Residents and town officials crowded the Rochester senior center Monday to hear input on whether to withdraw from the Commonwealth’s Green Communities program, which provides grants and technical assistance to support constructing more energy-efficient buildings and homes but also mandates compliance with building codes that increase construction costs.
Attendees ended up with only one clear conclusion. Until more information on comparative construction costs is available, the town might want to delay the vote to leave the program that will take the form of two articles on the May 22 Annual Town Meeting warrant.
Green Communities Southeast Coordinator Lisa Sullivan spoke of the benefits of being a Green Community. The town, she said, has received $425,505 in grants since its December 2019 designation as a Green Community. This money has funded energy-efficiency projects such as LED lighting and envelope improvements in the town’s municipal buildings.
To qualify for the Green Communities designation, the town must create a plan to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent within 20 years and adopt a fuel-efficiency, vehicle-purchase policy.
Senior Advisor Paul Raymer spoke in favor of the Stretch building code that the town must follow more strictly as a Green Community. He noted the code requires Home Energy Rating Scores (verifiers) that will test the energy efficiency of structures before improvements are recommended, and the state pays for that step.
Raymer’s main message: Stricter building codes that increase energy efficiency and lower fossil-fuel energy consumption are worth the cost and effort.
Attendees were not convinced, pointing out that the code mandates more expensive building materials, and electric vehicles are more expensive to dispose of at the end of their lives.
Select Board Chairman Woody Hartley clarified that because the town wants to rescind its Green Communities status, residents need to better understand how the different levels of Stretch code might make construction costs go up.
“Especially when we are facing a $15,000,000 building program,” he said, referring to the town’s current plan to build a new fire station and construct an addition to the police station.
Raymer’s other message was that there are too many variables involved to immediately determine the increase that Green Communities’ Stretch code would pose on the construction costs of the public-safety project.
A resident asked Hartley if, without solid answers to financial impact, it might be premature to decide on rescinding the town’s Green Communities status next month on Town Meeting floor. Hartley agreed the vote could be delayed if that is what the town wants.
Sullivan noted that Rochester is the only Green Communities municipality in the state looking to withdraw. She said it is too early in the planning process to know how much the town project’s costs will rise under Green Communities status.
Planning Board and Public Safety Building Feasibility Study Committee Chairman Arnold Johnson rose from his chair to dispute that claim.
“We have a good game plan right now,” said Johnson, elaborating to say the (public-safety-facilities) plan is already looking more expensive because of these Green Stretch codes and that the town should withdraw from its participation in the Green Communities program.
Johnson said the building installation will have to be stronger and thus more expensive. The new sallyport bays in the police station addition will require electric-vehicle charging stations. Triple-pane windows will be required, whereas double-pane windows would have been installed instead.
“It all adds up,” Johnson said. “These are not imaginary plans. The costs will only get higher. A tighter building means higher electric bills. It makes no sense. You’ve got to balance it out. If you’re looking at a pay back/better energy-efficiency period of five years, it’s not worth it. We have to be very careful. We have a limited commercial base in this town.”
Rochester Facilities Manager Andrew Daniel said his goal on the committee that worked on joining Green Communities was to reduce the town’s energy consumption and save the town money. He said he is not sure both goals have been realized. “I just know that this will have a ton of impacts on us,” he said.
After the discussion ended, Hartley acknowledged that the articles to withdraw from Green Communities will remain on the May 22 Annual Town Meeting warrant. One article is a citizens’ petition to withdraw; the other is an action by the Select Board to recommend the same.
By Michael J. DeCicco