The Oak Bluffs select board approved the last three criteria on its application to become a Green Community.
Green Community status provides a roadmap and financial support to municipalities that cut energy use by 20 percent over five years, and meet four other criteria.
A town must designate a limited site in town that is available for renewable energy projects (municipal or commercial), promise expedited permitting response for renewable energy projects at the site, and establish an energy baseline at town buildings; towns must set a five-year target for good-faith efforts to achieve a 20 percent reduction in energy use, and agree to buy fuel-efficient municipal vehicles (police cruisers and heavy-duty vehicles are exempted).
Finally, a town must adopt the Massachusetts building stretch code for energy efficiency. Buildings constructed to the stretch code use significantly less energy than buildings constructed under other codes.
Town voters approved the large-scale solar bylaw and the stretch energy code at 2021 town meeting.
With the board’s approval, the town’s application for Green Community status is complete and can be submitted to the state. Once approved, the town will have access to $140,000 in grant money to improve the town’s infrastructure.
In other business, the board approved a deed restriction for a property recently purchased by Harbor Homes.
Harbor Homes purchased 111 New York Avenue in July, a six-bedroom home, in partnership with Island Housing Trust to serve Island women experiencing homelessness and to serve as a headquarters for the organization.
Oak Bluffs town counsel developed a deed restriction around the original Community Preservation committee funding request, which stated the property was to be purchased as permanent housing for women and residents earning up to 30 percent of the area median income (AMI).
The board set its special town meeting for Tuesday, Nov. 9, accepted a bid from Bruno’s to run operations at the Solid Waste Transfer Station, and accepted a $9,000-per-year, three-year bid from Benjamin DeForest for parking spots on Kennebec Avenue.
Great for our town…now to really make a commitment to being green let’s make ALL the new fields at MVRHS natural grass…not synthetic.
Go OB !! Showing us how important local goverment is! Presenting ideas to the public that are not only foward thinking but the ONLY way our planet with be a hospitable place to live for our children and grandchildren. Every negative action , like Synthetic Turf, is an action against the environment we depend on. From water contamination , shell fish degregation and creating more garbage (micro-plastic ), is not only a step in the wrong direction but a terrible example to our children. Yes , I have plastic in my own life . But PUBLIC SPACES should be anchored in the most current and GREEN practices. We can support our children in amazing and innovative ways without plastic turf.
Wealth , convenience and free things should not be a reason to accept something we know deep down is wrong for the earths eco system and possibly toxic for athletes . Natural grass won’t be perfect, there will be rain and mud , this is part of our natural ecology.
We must be concerned and conscious stewards of our earth, our future (children) and the health of the land we govern. OB goverment has taken big and important steps to do this . Thank you .
If your not sure about what I’m talking about , please Watch David Attenborough’s witness statement regarding our planets current crisis and why even 1 plastic turf is adding to the problem .
People may say I’m not in the game , my kids are not in athletics anymore . But I’m a resident of this island and the earth. If you’ve traveled , you understand the limits of drinking water. My children both live in places where the water is contaminated. Let’s not take ours for granted in the name of convenience.
OB??
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=64R2MYUt394&feature=youtu.be