The Patchogue Village Board at their Feb. 19 meeting elected to continue to take measures in becoming certified as a Climate Smart Community (CSC).
The Patchogue Village Board joined the CSC program administered by New York State back in 2022 when recently deceased board member, Joseph Keyes, took up the challenge to have Patchogue Village be certified as an environmental leader. The project was put on hold until recently with Keyes’s son, Jonathan, joining the board.
Currently, there are 469 registered CSCs throughout the state, 144 being awarded a bronze status and 24 awarded silver. On Long Island, Sea Cliff, North Hempstead, Sag Harbor, Huntington, Babylon, and East Hampton have received bronze status. There are currently no silver awarded communities on Long Island.
The Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program began in 2009 with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as the main administrator of the program.
The program is jointly sponsored by the following state agencies:
Climate Smart Communities (CSC) is a New York State program that “helps local governments take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. The program offers grants, leadership recognition, and free guidance from regional coordinators,” according to state’s dedicated page on the program.
“Certified communities are the foremost leaders in the state; they have gone beyond the CSC pledge by completing and documenting a suite of actions that mitigate and adapt to climate change at the local level.”
The first action for becoming a CSC is to assemble a task force to “serve as a central body of leadership that promotes and supports climate mitigation and adaption in the community. The CSC task force often acts as an advisory board or steering committee that advises and collaborates with the local government to accomplish plans, programs, and activities that are part of the CSC Certification program,” according to the state.
Following the assembly of a task force, an inventory of emissions, set goals, and plan for climate action, must be taken.
Johnson Controls partnered with the Village of Patchogue on a major $8.2 million sustainability project aimed at achieving net-zero goals over 25 years.
The initiative included rooftop solar panels, LED lighting, and EV charging stations, and solar carports installed at the LIRR station. Currently, the village has installed solar panels on all buildings owned by the village.
“We believe that much of the work we have done with Johnson Controls on energy efficiency will help us qualify and right now we are working on gathering the documentation and putting it in its appropriate format so it is able to include those actions in the application,” said trustee Lori Devlin.
Trustee David Kennedy, who is also on that CSC task force, has been working on an initiative to raise awareness of the positive environmental impact of electric vehicles.
An event is being finalized for April at the Long Island Rail Road in Patchogue where car dealers will be present to answer community questions on sustainability.
One of the documented measures the village will be submitting to the state for CSC status is the Shorefront Park creation of a living shoreline, funded by a $2.4 million grant from the state in 2023. A bulkhead was removed replaced it with a walkway and native planting. The new measures, according to Keyes, is much improved infrastructure for storms.
Last summer, Shorefront Park was officially awarded a New York State grant for over $339,000 to replace some of the park’s playground equipment.
The trustees encourage community members to attend board meetings, held every other Monday at Village Hall, to learn more about the projects and submit environmentally beneficial ideas.
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