Harmony with Nature

Goal 15. Protect and maintain the Town’s environmentally sensitive areas and natural resources

The Town’s envi­ron­men­tal­ly sen­si­tive areas and nat­ur­al resources include its wet­lands, wildlife, open space cor­ri­dors, steep slopes, water­sheds, rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, trees and forests, flood plains, aquifers (potable and non-potable), spe­cial rock out­crops, view sheds/​scenic vis­tas and ridge­lines. The Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Over­lay reg­u­la­tions and envi­ron­men­tal review process should be reviewed and strength­ened, where nec­es­sary. The Town should revis­it its code pro­vi­sions for the off-site mit­i­ga­tion of envi­ron­men­tal impacts, includ­ing wet­land dis­tur­bance and tree cut­ting, with the objec­tive of min­i­miz­ing the trans­for­ma­tion of our habi­tat, for­est and wet­lands and allow­ing for flex­i­bil­i­ty in the loca­tion of mit­i­ga­tion efforts (e.g. off-site but with a high­er mit­i­ga­tion fac­tor) and type of mit­i­ga­tion plant­i­ngs (e.g. shrubs should be allowed to replace trees where appro­pri­ate). The cre­ation of aquifer over­lay dis­tricts should be con­sid­ered. Edu­ca­tion mate­ri­als should be pro­vid­ed for the pub­lic and land devel­op­ers regard­ing the eco­log­i­cal impact of devel­op­ment, the per­mit­ting process and mit­i­ga­tion requirements 

Action 15.1. Environmental Protection Overlay

Review and strength­en exist­ing Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Over­lay and envi­ron­men­tal review process to ensure ade­quate pro­tec­tion of wet­lands, wildlife, wildlife and open space cor­ri­dors, steep slopes, water­sheds, rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, trees and forests, flood plains, aquifers, potable aquifers, spe­cial rock out­crops, and ridgelines.

Action 15.2. Wetland mitigation

Explore the fea­si­bil­i­ty of amend­ing the exist­ing wet­land mit­i­ga­tion statu­to­ry require­ment to allow for off-site mit­i­ga­tion with­in the same drainage basin.

Action 15.3. Tree replacement statutory requirements

Revis­it tree replace­ment statu­to­ry require­ments to allow plant­i­ng of shrub­bery in addi­tion to trees to enhance qual­i­ty of mit­i­ga­tion plant­i­ngs and nat­ur­al habi­tat. Con­sid­er­a­tion should be giv­en to the def­i­n­i­tion of shrub­bery, cri­te­ria to equate the val­ue brought by shrub­bery ver­sus trees, etc. 

Action 15.4. Review tree removal regulation

Review tree removal reg­u­la­tions to ensure stat­u­a­to­ry require­ments are suf­fi­cient in pro­tect­ing eco­log­i­cal­ly and his­tor­i­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant trees.

Action 15.5. ​Create public education materials

Cre­ate pub­lic edu­ca­tion mate­ri­als regard­ing tree removal reg­u­la­tions (i.e. eco­log­i­cal impact, cri­te­ria for removal, per­mit­ting process, mit­i­ga­tion requirements).

Action 15.6. Create education materials for landscape contractors

Cre­ate edu­ca­tion mate­ri­als for land­scape con­trac­tors regard­ing prop­er man­age­ment and main­te­nance of ripar­i­an areas.

Goal 16. Promote plant and animal biodiversity through the restoration, connection and protection of natural habitats

The Town should devel­op a Nat­ur­al Resources Index (NRI) that inven­to­ries and maps dif­fer­ent flo­ra and fau­na, as well as their respec­tive habi­tats. This infor­ma­tion should be used in a Town-wide Bio­di­ver­si­ty Man­age­ment Plan, which should out­line a more sys­tem­at­ic approach to sup­port and pro­tect bio­di­ver­si­ty. If appro­pri­ate, code mod­i­fi­ca­tions should be made to help man­age and pro­tect these species and habi­tats. A Town-wide NRI and Bio­di­ver­si­ty Plan can be devel­oped in part­ner­ship with neigh­bor­ing munic­i­pal­i­ties, the NYS­DEC, and oth­er local envi­ron­men­tal orga­ni­za­tions, and as a result, can help strength­en inter-munic­i­pal bio­di­ver­si­ty pro­tec­tion efforts.

Action 16.1. Town-wide Biodiversity Management Plan

Pre­pare a com­pre­hen­sive Town-wide Bio­di­ver­si­ty Man­age­ment Plan that includes a Nat­ur­al Resources Index (NRI), sup­ports region­al sus­tain­abil­i­ty and is coor­di­nat­ed with the Town’s Open Space Man­age­ment Plan.

Action 16.2. Map different habitat areas and species

Work with the DEC and the Town’s envi­ron­men­tal boards or oth­er vol­un­teers to iden­ti­fy and map dif­fer­ent habi­tat areas and species to be includ­ed in the NRI. The NRI should include an updat­ed list of endangered/​threatened species as well as detail why these species are crit­i­cal to the bio­di­ver­si­ty of the area.

Action 16.3. Create protection areas

Cre­ate pro­tec­tion areas, cor­ri­dors and reg­u­la­tions that pro­tect habi­tat areas. Coor­di­nate with the review and revi­sion of the Open Space Man­age­ment Plan.

Goal 17. Manage and reduce the impacts of dangerous and/or invasive plants and animals (e.g. deer, coyotes, vines)

Inva­sive plants and ani­mals are incred­i­bly dis­rup­tive to native species habi­tats and ecosys­tems, great­ly con­tribute to a loss of bio­di­ver­si­ty, and can often be a nui­sance to human pop­u­la­tions. The Town should iden­ti­fy inva­sive plants and ani­mals, as well as their impact on local habi­tats, and devel­op a plan to reduce those impacts. Res­i­dents should be pro­vid­ed with edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als that address the con­trol of vines and inva­sive plants and the Town should con­tin­ue to dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion found in the Town’s Coy­ote Response Plan to help res­i­dents under­stand coy­ote behav­ior and enhance aware­ness of safe­ty techniques. 

Action 17.1. ​Identify invasive species

Iden­ti­fy inva­sive species (plants and ani­mals) and their impacts on local habitats.

Action 17.2. Develop an (invasive species) action plan

Devel­op an (inva­sive species) action plan to reduce iden­ti­fied impacts.

Action 17.3. Town’s Coyote Response Plan

Con­tin­ue to dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion found in the Town’s Coy­ote Response Plan to help res­i­dents under­stand coy­ote behav­ior and enhance aware­ness of safe­ty techniques.

Action 17.4. Educational materials that address the control of vines and invasive plants

Pro­vide res­i­dents with edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als that address the con­trol of vines and inva­sive plants.

Goal 18. Protect and manage open spaces and undeveloped lands

In 1998, the Town com­plet­ed an open space inven­to­ry and plan that iden­ti­fied and eval­u­at­ed the Town’s remain­ing open spaces and the poten­tial for link­ing exist­ing open space parcels locat­ed through­out the Town. The Town should update the open space inven­to­ry and devel­op an Open Space Man­age­ment Pol­i­cy (OSMP) to main­tain and seek to expand areas of open space qual­i­ty, Town parks and pre­serves, and biot­ic cor­ri­dors. The update should also exam­ine and map how the Town’s open spaces con­nect with open spaces in neigh­bor­ing towns that abut New Cas­tle. The OSMP should be updat­ed in close coor­di­na­tion with the devel­op­ment of an NRI/​Biodiversity Man­age­ment Plan and the update of the Town’s Recre­ation and Parks Mas­ter Plan and Trail Devel­op­ment Mas­ter Plan. Local­ly sig­nif­i­cant view sheds/​scenic vis­tas should be iden­ti­fied and mapped and includ­ed in the Plan, and if appro­pri­ate, reg­u­la­tions for the pro­tec­tion of view sheds/​scenic vis­tas should be codified.

Action 18.1. ​Update Town's Open Space Management Plan

Update Town’s Open Space Man­age­ment Plan. The OSMP should include defined ​“open space” cri­te­ria and cat­a­log prop­er­ties based on diver­si­ty of habi­tat, con­nec­tiv­i­ty to oth­er prop­er­ties of open space val­ue, and poten­tial use for recre­ation­al pur­pos­es. Large lots should be exam­ined for their con­tri­bu­tion to open space value.

Action 18.2. Identify and map locally significant scenic vistas

Iden­ti­fy and map local­ly sig­nif­i­cant scenic vistas.

Action 18.3. Codify protection of scenic vistas

Cod­i­fy pro­tec­tion of scenic vistas.

Goal 19. Mitigate the negative impacts of stormwater runoff and plan for a lasting potable water supply

The Town should require that all new devel­op­ments include green infra­struc­ture (GI) fea­tures, which not only help to reduce flood­ing and off­set stormwa­ter load­ing on exist­ing drainage infra­struc­ture, but also help to facil­i­tate a nat­ur­al fil­tra­tion process and improve water qual­i­ty. The Town should cre­ate incen­tives (e.g. addi­tion­al den­si­ty, reduced park­ing) for retro­fitting exist­ing devel­op­ments to include GI fea­tures. Where appro­pri­ate, devel­op­ment on Town-owned prop­er­ty should include them as well. The Town should also require appli­cants to assess how their project could impact stormwa­ter runoff flow into near­by water cours­es, pipe net­works and prop­er­ties. These hydro­log­ic and hydraulic analy­ses should include water qual­i­ty (i.e. chem­i­cal com­po­si­tion) and quan­ti­ty (i.e. peak flows and vol­ume) pro­vi­sions. In order to plan for a last­ing and sus­tain­able water sup­ply, the Town should con­sid­er con­duct­ing a Town-wide or tar­get­ed area aquifer study to assess the quan­ti­ty and qual­i­ty of ground­wa­ter and should look to expand the Town’s pub­lic water sup­ply sys­tem where practicable.

Action 19.1. ​Require green infrastructure techniques

Require green infra­struc­ture tech­niques (e.g. per­me­able sur­faces, veg­e­tat­ed infil­tra­tion basins) for new devel­op­ments through Town regulations.

Action 19.2. ​Create incentives for retrofitting existing developments

Cre­ate incen­tives for retro­fitting exist­ing devel­op­ments to include green infra­struc­ture fea­tures to reduce storm flow runoff and increase infil­tra­tion of rainfall.

Action 19.3. Include green infrastructure features

Include green infra­struc­ture fea­tures on Town-owned prop­er­ties where appropriate.

Action 19.4. Incorporate hydrologic and hydraulic analyses

Require appli­cants to incor­po­rate hydro­log­ic and hydraulic analy­ses of water cours­es and pipe net­works (i.e. test water qual­i­ty, chem­i­cal com­po­si­tion, vol­ume and peak flows) that could be impact­ed by their devel­op­ment in their site plan application.

Action 19.5. Aquifer study

Con­sid­er con­duct­ing a Town-wide or tar­get­ed area aquifer study to assess quan­ti­ty and qual­i­ty of groundwater.

Goal 20. Encourage water conservation and reuse

The Town of New Castle’s favor­able geo­graph­ic loca­tion with­in the Hud­son Riv­er Val­ley makes it rich with water. How­ev­er, it is still impor­tant that the Town and its res­i­dents use water resources intel­li­gent­ly. Pro­ject­ed impacts of cli­mate change in New York State include an increase in fre­quen­cy of short-term droughts ​“with weeks of dry con­di­tions punc­tu­at­ed by rains too intense for parched soils to absorb.” Water con­ser­va­tion mea­sures such as adjust­ing the tim­ing of out­door sprin­kler sys­tems or instal­la­tion of low-flow show­er heads can help to con­serve water in dry sum­mer months, or when a ​“short-term drought” lasts longer than expect­ed. To encour­age water con­ser­va­tion, a Town-wide water con­ser­va­tion and reuse pro­gram should be estab­lished, and Town oper­a­tions should be exam­ined to assess where water can be reused. The Town should encour­age xeriscap­ing (land­scap­ing that requires lit­tle to no irri­ga­tion) and alter­na­tive gray­wa­ter and rain­wa­ter use/​reuse through research and education.

Action 20.1. Water conservation and reuse program

Estab­lish a Town-wide water con­ser­va­tion and reuse program.

Action 20.2. Alternative graywater and rainwater use

Encour­age alter­na­tive gray­wa­ter and rain­wa­ter use/​reuse through research and edu­ca­tion. Pro­mote xeriscap­ing where appropriate.

Action 20.3. Examine Town operations to assess where water can be reused

Exam­ine Town oper­a­tions to assess where water can be reused.

Goal 21. Ensure the sustainability/resiliency of infrastructure

Max­i­miz­ing the effi­cien­cy of infra­struc­ture can help to make infra­struc­ture more resilient. The Town should adopt codes or design stan­dards for new pub­lic infra­struc­ture that will increase ener­gy and water effi­cien­cy, if applic­a­ble. The Town should also devel­op tar­get­ed strate­gies and make spe­cif­ic upgrades to pub­lic infra­struc­ture sys­tems to improve resource effi­cien­cy. In many cas­es, this will mean enhanc­ing data col­lec­tion and mon­i­tor­ing of the infra­struc­ture through the use of smart tech­nol­o­gy (e.g. installing web-enabled sen­sors at crit­i­cal man­holes to con­tin­u­al­ly gage water flow, installing smart water meters). Last­ly, the Town should devel­op train­ing pro­grams for infra­struc­ture oper­a­tors on ener­gy and water effi­cien­cy tech­niques that can be incor­po­rat­ed into their dai­ly activ­i­ties and operations.

Action 21.1. Standards for new public infrastructure

Adopt codes or design stan­dards for new pub­lic infra­struc­ture that will increase ener­gy and water effi­cien­cy. Uti­lize a green or sus­tain­abil­i­ty rat­ing sys­tem for infra­struc­ture improve­ment projects.

Action 21.2. Resource efficiency of public infrastructure systems

Devel­op tar­get­ed strate­gies to improve the resource effi­cien­cy of pub­lic infra­struc­ture sys­tems (e.g. data col­lec­tion, con­tin­u­al monitoring).

Action 21.3. ​Make specific upgrades to infrastructure systems

Make spe­cif­ic upgrades to infra­struc­ture sys­tems that will increase ener­gy and water effi­cien­cy, such as sen­sors at crit­i­cal man­holes to con­tin­u­al­ly gage water flow, replacement/​upgrades to smart water meters.

Action 21.4. ​Develop training programs for infrastructure operators

Devel­op train­ing pro­grams for infra­struc­ture oper­a­tors on ener­gy and water effi­cien­cy tech­niques that can be incor­po­rat­ed into their dai­ly activities.

Goal 22. Ensure sustainable construction and design of buildings to minimize their environmental impact throughout their lifecycle

The way in which a build­ing is designed, con­struct­ed, oper­at­ed and main­tained deter­mines its impact on the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment, as well as on the building’s occu­pants, for its entire life­cy­cle. Green build­ings are designed and oper­at­ed to be resource-effi­cient, to gen­er­ate less waste and pol­lu­tion, and to serve as healthy envi­ron­ments for occu­pants. Green build­ings can also pro­vide eco­nom­ic ben­e­fits (e.g. reduced ener­gy costs, high­er home val­ues) well into the future. Build­ings in New Cas­tle should be as high-per­form­ing and as sus­tain­able as pos­si­ble. The Town’s exist­ing green build­ing code, which can be found with­in Chap­ter 74 of the Town Code, should be exam­ined to ensure it reflects the best prac­tices in mate­ri­als, build­ing sys­tems, and oper­a­tions, to the extent prac­ti­ca­ble. The Town should con­sid­er adopt­ing a stretch code that requires more rig­or­ous ener­gy reg­u­la­tions for new­ly con­struct­ed and exist­ing build­ings that have been ren­o­vat­ed than the base ener­gy code. Edu­ca­tion­al mate­r­i­al regard­ing the ben­e­fits of green build­ing prac­tices should be devel­oped to pro­mote sus­tain­able construction.

Action 22.1. ​Review application of green building code

Review appli­ca­tion of green build­ing code and its applic­a­bil­i­ty to all types of devel­op­ment, includ­ing a broad­er range of munic­i­pal, com­mer­cial, and sin­gle and mul­ti-fam­i­ly res­i­den­tial buildings.

Action 22.2. ​Consider adopting a stretch code

Con­sid­er adopt­ing a stretch code that requires more rig­or­ous ener­gy reg­u­la­tions for new­ly con­struct­ed and exist­ing build­ings than the base ener­gy code. Uti­lize NYSER­DA’s mod­el stretch code lan­guage, avail­able at the end of 2016.

Action 22.3. Construction and demolition site management

Explore ways to strength­en Town code and enforce­ment pro­vi­sions regard­ing con­struc­tion and demo­li­tion site man­age­ment and clean-up.

Action 22.4. Develop educational materials

Part­ner with local con­trac­tors to devel­op edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als to pro­mote green build­ing practices.

Goal 23. Promote proper maintenance and sustainability of wastewater disposal systems

A major­i­ty of res­i­den­tial prop­er­ties in the Town are not sew­ered and rely on sub­sur­face sewage dis­pos­al (sep­tic) sys­tems for waste­water dis­pos­al. It is crit­i­cal to ensure that sep­tic sys­tems are prop­er­ly main­tained so that they do not neg­a­tive­ly impact soils and water qual­i­ty (ground and sur­face water). The Westch­ester Coun­ty Depart­ment of Health per­mits and reg­u­lates sep­tic sys­tems. The Town of New Cas­tle should pro­mote prop­er use and main­te­nance of sep­tic sys­tems through its web­site, annu­al Town-wide mail­ing and oth­er means. The Town should work with Westch­ester Coun­ty and the North­ern Westch­ester Water­shed Com­mit­tee to estab­lish a pro­gram to repair or replace fail­ing and sub­stan­dard sep­tic systems.

Action 23.1. Collect information regarding septic system maintenance

Work with Westch­ester Depart­ment of Health, New York City Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion, and the East of Hud­son Water­shed Coali­tion to col­lect infor­ma­tion regard­ing sep­tic sys­tem main­te­nance and per­for­mance to ensure con­tin­ued com­pli­ance with the Town’s MS4 permit.

Action 23.2. ​Include maintenance reminder and septic system education in annual Town mailing

Include main­te­nance reminder and sep­tic sys­tem edu­ca­tion in annu­al Town mailing.

Action 23.3. Program to repair or replace failing and substandard septic systems

Work with Westch­ester Coun­ty and the North­ern Westch­ester Water­shed Com­mit­tee to estab­lish a pro­gram (includ­ing finan­cial assis­tance) to repair or replace fail­ing and sub­stan­dard sep­tic systems.

Goal 24. Reduce pollution from buildings, transportation, commerce and human activity

The Town of New Cas­tle con­sid­ers air, light, noise and odor impacts asso­ci­at­ed with new devel­op­ment. Exist­ing codes should be revised so that they are in keep­ing with best envi­ron­men­tal prac­tices. In addi­tion, the Town should devel­op inno­v­a­tive out­reach efforts to edu­cate the pub­lic on the exis­tence of pol­lu­tants in the envi­ron­ment, their source, and what role res­i­dents can play in decreas­ing pol­lu­tion. Top­ics should include green­house gas emis­sions; ener­gy effi­cien­cy and renew­able ener­gy; sep­tic sys­tem main­te­nance; prop­er use and dis­pos­al of pes­ti­cides, deter­gents and oth­er house­hold chem­i­cals; and resource conservation.

Action 24.1. Outreach campaigns to educate the public on environmental pollutants

Work with the Town’s rel­e­vant review boards and com­mit­tees to cre­ate inno­v­a­tive out­reach cam­paigns to edu­cate the pub­lic on envi­ron­men­tal pol­lu­tants and pro­mote behav­ioral change.

Action 24.2. ​Organize school and community “green teams”

Orga­nize school and com­mu­ni­ty ​“green teams” to pro­mote house­hold prac­tices that reduce GHG emis­sions, such as increased recycling.

Action 24.3. Light, noise and odor to meet best practice

Review and revise New Cas­tle Town codes per­tain­ing to air, light, noise and odor to meet best prac­tice. In con­sid­er­a­tion of light pol­lu­tion reg­u­la­tions, view of the nightscape should be pre­served when safe­ty is not a con­cern. Spe­cif­ic atten­tion should be paid to dif­fer­ing land uses (i.e. res­i­den­tial, commercial).

Action 24.4. Create Air Action Plan

Cre­ate Air Action Plan to reduce air pol­lu­tion from var­i­ous sources (e.g. build­ing and vehi­cle emissions).

Action 24.5. Consider regulating landscaping and plantings

Con­sid­er reg­u­lat­ing land­scap­ing and plant­i­ngs to min­i­mize obstruc­tion of sun­light on neigh­bor­ing properties.

Action 24.6. Adopt a waste management plan that identifies the community's greatest sources of waste

Adopt a waste man­age­ment plan that iden­ti­fies the com­mu­ni­ty’s great­est sources of waste, sets for­mal waste reduc­tion tar­gets and estab­lish­es actions to help reach the com­mu­ni­ty’s waste reduc­tion aims. This should include food waste from both res­i­den­tial and com­mer­cial uses.

Action 24.7. Include recycling targets and assessment of the feasibility of creating a compost collection service

Cre­ate or revise exist­ing recy­cling pro­gram to include recy­cling tar­gets and assess­ment of the fea­si­bil­i­ty of cre­at­ing a com­post col­lec­tion ser­vice and ensur­ing recy­cling is pro­vid­ed at all events held by the Town, etc.

Action 24.8. Educate the public about the environmental benefits of residential waste reduction and recycling

Pro­mote the concept/​educate the pub­lic about the envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits of res­i­den­tial waste reduc­tion and recy­cling. Inform res­i­dents and busi­ness­es in their roles in achiev­ing waste reduc­tion targets.

Action 24.9. ​​Develop a sustainable and environmentally preferable municipal purchasing policy

Devel­op a sus­tain­able and envi­ron­men­tal­ly prefer­able munic­i­pal pur­chas­ing pol­i­cy (e.g. paper prod­ucts, office sup­plies, kitchen sup­plies) and imple­ment. Work with the Chap­paqua Cen­tral School Dis­trict to do the same.

Action 24.9. Obtain services for recycling or proper disposal of obscure items

Obtain ser­vices for recy­cling or prop­er dis­pos­al of obscure items includ­ing e‑waste, aerosols, and med­ica­tions. Ensure res­i­dents are aware of these ser­vices, or where they can access these ser­vices if the Town is not able to pro­vide them. Encour­age the use of the ​“Take It or Leave It Shop.”

Goal 25. Reduce the Town’s carbon footprint, encourage climate change adaptation measures, minimize energy demand and promote the use of alternative energy

Local munic­i­pal­i­ties are sus­cep­ti­ble to cli­mate change, but also have a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to both mit­i­gate and adapt to its effects. Mit­i­ga­tion mea­sures are those that decrease a community’s green­house gas emis­sions and car­bon foot­print. These mea­sures, which span from smart land use to ener­gy effi­cien­cy tech­niques to renew­able ener­gy instal­la­tions, will decrease long term spend­ing, enhance the resilien­cy of all infra­struc­ture and have a net pos­i­tive impact on the envi­ron­ment. The Town should update its Cli­mate Action Plan, set new green­house gas (GHG) emis­sion reduc­tion goals, and con­sid­er invest­ments in renew­able ener­gy instal­la­tions, ener­gy effi­cien­cy retro­fits, and oth­er alter­ations in Town oper­a­tions to reduce GHG pol­lu­tion. The Town should con­sid­er pur­su­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion as a Cli­mate Smart Com­mu­ni­ty through the DEC to become eli­gi­ble for fund­ing to aid in these endeavors.

Action 25.1. Update the Town's Climate Action Plan

Update the Town’s Cli­mate Action Plan. Include an updat­ed inven­to­ry of gov­ern­ment oper­a­tions and over­all com­mu­ni­ty GHG emissions.

Action 25.2. Establish a new government operations emissions reduction target

Estab­lish a new gov­ern­ment oper­a­tions emis­sions reduc­tion tar­get and imple­men­ta­tion plan. Include tar­gets for per­cent of gov­ern­ment ener­gy sourced from renew­able ener­gy (pro­duced on-site or pur­chased from a util­i­ty) and tar­gets for increased ener­gy efficiency.

Action 25.3. Identify potential sites for renewable energy installations

Per­form fea­si­bil­i­ty analy­ses to iden­ti­fy poten­tial sites for renew­able ener­gy instal­la­tions on gov­ern­ment-owned prop­er­ties and explore part­ner­ships with schools, insti­tu­tions, and home­own­ers asso­ci­a­tions to con­sid­er renew­able ener­gy instal­la­tions on their properties.

Action 25.4. Create an inventory of all funding opportunities

Cre­ate an inven­to­ry of all fund­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for ener­gy effi­cien­cy and renew­able ener­gy projects in the State. Pur­sue those that are appropriate.

Action 25.5. ​Integrate energy efficiency projects

Inte­grate ener­gy effi­cien­cy projects and renew­able ener­gy instal­la­tions into the Town’s Cap­i­tal Improve­ment Plan.

Action 25.6. Economic Incentive Corporation

Work with the Eco­nom­ic Incen­tive Cor­po­ra­tion (EIC) to cre­ate a pub­lic and busi­ness edu­ca­tion cam­paign for Ener­gize NY Ben­e­fit Financ­ing Program.

Action 25.7. Microgrids

Per­form fea­si­bil­i­ty analy­ses for micro­grids, espe­cial­ly at sites of crit­i­cal infra­struc­ture (e.g. super­mar­kets, schools, oth­er crit­i­cal uses).

Action 25.8. Combined heat and power and geothermal installations

Per­form fea­si­bil­i­ty analy­ses for com­bined heat and pow­er and geot­her­mal instal­la­tions in neigh­bor­hoods and subdivisions.

Action 25.9. Green fleet policy

Adopt a Town green fleet pol­i­cy that incor­po­rates ener­gy effi­cien­cy cri­te­ria for acquir­ing munic­i­pal vehicles.

Action 25.9. Streetlights to LEDs

Com­plete retro­fit of incan­des­cent street­lights to LEDs. If nec­es­sary, cre­ate LED light­ing best prac­tices pol­i­cy and update Town code accordingly.