Stretch Energy Code, and now the Select Board needs to adopt a fuel-efficient vehicle policy to enable the town to apply for green designation status in the fall.
The Select Board will formally vote on the policy at its next meeting Aug. 8. The policy calls for the town to buy only fuel-efficient vehicles for town use “whenever such vehicles are commercially available and practicable.” The policy goal is to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Emergency response vehicles, some department of public works vehicles would be exempt, according to the policy.
Select Board Chairwoman Stephanie J. O’Keeffe asked Town Manager John P. Musante at a recent board meeting whether adopting the policy is financially viable. “I do think it’s manageable,” he said. If the town qualifies as a green community, it could bring in between $125,000 to $200,000 a year in grants for energy-efficient projects.
Musante said the town used to “recycle old cruisers to administrative use, but we’re moving away from that.”
“The standards are not very onerous. It’s not hard to meet their standards,” Select Board member James J. Wald said.
The state adopted the Green Communities Act in 2008, and it went into effect last year. Communities must adopt the stretch code, the fuel efficiency policy and zoning ordinances that accommodate renewable energy businesses, streamline permitting for those businesses and show how they plan to cut municipal energy consumption by 20 percent in the next five years.
So far, 74 communities have received the green designation including Springfield, Easthampton, Greenfield, Holyoke and Northampton. It enables them to receive grants for energy efficiency projects. Granby, Monson and Deerfield received green status earlier this month.
Musante said the town is working on entering its energy consumption into the state data base and plans to apply for designation during the next round sometime this fall.