City unveils plans for a 'greener' community City to incorporate green standards and incentives in master plan BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer LONG BRANCH - City officials are taking steps to make the community a "greener," "cleaner" and "cooler" environment. Mayor Adam Schneider and his appointed Energy ReviewCommittee unveiled plans for the "Long Branch Goes Green" initiative at anApril 22 workshop meeting. "I think Long Branch has the potential to set the standard, not just locally, but nationally," said Patrick Hossay, an associate professor of political science at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Hossay has been working with city officials to help findways tomake Long Branch a "greener" municipality. "You are doing a real good thing,"Hossay said during the presentation. "You are developing. You are using new urban design. You have the train station. "We need to think about redevelopment that incorporates affordability," he said, adding, "We need to rethink how we design our communities and how we transport." The Energy Review Committee is implementing, researching and considering several measures to make the city a more environmentally friendly place. Such measures include developing a Green Initiative Plan to recommend to council, as well as researching grant opportunities to fund an energy audit of city facilities. The committee also plans to use city events as a venue to educate the public on the environment. The committee is also looking into a commercial plastic bag ordinance and researching the purchase of recycled office supplies and green janitorial products. "We have taken a look and we realized that we were already doing a lot of things," Schneider said at the meeting. Several years ago, the city replaced light bulbs in traffic signals with LED bulbs. The city has also contracted for a revision of the city'smaster plan with green standards and incentives incorporated into the plan, according to Schneider. Long Branch also has stepped up its recycling program and completed a public awareness campaign, according to Schneider. Schneider and the energy committee joined the New Jersey CleanEnergy Program "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign inNovember, setting a goal of collecting 200 pledges from New Jersey residents by Dec. 31. community The pledges were a commitment to change at least five bulbs in homes or businesses to Energy Star Compact Florescent Lighting (CFL). Each light bulb replaced with an Energy Star CFLuses 75 percent less energy and saves $30 in energy cost over its lifetime. In January, the city received a recognition award at a New Jersey CleanEnergy Program conference for being one of that state's star performers in the campaign. The Energy Review Committee is also looking into implementing energy saving policies for city facilities, phasing in CFLs wherever feasible, implementing policy for purchasing of Energy Star appliances and replacing showers at beaches with water saving shower towers, according to Schneider. Hossay explained during the presentation that the city should promotemass transit and make the town more biker- and pedestrian-friendly. "Make it easy for folks to get around without getting into their car," Hossay said. "You need to let drivers know that they are in an area where there are pedestrians and bikers. "You can install some traffic-calming devices," he said. Hossay also stressed that the city should be thinking of energy efficiency as a first priority and should look into clean water, solar power, wind power and recycling options. "Sometimes green is the extremely smart thing to do," Hossay said. The green initiative is vital to ensuring the preservation of the current standard of living, Schneider said on the city's Web site green pages. "Simply put, the choices and behaviors we choose today will effect future generations and have a direct impact on an evermore interconnected planet," he said. "This will take an all-hands effort." With the green initiative in mind, Schneider created the Energy Review Committee composed of representatives from many different city departments, including the planning, health, public works and police departments. "This committee will work hard for the community to provide new environmentally friendly initiatives to help make the quality of life better in our city," Schneider said on theWeb site. "Itwill be looking at improving efficiency in city buildings, planning newenvironmentally efficient structures, reusing resources, and encouraging our residents to become more environmentally friendly. "This is an on going effort and takes commitments fromcommunitymembers too," he said. To view the city's green pages, visit www.visitlongbranch.com and click on green pages.