Newsletter Volume 2 • Number 27
Clean air, quality-of-life measures heading to RTM on Monday
Greenwich’s 230 member Representative Town Meeting (RTM) will vote on several proposals aimed at addressing various environmental issues: clean energy, noise, and a pathway for bikes, scooters and other non-motorized transportation.
It’s a rare convergence of quality-of-life issues that has sparked questions, support and concern among residents and elected representatives.
A clean energy future for Greenwich schools?
Monday the RTM will vote on a $3.2 million request by the Board of Education to replace a mismanaged green geothermal system at Hamilton Avenue School with a natural gas HVAC system. The engineering firm hired by the school district recommended that the geothermal system be retained and improved. However, facilities staff prefer systems they already know how to maintain.
Advocates for fixing the geothermal system note that modern, zero-emission geothermal is efficient, cost effective and promotes student health and learning. At least 20 schools in Connecticut have adopted geothermal to cut costs and reduce energy consumption, and more schools nationwide are shifting to renewable energy due to new federal incentives available to schools.
Neither the full costs of repairing the geothermal system nor the purchase and installation of the gas-fired HVAC, are yet known. Nor are the operating and lifecycle costs. But understanding these costs could help decision makers choose whether to fund it, or send the request back for reconsideration. Maintenance costs and operating complexity for these competing systems has also been a matter of debate.
Gas leaf blower seasonal limits
A group of residents has spent several years seeking to limit the noise and nuisance of gas powered leaf blowers. They are asking the RTM to adopt summer limits on their use in Greenwich, in line with rules that exist in 31 neighboring towns, and most recently adopted in Norwalk and Westport. Medical and environmental studies have documented the health impacts of these 2-stroke engines, which are exempt from the Clean Air Act, and exempt from Town of Greenwich noise rules.
“With more residents working from home, people just want a break to enjoy their homes and yards for a few months out of the year,” said Leslie Petrick, a member of Quiet Yards Greenwich.
However, Greenwich’s Board of Health has opposed the initiative, variously arguing that it more properly belongs with them, not the RTM, that the health impacts of the noise need more study, and that a part-time ban isn’t going far enough. Others have raised questions about enforcement, and the cost of conversion to electric blowers for small landscapers.
In a surprise move, the Board of Health met on Thursday and voted to repeal the entire noise ordinance of the town of Greenwich in order to prevent it from being used to limit gas leaf blowers. The decision gives Hartford control over our noise rules, at least until a new ordinance is adopted. State rules on noise are more lax than Greenwich’s, and residents will now be subject to an extra 4 hours of gas leaf blower use a day, from 7:00 am until 9:00 p.m. on weekdays, until a new noise ordinance is in place.
Multi-use bike path
Then there is a request by Greenwich’s Department of Public Works (DPW) that the RTM approve funding for a feasibility study to explore creating a multi-use path for bikes, runners, and scooters between Binney Park in Old Greenwich and Boccuzzi Park in Stamford. All but about $50,000 of the study’s $338,000 cost would be paid for by the state or the project’s partner town, Stamford. It would be a first for Greenwich, which unlike every other neighboring town along coastal Connecticut, has no protected bike paths, and virtually no unprotected bike lanes either.
But this proposal is facing criticism from some in Old Greenwich because it was hatched without adequate community outreach, and appears to favor creating a path right through the already congested Sound Beach commercial area. DPW and advocates have been scrambling to explain that any path will not run down Sound Beach Ave. or any other street unless the community wants it to; the grant is specifically aimed at considering the feasibility of all possible options.
Bob DeAngelo, a member of the First Selectman’s Alternative Transportation Task Force discussed why this path is needed now. “There are a lot more, bigger, faster cars, and distracted driving due to cell phones. Many parents say ‘I won’t let my daughter ride to school 1/2 mile away because it’s too dangerous.’ We would get a safer Greenwich by making it safer for people to get around their community.”
You can read more about any of these issues on the RTM agenda. To contact your RTM representatives, first check which RTM district you’re in, then click on the link to the page for the appropriate district.
Fundraiser for 8th grade DC trip
The Greenwich Alliance for Education and The 8th Grade DC Trip Fundraising Committee invite you to a live band FUNdraiser on Friday, January 19 from 6-9pm at Old Greenwich Social Club. Tickets are $50 per person and all proceeds will go toward funding the D.C. trip for current and future GPS 8th graders. Click here to buy tickets.
| Volume 2, Number 27 • December 8, 2023 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |