Parsippany is one of four in county recognized as green leader

December 9, 2009

Parsippany Life – http://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/78843052.html#
STAFF WRITER
By Cindy Forrest

Sustainable Jersey representatives announced recently that the Township of Parsippany has met the rigorous requirements to achieve program certification. Parsippany is one of only 28 towns in the state and four in Morris County, along with Chatham Township, Morristown and Mount Olive, to attain first-round certification under Sustainable Jersey, an incentive program for towns that want to go green, save money and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term.

Priorities
For outgoing Parsippany Mayor Michael Luther, this is just one of many environmental issues and innovative solutions that have been a priority of his administration.

“We’ve been eager to participate in these programs because it’s an easy link between saving the taxpayer’s money and benefitting the environment,” he said.

The sewer treatment plant, a $21 million project is on track and according to Luther, “the opportunities for saving are going to be massive.”
Luther is also hoping to have a bio-diesel fuel plant request for bid proposal out before he leaves office on Jan. 1, 2010.

“We visited a plant in Newark and researched the viability of the project and I believe it will bring increased revenues to town in the form of facilities and in volume for the sewer plant,” he said.

And although the Town Council chose not to move forward on a solar panel proposal, Luther predicts it is inevitable.

“Solar power has been embraced by the county freeholders. It’s already being installed in the school district,” he pointed out, “and the town will eventual follow those leads.”

Some of the other areas in which Parsippany is proud to have earned points during the Luther administration are health, through the Mayor’s Wellness Campaign with the achievement of being designated a Healthy Town; conducting a waste audit of municipal buildings and instituting a recycling program for all municipal buildings; demonstrating and installing a Rain Garden,; hosting and supporting local farmers with a Farmer’s Market; and by purchasing hybrid vehicles for a greener fleet.

The icing on the cake
A major benefit of the Sustainable Jersey program is that certified municipalities get preferential treatment when applying for certain green project grants. To become Sustainable Jersey certified, Parsippany submitted documentation to show it had completed a balance of the required sustainability actions, meeting a minimum of 100 action points. Parsippany did two of the four priority actions by completing an Energy Audit for municipal facilities and completing a municipal carbon footprint analysis.

Certified towns excelled in areas such as improving energy efficiency and health and wellness, smart land use and transportation, reducing waste, sustaining local economies and protecting natural resources. New Jersey is the first state in the nation to have a comprehensive sustainability program for communities that links certification with strong state and private financial incentives, and a fully resourced program of technical support and training.

Sustainable Jersey, an innovative new program, is an initiative of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities’ Mayors Committee for a Green Future, the Municipal Land Use Center at the College of New Jersey, the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute at Rutgers University, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Rutgers Center for Green Building, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, and a coalition of New Jersey non-profits, state agencies, and experts in the field.

To learn more about the Sustainable Jersey certification, visit www.sustainablejersey.com.
E-mail: forrestc@northjersey.com

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