Selectman Peterson Office Hours Tomorrow
Selectman Osler “Pete” Peterson holds regular monthly office hours at The Center on the first Friday of every month from 9:00 to 10:00 AM. Residents are welcome to stop by to talk in person about any town matters, and no appointment is required.
Residents can also have coffee and see the Council on Aging in action (a vibrant organization with lots going on). Peterson can be reached via 508-359-9190 or his blog about Medfield matters.
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Posted in On being a selectman
Green Communities Stretch Code Public Forum Wednesday March 26, 2014 7:00 to 9:00 pm
MEDFIELD TOWN HALL CHENERY ROOM
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Green Communities and the Stretch Energy Code
For more information on Green Communities go to: www.mass.gov/energy/greencommunities Target Audience: Town building and development officials, local builders, property owners and all others concerned about the future of Medfield. In 2008 the Massachusetts Legislature created the Green Communities program. The program encourages “Green” behavior by municipalities. “Green” behavior means efforts that reduce energy use. Reducing energy use saves municipalities money—so “Green” also means saving money. All Massachusetts municipalities that meet the 5 Green Communities criteria will be eligible to apply for a portion of the $10 million annually set aside to make Massachusetts cities and towns even greener. Medfield is working to meet the Green Communities Criteria and would be eligible for $148,000 grant. Medfield is planning to apply for Green Communities status in the Fall of 2014. To meet this timing, the Town must adopt the Stretch Energy Code at the April 28, 2014 Annual Town Meeting. One of the Green Communities criteria is adoption of the “Stretch Energy Code” an optional amendment to the Town’s building code that will make all new buildings very energy efficient. This forum is designed to allow you to get all your questions answered about what adoption of the Stretch Code might mean for you—as a builder, city official, elected official, property owner or just an interested person who cares about the future of Medfield. 7:00 —Welcome and Introductions 7:15 —Brief overview of the Green Communities program – Medfield Energy Committee 7:30 – What is the Stretch Code – Mike Barry – DOER 7:50 – Affects of adopting Stretch Code in Medfield – John Naff, Building Commissioner/Zoning Officer 8:15 – Q & A |
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Posted in Energy Committee, Environmental, Green
Green Community Public Forum 4/3/2014 7PM
| Green Community Public Forum
April 3, 2014 at 7:00 PM at Town House Chenery Room The purpose of this forum is to provide an opportunity to learn about the Green Communities Act and the two articles on the Warrant in advance of the April 28 Annual Town Meeting. Voters will consider Article 35: Adopt Stretch Energy Code Bylaw and Article 34: Adopt Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Facilities Overlay District (POVD). The Medfield Energy Committee and Town representatives will make brief presentations followed by a question and answer session. The agenda and related information is included below.
Adopting Articles 34 and 35 at Town Meeting are two of the requirements to become a Green Community through the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER). The Board of Selectmen voted on ????? to support the Medfield Energy Committee recommendation to pursue a Green Community designation to qualify for a base grant of approximately $148,000, with additional opportunities available for competitive grants.
7:00 – 7:05 Introductions 7:05 – 7:15: Overview of Green Communities Program 7:15 – 7:45: Overview Solar Photovoltaic By-Law 7:45 – 8:00: Overview of Stretch Energy Code 8:00 – 9:00 Facilitated Questions and Answers Session 8:55 – 9:00: Meeting Conclusion |
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Comments Off on GCA forum 7PM on 4/3
Posted in Energy Committee, Environmental, Green
This from the Medfield Energy Committee –
Summary: Green Communities Act for Medfield
To encourage energy conservation and to increase the supply of renewable energy, the State of Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) enacted the Green Communities Act (GCA) in 2008. Since then, the State has qualified 123 towns as Green Communities. These communities have shared over $22 million in grants. Qualifying for GCA would provide $148,000 to Medfield to fund clean energy projects. To become a Green Community, Medfield would need to agree to five criteria:
Criteria #1 . Provide as-of-right siting in designated locations for renewable/alternative energy generation, research & development, or manufacturing facilities.
Criteria #2. Adopt an expedited application and permit process (one year maximum) for as-of-right energy facilities.
Criteria #3. Establish an energy use baseline and develop a plan to reduce energy use by twenty percent (20%) within five (5) years.
Criteria #4. Purchase only fuel-efficient vehicles.
Criteria #5. Set requirements to minimize life-cycle energy costs for new construction; one way to meet these requirements is to adopt the new Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS) Energy Stretch Code.
The Medfield Energy Committee (MEC) and Town departments have been working for several years to reduce Town energy use. MEC worked on applying for Green Community status in 2011, but the necessary By-Law changes were not presented at the 2011 Town Meeting so the effort was put on hold.
The MEC now recommends that the Town of Medfield apply to the State of Massachusetts DOER for Green Community Status in 2014. To prepare the application to the DOER, the Town will be taking the following actions:
Criteria #1. Adopt a By-Law for an overlay district for as-of-right siting for large-scale ground-mounted photovoltaic energy generation (minimum 250 KW or about one acre). MEC and the Select Board are co-sponsors of this article on the Warrant for Town Meeting. The overlay district is the IE district on the zoning map. Such a by-law will require 2/3 vote at the April 28, 2014 Town Meeting.
Criteria #2. Expedited permitting requirements are met by the current Medfield Zoning By-Laws. Town Counsel must provide a letter attesting to the sufficiency of the current By-Law.
Criteria #3. The energy use baseline for Medfield has been developed and tracked since 2008, but a plan to reduce energy 20% from 2012 would need to be developed and agreed to by the School Board and the Board of Selectmen. Achieving a 20% reduction of energy over 5 years from 2012 will be a challenge. From 2007, the Medfield schools have already achieved a 46% reduction in gas usage and 25% reduction in electricity usage. MEC is working with the Town departments to prepare an energy reduction plan.
Criteria #4. An energy efficient vehicle policy would need to be approved by the School Board and Board of Selectmen. A vehicle inventory and a policy for purchasing only energy efficient vehicles was partially developed in 2011. The inventory will be updated and the policy completed.
Criteria #5. An article to adopt the 2009 stretch energy building code Is on the Warrant for the April 28 Town Meeting. Effective July 2014, the Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS) will adopt this code as the State energy code. The DOER is currently considering what will replace the stretch energy code for GCA communities. By adopting the 2009 code, Medfield would also be adopting the new stretch code when it is finalized. The aim of a new stretch code would be to continue improving life-cycle costs of new construction. As before, it will include known, proven methods of construction and systems of measurement to reduce energy usage. The investment in improved energy conservation methods during construction will be recovered by the reduced energy bills during the life of the structure. It is likely that the newer stretch code would eventually become the State code within 5 years as was the case with the 2009 stretch energy code.
The MEC believes that Medfield is already a “Green Community” and should reap the benefits by becoming a designated Green Community to qualify for the available grants. MEC has just recently secured a small grant for initial assessment of three sites for municipal Solar energy generation. Green Community incentives could possibly be of great benefit to help fund the development of such capacity. The MEC stands ready to work with any Town Department to prepare the necessary information and develop the application to DOER for Green Community status.
Medfield Energy Committee
February 20, 2014
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Summary: Green Communities Act for Medfield
To encourage energy conservation and to increase the supply of renewable energy, the State of Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) enacted the Green Communities Act (GCA) in 2008. Since then, the State has qualified 123 towns as Green Communities. These communities have shared over $22 million in grants. Qualifying for GCA would provide $148,000 to Medfield to fund clean energy projects. To become a Green Community, Medfield would need to agree to five criteria:
Criteria #1 . Provide as-of-right siting in designated locations for renewable/alternative energy generation, research & development, or manufacturing facilities.
Criteria #2. Adopt an expedited application and permit process (one year maximum) for as-of-right energy facilities.
Criteria #3. Establish an energy use baseline and develop a plan to reduce energy use by twenty percent (20%) within five (5) years.
Criteria #4. Purchase only fuel-efficient vehicles.
Criteria #5. Set requirements to minimize life-cycle energy costs for new construction; one way to meet these requirements is to adopt the new Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS) Energy Stretch Code.
The Medfield Energy Committee (MEC) and Town departments have been working for several years to reduce Town energy use. MEC worked on applying for Green Community status in 2011, but the necessary By-Law changes were not presented at the 2011 Town Meeting so the effort was put on hold.
The MEC now recommends that the Town of Medfield apply to the State of Massachusetts DOER for Green Community Status in 2014. To prepare the application to the DOER, the Town will be taking the following actions:
Criteria #1. Adopt a By-Law for an overlay district for as-of-right siting for large-scale ground-mounted photovoltaic energy generation (minimum 250 KW or about one acre). MEC and the Select Board are co-sponsors of this article on the Warrant for Town Meeting. The overlay district is the IE district on the zoning map. Such a by-law will require 2/3 vote at the April 28, 2014 Town Meeting.
Criteria #2. Expedited permitting requirements are met by the current Medfield Zoning By-Laws. Town Counsel must provide a letter attesting to the sufficiency of the current By-Law.
Criteria #3. The energy use baseline for Medfield has been developed and tracked since 2008, but a plan to reduce energy 20% from 2012 would need to be developed and agreed to by the School Board and the Board of Selectmen. Achieving a 20% reduction of energy over 5 years from 2012 will be a challenge. From 2007, the Medfield schools have already achieved a 46% reduction in gas usage and 25% reduction in electricity usage. MEC is working with the Town departments to prepare an energy reduction plan.
Criteria #4. An energy efficient vehicle policy would need to be approved by the School Board and Board of Selectmen. A vehicle inventory and a policy for purchasing only energy efficient vehicles was partially developed in 2011. The inventory will be updated and the policy completed.
Criteria #5. An article to adopt the 2009 stretch energy building code Is on the Warrant for the April 28 Town Meeting. Effective July 2014, the Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS) will adopt this code as the State energy code. The DOER is currently considering what will replace the stretch energy code for GCA communities. By adopting the 2009 code, Medfield would also be adopting the new stretch code when it is finalized. The aim of a new stretch code would be to continue improving life-cycle costs of new construction. As before, it will include known, proven methods of construction and systems of measurement to reduce energy usage. The investment in improved energy conservation methods during construction will be recovered by the reduced energy bills during the life of the structure. It is likely that the newer stretch code would eventually become the State code within 5 years as was the case with the 2009 stretch energy code.
The MEC believes that Medfield is already a “Green Community” and should reap the benefits by becoming a designated Green Community to qualify for the available grants. MEC has just recently secured a small grant for initial assessment of three sites for municipal Solar energy generation. Green Community incentives could possibly be of great benefit to help fund the development of such capacity. The MEC stands ready to work with any Town Department to prepare the necessary information and develop the application to DOER for Green Community status.
Medfield Energy Committee
February 20, 2013
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Posted in Energy Committee, Environmental, Green
See this month’s interesting issue of its newsletter, the Portal – Portal
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Posted in History
The Town of Medfield is at the cusp of one of its most momentous decisions ever, whether to buy the former Medfield State Hospital site. Given that in my role a selectman I have gone to literally scores of meetings about the MSH over twelve years, I thought that I should share what I learned and what I have concluded.
First I conclude that the town absolutely should buy the MSH site. Buying is all about the town controlling the choices, rather than the state or others choosing the development that will happen in our town, since development will happen there whether we buy it or do not.
Second, the $3.1m. price is not too high, especially if compared to the possible costs for municipal services to the site’s residents for generations if the town does not control the ultimate development. The state will finance the $3.1m. price, with the interest baked in, over ten years, so that we pay $310,000 per year
Town control gets us the type of uses and development the town both needs and wants. There is so much open space and recreational lands in that area that will remain in state control, that those uses will continue to be available in spades – town development will only be on the areas that are already built upon. While any town development will be decided upon by residents later, in my mind it should be a mixed use development, mainly residential, with small amounts of retail and commercial space, with the housing being small attached units for one or two person households, empty nesters, or older residents looking to down size. Importantly, this is the sort of housing that the town generally lacks, but also, more importantly, it is housing that can make money for the town, because such housing will not require expensive town services.
The time is right to make this deal, as no one can predict whether the new Governor who takes over in January 2015 will continue to let the town buy the site. In the past the town has been refused the purchase option.
After purchase, the town’s cost to own the property until redevelopment occurs should not be too high. I suggest doing without the 24/7 security the state employed, in favor of limiting access to the site by physical barriers, install monitoring cameras, and having the Medfield Police do limited patrols. Beyond that I would have our DPW keep the buildings sealed up. The lands the town is buying have already been environmentally cleansed. The only remaining hazard issues on those lands are the asbestos and lead paint in the buildings, and those will be removed when the buildings are demolished. Ideally the town will let the town selected developers demolition the buildings. DCAMM, who contracts for similar demolitions all the time, says developers pay $6 per sq. ft. to do demolitions, all in, whereas prevailing wages mean the town would pay $11-14 per sq. ft. There remain about 600,000 sq. ft. of buildings at the site.
Lastly, the development gives the town the opportunity to both get the development it most desires, but also perhaps to make some money. The state’s partnership model has the state getting a 30-50% share of any resale. The site will be improved by the state’s river clean up and the new park area to be built on the adjoining state lands.
In sum, for short money we gain control and we get what the town wants, with an outside chance to make some money.
Osler L. Peterson, Selectman
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Posted in Medfield State Hospital, Town Meeting
The Medfield Energy Committee Chair, Marie Zack Nolan, has written an eloquent and persuasive letter to the state to support state adoption of a newly revised stretch building code. A copy of that letter follows –
March 4, 2014
Mr. Mark Sylvia, Commissioner
Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 1020
Boston, MA 02114
Dear Commissioner Sylvia,
As a building professional and resident of Massachusetts, I am writing to express my support for the adoption of the update to the Stretch Code.
The Commonwealth should move in an expeditious manner in developing and adopting the updated Stretch Code. In July 2014, when the IECC 2012 goes into full effect, the current Stretch Code will be essentially equivalent to the new base energy code in terms of energy efficiency. The Green Communities Act requires that “Green Communities” set requirements to minimize life-cycle costs for new construction, which largely has been accomplished through the adoption of the Stretch Code by these municipalities. The delay in the adoption of an updated Stretch Code is causing confusion as to the status of Green Community designations, along with undue complexity for the design professionals of Massachusetts dealing with uncertainty as to future requirements in the Green Communities.
The adoption of the current Stretch Code has made Massachusetts a national leader in energy performance. The adoption of an updated Stretch Code will support the efforts of the Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020 (2010), which references the Stretch Code and identifies significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings associated with its adoption. The adoption of a Stretch Code will help to realize the 9.8% GHG reduction by 2020 that the Commonwealth has hoped to achieve from the building sector.
The Stretch code concept aligns with the USGBC and our efforts to transform the market using the LEED building rating system. We support efforts to continue raising the bar on energy efficiency in a constructive manner that will continue to help shift the market and our building stock towards a future goal of zero-net energy and positive energy buildings.
The Commonwealth should align the updated Stretch Code with the newly-finalized 2015 IECC. Since the Commonwealth is required to adopt the 2015 IECC within a year of its publication this spring, writing a Stretch Code that is incompatible with the 2015 IECC would necessitate another update as soon as next year. It is our hope that developing the Stretch Code in advance of the adoption of its concurrent base code would set a precedent for future code cycles, thereby eliminating the issue we are currently facing due to the delay in adopting an updated Stretch Code. We appreciate the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources past leadership on the Stretch Code, and would like to support the swift adoption of an updated version.
Sincerely,
Marie Zack Nolan
Project Manager, The Green Engineer, Inc.
Chair, Medfield Energy Committee
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Posted in Energy Committee
The Medfield Coalition for Public Education “has created this award to honor an educator in the Medfield school community who embodies Bob’s legacy of exposing our students to the world beyond Medfield.”
The Robert C. Maguire Global Perspectives in Education Award
Criteria:
This award will be given to a staff member whose effort embodies Bob’s vision for further developing students’ global understanding and readiness to engage in the expanding global economy. Similar to Bob, the award recipient will be someone who inspires students to look beyond the town of Medfield and learn more about the global community through innovative programs and technologies. This may include initiatives that:
A. Use innovative technologies to enhance learning, foster collaboration, and develop connections with other people and communities
B. Increase multicultural awareness and appreciation
C. Bring multicultural elements into the curriculum
D. Develop links with schools or organizations in other nations or different ethnic communities within the US
I was told last weekend that Bob is back working, after a short retirement.
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Posted in Schools
The State Hospital Advisory Committee held an informational meeting about the Medfield State Hospital purchase decision last night. About fifty residents attended the two hour long session at the Blake Middle School auditorium, to hear SHAC chair Steve Nolan and committee member Gil Rodgers explain the purchase status and issues. the time was about equally divided between the presentation and a questions and answer period.
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Posted in Medfield State Hospital, Town Meeting
A 300 unit 40B in Needham on six acres that its ZBA permitted for 108 units has been appealed –
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Posted in Affordable housing / 40B
Medfield Select Board member
I started this blog to share the interesting and useful information that I saw while doing my job as a Medfield select board member. I thought that my fellow Medfield residents would also find that information interesting and useful as well. This blog is my effort to assist in creating a system to push the information out from the Town House to residents. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how it can be done better.
For information on my other job as an attorney (personal injury, civil litigation, estate planning and administration, and real estate), please feel free to contact me at 617-969-1500 or Osler.Peterson@OslerPeterson.com.
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