Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
State grants for green projects expanded
NORRISTOWN » A new source of funding will soon be available for certain green-friendly projects across Montgomery County.
The county’s commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday morning to expand the eligibility criteria for the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program, or C-PACE.
“It allows funding for energy-efficient projects and water conservation in new construction and rehabilitation,” said Rebecca Swanson, executive director of the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority.
“The state recently passed a bill that significantly expands the eligibility for C-PACE. Specifically, the amendment allows CPACE to now be used in multifamily and mixed-use buildings,” she said.
Pennsylvania’s C-PACE program is administered by the state Department of Environmental Protection and “provides business property owners access to low-interest, long-term loans for clean energy and clean water projects that are repaid as property tax to benefit the community.”
Prior to recent changes, those eligible for loans were limited to owners of “existing or new properties zoned commercial, industrial, and/or agricultural,” while “residential properties, including multi-family residential, are not eligible.” In July, Gov. Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 635, expanding eligibility for that funding to include multifamily commercial buildings of five or more units, indoor air quality and building resiliency improvements, with individual counties then required to approve the expansion.
That vote came on Thursday morning, after Swanson explained to the commissioners about the background of the program, and said developers have been “really interested in that for three years” in expanding the eligibility.
“We already have people lined up, wanting to use it for multifamily,” she said.
“It allows you to use CPACE funding for indoor air quality projects, so ventilation, new HVAC, things like that, and a lot of commercial businesses are starting to explore that in the wake of COVID,” she said.
The funding expansion also would allow for CPACE funds to be used for resiliency projects, such as improving the durability of buildings to withstand natural disasters, flood mitigation, wind resistance, or energy microgrid projects, Swanson told the county commissioners.
“It’s to allow buildings to really be prepared against the effects of climate change,” she said.
One project that could qualify for the funds is familiar to residents of North Wales. That town’s staff have said the planned renovation of the former McKeever’s Tavern building near the borough train station could qualify for C-PACE funding under the expanded criteria, and staff have said they’ve shared info on C-PACE with that developer and another for a different project that could also qualify.
As she outlined the authorization for the commissioners, Swanson added that Montgomery County would be the first such county in the state to officially approve the expansion, and doing so would allow her office to start fielding applications for that funding “in about a month.”
“So it will be very exciting if we can continue to be a leader in the state, for energy efficiency, and resiliency projects, indoor air quality projects,” she said.
Commissioners Chairwoman Val Arkoosh asked Swanson about the interest in the expansion so far, and Swanson said she had largely heard interest expressed for multifamily and mixed-use projects, “because this has been a long time coming.”
“But we are also anticipating, as soon as the
guidelines are finished, both new construction and existing buildings interested in the resiliency piece,” she said.
The commissioners then approved the expansion of
the criteria unanimously, with Arkoosh telling Swanson and her department to “Carry on — we look forward to hearing about the projects.”
The Montgomery County
commissioners next meet at 10 a.m. on Sept. 1 at the commissioners’ boardroom, 425 Swede St. in Norristown. For more information visit www.Montcopa.org.