City joins Sustainable CT program

TORRINGTON — Torrington has joined the Sustainable CT initiative after a City Council vote, paving the way for environmentally friendly decision-making, Mayor Elinor Carbone said Thursday.

The Sustainable CT effort was developed through a partnership between the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

As part of the program, participating cities and towns are presented with a “menu” of sustainable practices, such as supporting the redevelopment of brownfield sites, creating a plan for open space, adding sustainable and affordable housing and reducing energy use.

Municipalities become eligible to use resources to progress, including a fellowship program and webinars. Towns and cities choose from these options to earn voluntary certification recognizing their efforts.

“As we continue to experience the challenges of dwindling state resources, it is so important that we take steps to develop sustainability, and even resiliency,” Carbone said in a release. “Sustainable CT goes beyond the actions we can take to preserve our environment by providing us with resources that will help reduce our operating costs, develop economic well-being, create a vibrant and creative cultural ecosystem and build a sense of community through achievable and measurable goals.”

“We are thrilled that Torrington has passed a resolution to join Sustainable CT. The program builds on many current success stories in our communities to create and support more great places to live, work, and play,” said Lynn Stoddard, director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, in the release. “The city has a committed history to advancing sustainability initiatives, and we are looking forward to working with them as they pursue Sustainable CT certification.”

Local chief elected officials, including Carbone, considered a presentation on the initiative during last January’s meeting of the Northwest Hills Council of Governments.

At the time, the program was discussed as an opportunity to make local communities more attractive for young families.

“It becomes an advertising thing. If I live in Litchfield, or I live in Salisbury or Cornwall, I have a town that cares about what’s going on,” Barkhamsted First Selectman Don Stein said at the time. “It’s not by itself a panacea, but it is one more marketing point for your town that you care about what’s going on around you.”

Torrington has focused on environmentally friendly initiatives, including the Energize Connecticut Clean Energy Communities program, which asks participating municipalities to reduce “building energy consumption by 20 percent (and) attain 20 percent of municipal electricity needs from renewable sources,” among other actions to bolster energy efficiency, by 2018.

As part of that program, the city was awarded a $15,000 grant by Eversource officials in February 2016.

Carbone