Officials Eye Energy Efficient Vehicle Policy

This May, Westwood will have the chance to vote in favor of adopting a Stretch Code, something officials brought to the table before Town Meeting in 2011 but eventually .

Now, the to the , but it's not the only piece of "green" material local officials are looking at to help embolden Westwood's environmentally-conscious efforts. 

As the Stretch Code is only one of the standards that need to be met for Westwood to be designated a Green Community, officials are also looking at implementing a new energy-efficient vehicle policy. 

"We have a narrow window of opportunity to do something," Peter Kane, Chairman of the Environmental Action Committee, explained to the Westwood Board of Selectmen last week. "It's going to require action to do something."

The purpose of the policy, Kane explained, would be to reduce carbon dioxide emissions given off by municipal vehicles. The move would help Westwood move one step closer to become a Green Community, a designation that mandates five requirements to be fulfilled:

• Adoption of as-of-right siting in designated locations
• Adoption of an expedited (12 month) application/permitting process
• Establishment of an energy use baseline inventory with a program to reduce baseline by 20 percent in five years
• The purchase of only fuel-efficient vehicles
• The requirement that for all new residential construction and new commercial and industrial real estate construction to minimize life-cycle energy costs, which in Westwood's case would mean the adoption of the Stretch Code

Being designated a Green Community would qualify the town for significant grant money, into six figures, to install energy-saving or energy-producing equipment in and on town buildings, according to WEAC memeber Claire Sullivan.

"This will save the town many times that amount of money over the lifetime of the equipment, as has already been demonstrated in the schools," Sullivan . "Energy efficient retrofits at have resulted in energy savings around $80,000 per year."

The town of Dedham, she added, was awarded $179,800 upon achieving Green Community status.

The energy-efficient vehicle policy, though, would not apply to fire engines, ambulances or other safety vehicles. 

"We have come up with a replacement policy for vehicles that are non-exempt," Kane said. 

The program would entail recycling, or cycling out, such municipal vehicles as the Ford Crown Victoria through an auction, according to Westwood Town Administrator Mike Jaillet. Officials would then go to the same auction and purchase a vehicle that's comparable, but would meet energy-efficient standards. 

Meanwhile, Crown Victorias, the model upon which most police vehicles in Westwood are based, will soon be obsolete, according to Westwood Police Chief William Chase.

"This is the last year Crown Vics are even being made, and we're looking at transitioning away from them, and we've already started to downsize our administrative fleet as well," Chase said at least week's Board of Selectmen meeting.

To replace the Crown Victory-style vehicles down the road, Chase said the is looking at a Police Interceptor vehicle designed by Ford that is specially designed on the Ford Tauruss frame and would allow for all specialized police equipment to be installed within the confines of the vehicle. 

The Westwood Department of Public Works has also considered the purchase of energy-efficient vehicles, such as light-duty pickup trucks and Sports Utility Vehicles, as well as hybrid-style vehicles.