DEERFIELD — Following in the footsteps of other Franklin County towns, volunteers have gathered about 250 signatures supporting three Special Town Meeting warrant articles that are focused on helping Deerfield earn a designation as a Climate Leader Community.
Members of the community group Deerfield for Responsible Development, together with residents who hold positions on the Planning Board and Energy Conservation Committee and other citizens who are committed to climate action, handed in the signatures to Town Clerk Cassie Sanderell on Tuesday morning.
The proposed warrant articles will be voted on during a Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The Planning Board and the Energy Conservation Committee have each written letters of endorsement, sent to the Selectboard, in favor of the three articles.
The Climate Leader designation builds on the Green Communities program, which encourages communities to reduce their municipal energy usage while helping the state meet its clean energy goals, including a commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In May, Ashfield was named among the state’s first group of Climate Leader Communities, making it the first Franklin County municipality to earn the designation. Warwick is also pursuing the Climate Leader title following Annual Town Meeting votes in May and Montague is considering pursuing the same distinction.
According to MA Swedlund, who led the effort to gather signatures, the designation would allow Deerfield to apply for up to $1 million in state grants for climate resiliency projects.
Of the designation’s six requirements, Swedlund said Deerfield has a few left, including a municipal decarbonization roadmap and three action items that are outlined in the proposed warrant articles.
The first article deals with all new construction in town running on “all-electric energy” to help boost clean energy community projects. The second article encourages municipal departments to “consider electric vehicles first” when buying vehicles for their fleets, according to the group’s flyer. The last of the three proposed articles pledges the town’s commitment to long-term energy planning and its support for eliminating fossil fuel dependence.
Deerfield resident Pat Ryan stressed that the articles include suggestions to signal the town’s commitment to clean energy, not requirements.
“It’s not a big swarm of regulations,” she said.
For the articles to be included on the Special Town Meeting warrant, each required 100 signatures from registered voters. According to Swedlund, around 20 volunteers gathered signatures by knocking on neighbors’ doors, sending emails and spreading the word at community events.
“We did everything,” Swedlund said.
Denise Mason, who chairs the Planning Board, said the search for signatures expanded the conversation around climate resiliency out of municipal meetings and into the town.
Swedlund said the group behind the signature-gathering effort had intended to put the three warrant articles before voters at the April Annual Town Meeting, but decided to wait until the fall to better prepare voters.
“We decided we hadn’t done our homework,” Swedlund said. “Not enough people knew, understood what was going on.”
“The clarity of information wasn’t there,” Mason added.
Now, with 250 signatures in hand, Swedlund feels confident voters will pass the articles.
If the town earns the Climate Leader designation and up to $1 million in funding from the state’s Department of Energy Resources, Swedlund said it would fund the installation of solar panels on new construction in town, along with other sustainability projects.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Emily Gaylord, who serves on the Planning Board, said the installation of solar panels would not only help eliminate fossil fuels, but would also benefit businesses. With solar panels powering a building, Gaylord said the clean energy would offset operational costs and allow businesses to establish “energy independence.” By reducing reliance on oil and gas, spreading solar energy would also provide homeowners and businesses with an alternative to paying rising oil and gas prices.
“I obviously care about the sustainability of my town, I care about future generations, I care about making my community and my state and country a healthier place to live and work. I also understand that we are in a crisis of affordability, and anything we can do that is making it easier to live and work in my community, in my state, in my country, is something I want to be supportive of,” Gaylord said. “What is exciting about these initiatives is you’re not choosing between these things; we get to have both.”
“It’s a win-win-win,” Ryan said, referring to businesses, towns and residents potentially benefiting from Deerfield becoming a Climate Leader Community.
Swedlund, Mason, Ryan and Energy Conservation Committee Chair David Gilbert-Keith said the designation could also help Deerfield better protect itself against climate disasters, specifically extreme heat and flooding.
As part of the town’s Climate Change Resiliency Plan, the Municipality Vulnerability Preparedness Core Group pursued a hydrology study projecting future flooding from Bloody Brook and Blacksmith/Sugarloaf Brook, with the expertise of a state engineer and conservationist. According to MVP member Carolyn Shores Ness, “There’s no question there’s a flooding risk” in South Deerfield.
“Not only is it a huge expense going forward, it has a huge impact on our residents,” Shores Ness said in a phone interview Tuesday, adding that the flooding would especially impact the schools and North Main Street residents. “We’re documenting that it is a real risk.”
“We’re all concerned,” Mason said. “Think about the future.”