Springfield is a city with a deep industrial history, and while that remains a source of great pride (labor historian Robert Forrant has described the city, during the height of its technological activity, as the Silicon Valley of its day), it hasn’t exactly earned the city a reputation for environmental friendliness.
But that’s been changing lately: Mayor Domenic Sarno has identified job growth in the environmental sector as an important part of Springfield’s economic development, telling the Advocate, “Going green has been one of my administration’s hallmarks.” The City Council has formed a new “Green City Commission,” charged with developing a long-term plan to reduce Springfield’s carbon footprint. And the city has recently won major grants for environmental work, including two federal grants to make municipal buildings more energy efficient—a $1.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy last fall, and a $490,000 grant this spring from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Last month, the City Council adopted, and Sarno signed off on, two new environmental measures: one that will hold builders and contractors to stricter energy-performance standards, and another that will require the city to buy fuel-efficient municipal vehicles in the future. Those new requirements don’t just strengthen the city’s environmental agenda—they could also help Springfield earn a “Green Community” designation. That designation would allow the city to compete for a new pot of state environmental funds, which could bring as much as $1 million in grant money to the city.
“Springfield is finally getting on the right path environmentally,” said John Lysak, Ward 8’s city councilor. “We’ve been behind for years, but we’re starting to get ahead of the game.” Indeed, while municipalities across the state are scrambling to compete for the new state funds, in the Valley, Springfield has been ahead of most other communities in working toward the Green Community designation, said Brian Markey, a member of the Green City Commission and a planner at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, which has been working with communities in Hampden and Hampshire counties that are applying for the designation.
But, as in other communities, Springfield’s march toward Green Community status is being watched with a wary eye by some major segments of the business community, who worry that in its rush to prove its environmental commitment, the city is making decisions that could have damaging economic effects. In particular, they raise objections to the city’s adoption of the stricter building code, which they warn will add even more pressure to an already struggling building industry.
“The Council is very well intentioned & but the problem we have is: at what cost?” said Brad Campbell, executive director of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Western Mass. “And at what point does the consumer say, ‘No more’? I think we’re getting very close.”
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The Green Communities grant program is part of a larger statewide effort that began with the passage of the Green Communities Act in 2008. The law created a Green Communities Division, within the Mass. Department of Energy Resources, to help towns and cities improve their energy efficiency and find renewable energy sources.
That can happen in a lot of ways, explained Mark Sylvia, director of the division. The division, for instance, offers a free energy audit to help municipalities identify sources of waste and develop a plan to reduce energy use. (That program is now being taken over by regional utilities, but will remain free of charge, Sylvia said.) The division has also created a web-based energy tracking tool that local governments can use to measure their energy consumption in municipal buildings, vehicles and street lights. In addition, the division offers technical assistance to communities on a range of environmental issues, and is in charge of distributing the $14 million in federal stimulus funds received by Massachusetts for energy projects.
The program, Sylvia said, is off to a great start. “We’ve been very happy to see the amount of interest across the entire state, from the Cape to the Berkshires,” he said. “There have been a lot of municipalities engaged with the Green Communities initiative.”
Much of that interest can be traced to cash-strapped cities’ and towns’ desire to save on energy costs—and to find outside dollars to help them move to smarter energy sources. The Green Communities Grant Program, in the words of the division, will provide “funding to help municipalities pursue energy efficiency measures, large renewable energy projects, and innovative methods that use less fossil fuel.” The money comes from the auction of carbon allowances under the non-profit Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The division will distribute about $7 million in grants before the end of the current fiscal year in June. Next year, the program is expected to have $10 million to $13 million available for grants.
To compete for the grants, municipalities must be designated a Green Community by the state, by meeting five criteria. The first two pertain to zoning issues: a community must offer “as-of-right siting,” in designated parts of the town or city, for facilities that generate renewable or alternative forms of energy, or that do related research and development or manufacturing. The facilities will still be subject to local zoning regulations, such as requirements about odor containment or distance from neighboring structures, noted Catherine Ratte, section manager for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission’s environment and land use department. But the change will mean that projects that once had to apply for special permit—which can be a time-consuming and costly process— can get faster and easier approval.
As in most communities, Springfield officials chose the option that provides expedited siting for alternative-energy manufacturers or researchers, said Markey, of the Green Commission and the PVPC. Expediting the approval process for energy-generating plants “is a scary prospect for some of these towns,” said Markey. In Springfield, he added, this was an easy criteria to meet, as the city already has an industrial district where manufacturing and research and development are allowed by right.
In addition, would-be Green Communities must conduct an audit of their energy use, and develop a plan to reduce that usage by 20 percent within five years. That will be relatively easy for the many communities that have taken advantage of the energy audits and tracking tool offered by the Green Communities Division, Ratt? pointed out. Municipalities also must commit to buying only fuel-efficient vehicles when replacing existing city cars and trucks. (Police cruisers and heavy-duty vehicles, such as certain public safety and public works equipment, are exempt.)
The last of the criteria is also the most controversial: to qualify as a Green Community, a municipality must adopt a new, stricter set of building requirements created by the state Board of Building Regulations and Standards as a voluntary appendix to the 2009 Mass. State Building Code. That set of standards is commonly referred to as a “stretch code,” because it extends energy-efficiency requirements beyond what’s in the existing building code.
Under the stretch code, a newly constructed home must use 30 to 35 percent less energy (depending on the size of the house) than the same house would have used if built under the state’s previous energy code, adopted in 2006. In the case of home renovation projects, “significant changes,” such as added rooms, must use 15 to 20 percent less energy. (Existing parts of the house that haven’t been renovated will not be subject to the new standards. That possibility had raised some concern in communities such as Springfield that have a lot of older housing stock, Ratte said.)
The stretch code also applies to commercial construction, requiring that most new buildings show a 20 percent reduction in energy use, based on energy standards used in that sector. Commercial buildings of less than 5,000 square feet, and certain “specialty” buildings under 40,000 square feet, such as warehouses and supermarkets, are exempt.
Springfield was the first community in western Massachusetts to adopt the stretch code, and the third in the state (behind only the more stereotypically tree-hugging cities of Newton and Cambridge). With the necessary zoning and energy audit work already in place, and the adoption of the stretch code and fuel-efficient vehicle provisions in March, the city has met all the criteria necessary to apply for Green Community designation.
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But not everyone is cheering that achievement. Campbell, of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association, came to the March 1 Springfield City Council meeting to voice his members’ concerns about the stretch code.
“We are not against finding ways to improve the energy efficiency of our homes,” Campbell later told the Advocate; indeed, HBAWM has a Green Building Committee that focuses on issues like renewable energy, water conservation and indoor air quality. But, he said, the requirements set by the stretch code threaten to tip the delicate economic balance homebuilders face, especially during rough times like these.
According to estimates by the Dept. of Energy Resources, meeting the stretch code standards would add 5 to 8 percent to the cost of constructing a new home, compared to what it would have cost under the standards of the 2006 state code. While the added cost will no doubt be passed on by builders to homebuyers, proponents of the measure say it’s a good investment, given the significant energy savings homeowners will see in the long run. Ratt?, of PVPC, points to a study by DOER that found that the code will add an average of $8,000 to building costs, and result in homeowners saving $427 a year in heating and electricity costs.
In addition, backers note, those figures are based on a comparison to the 2006 building code, which was in effect when the stretch code was drafted. A new code, approved last year, includes higher energy-efficiency standards for all builders—meaning the difference in cost between what builders following the standard 2009 code will incur, and what those following the higher standards of the stretch code will incur, isn’t as great.
Campbell said some of his members question the state figures, suggesting the actual added costs will be significantly higher. But even accepting the lower figures, he said, the math just doesn’t add up, especially in a city like Springfield, where property values are lower than in surrounding communities, and foreclosures higher.
It’s hard enough for builders to sell new houses in Springfield, and adding to their prices will only make it harder, Campbell said. While backers of the stretch code dismiss the increase in purchase price as relatively minor, he said, a lot of Springfield residents are finding no increases in their paychecks—if they have jobs at all, in this era of high unemployment. Nor, he said, does he expect many homebuyers will want to pay thousands more for a house, when they consider how much more in interest it would cost them over a 30-year mortgage.
Builders, Campbell said, have a hard enough time making a profit building affordable starter homes in Springfield (and, indeed, throughout the region, given the high cost of land). And because not all communities are adopting the stretch code, he added, builders might opt against building in a place that does have the code, and head to a community without it—a move that could have serious consequences for a community’s property tax revenue.
Homebuilders are already facing added financial pressures, from new, stricter federal guidelines regarding lead paint removal to increased education requirements for sheet metal workers imposed by the state, Campbell said. His members, he said, don’t oppose improved safety or education requirements. “But you have to weigh all these things, and put them in the pipeline, and say, ‘Can we afford to do all these things?'” While he understands Springfield’s—and other communities’—eagerness to compete for available funds, he said, officials need to think about the long-term implications. “At this point in time, is this a wise decision?”
There are already builders and remodelers who try to skirt existing regulations by doing work without permits, Campbell noted. Adding more requirements could increase that practice—or put struggling builders out of business. “We’re dying,” he said. “It’s a very delicate balancing act we’re walking here.”
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The homebuilders association’s concerns are echoed by the local Chambers of Commerce. “You can’t sell a house in Springfield for what it costs to build,” said Russ Denver, president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield and executive director of the Springfield Chamber. Adding more to that cost makes no sense, he said.
The Chamber, Denver said, is committed to seeing Springfield follow through on the recommendations made by the Urban Land Institute, which was hired by the city to draft a long-term development plan. Among the recommendations made in the ULI’s final report, in 2006, was a call for “adding more market-rate housing in a variety of housing types to meet the market, such as lofts, townhomes, condominiums, and single-family homes.” The requirements created by the stretch code would make it harder to do that, Denver said.
At-large City Councilor Jimmy Ferrera—who chairs Springfield’s Green City Commission and sponsored the Council order to adopt the stretch code—acknowledged that the measure will add to home costs. “But the fact of the matter is, people are looking for more energy-efficient homes and businesses,” he said.
The PVPC, Ratte said, is working with local banks to offer energy-efficient loans to homebuyers to help cover the extra costs. (Some larger lenders already offer these loans, including the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans’ Administration.)
Ratte also questioned the argument that builders will walk away from communities that have adopted the stretch code to build in communities that haven’t, noting that numerous towns and cities have adopted, or are in the process of adopting, the code. In addition, she said, the higher energy-efficiency standards of the regular 2009 building code means all builders will have to improve on that front, and creates a more level playing field.
Lysak, the Ward 8 councilor—who describes himself as “pro-business but … really environmentally friendly, too”—said he weighed the costs versus the benefits of the Green Community criteria carefully. For instance, he joined several other councilors in voting to send the fuel-efficient vehicle order to committee, for further financial analysis. (That move failed.)
But when it came to the stretch code, Lysak said, he felt the long-term energy savings justified the added costs. “If I thought the code was outrageously strict, or something that would put an undue burden on the contactors, builders, homeowners and businesses,” he said, he wouldn’t have supported it.
Ferrera pointed to the number of other local municipalities that have shown interest in the stretch code. “If it’s good for these other towns, then it’s got to be good for Springfield, too,” he said. “For the life of me, I can’t understand why the people are coming to [protest].”
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While Campbell and others from the home builders industry work to get their concerns about the stretch code heard, the number of municipalities that have adopted that code and the other Green Community provisions is growing. As of early last week, 17 municipalities had adopted the stretch code, and more than 20 others planned to take it up at upcoming council or town meetings, said Sylvia, the Green Communities director
“We’re very excited about the amount of enthusiasm and interest by cities and towns,” especially given the high standards they have to meet to qualify, Sylvia said. “It seems like it has become somewhat of a competition between municipalities,” he added. For instance, officials in Greenfield are quite proud that the town was the first in the state to submit its application.
And communities are not just competing for bragging rights—they’re also competing for grants that could run as large as $1 million. Municipalities that successfully apply for Green Community designation by May 14 will be eligible to compete in the initial round of grants. While communities can apply after that deadline and be eligible for grants during the next fiscal year, many are eager to compete now, when the smaller number of qualifying communities will result in bigger grants for those that do make it. While next year’s pot of grant money will be larger, the competition for those funds will be stiffer.
Of the 43 municipalities in Hampden and Hampshire counties, nine have taken advantage of the state-funded consulting services offered by PVPC, although some communities are doing the work on their own, said Ratt?. In addition to Springfield, she expects Northampton, Easthampton, Holyoke, Belchertown, Ludlow, Amherst, Agawam and Hatfield to be among the Valley towns applying.
Sylvia has high hopes for what Green Community efforts could mean for the state: lower energy costs for municipalities, the creation of new jobs—not to mention a healthier environment. The program, he added, also allows government to serve as a powerful public model of successful strategies that individuals and businesses can emulate.
But Denver, for one, would like to see a slower and more thoughtful approach on the part of local governments when it comes to things like the stretch code. “This is being rushed,” he said.
Denver understands why elected officials are eager to align themselves with environmentally oriented efforts. “I’m sure it’s politically difficult for the mayor, as he’s been pushing Springfield as a ‘green’ city. This is another indicator of them moving in that direction,” Denver said.
But it’s also incumbent on those officials to think about the ripple effects those efforts will have on the local economy, he added. “Every action has a reaction.”
