The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) will present its inaugural Sustainable CT awards at its annual convention on Oct. 30.

Submitted

The Town of West Hartford is one of the first Connecticut municipalities to achieve certification as a Sustainable CT community. The town met high standards in a broad range of sustainability accomplishments to qualify for the prestigious BRONZE level certification.

Sustainable CT, a statewide initiative that supports and recognizes sustainability action by Connecticut communities, was launched last year and announced its first group of certified towns during the first week of October.

In its application for Sustainable CT certification, West Hartford demonstrated significant achievements in actions in nine sustainable impact areas ranging from thriving local economies and vibrant arts and culture to clean transportation and diverse housing.

The Town of West Hartford successfully completed actions including, among other things: having an open space plan, providing community gardens, implementing a complete streets policy, running a community energy efficiency campaign, purchasing renewable energy, and conducting a housing needs assessment.

Town Manager Matthew Hart said, “The Town of West Hartford has been working to promote sustainability for many years, particularly in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency, transit oriented development, and smart planning. I’m pleased that the Town has received this designation from Sustainable CT and I look forward to learning additional best practices from our peer communities.”

“I would like to commend our staff team for their good work in preparing this application and to thank the visionary leaders at the Institute for Sustainable Energy, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, and my municipal colleagues from around the state who have made Sustainable CT possible,” Hart continued.

“Thank you to Sustainable CT for recognizing West Hartford at a Bronze level,” said Mayor Shari Cantor.

“Town staff and the team led by Catherine Diviney have been creative and innovative and have worked hard on sustainability goals. I am grateful for staff’s leadership and for the commitment of elected officials, past and present, to invest in ways that increase vibrancy, resiliency, collaboration as well as economic and environmental benefits to our community,” said Cantor.

“I’m excited to see where this can lead. Hopefully, we can develop an inclusive community process, whereby residents themselves can be involved in selecting and implementing the actions that West Hartford pursues as part of this program in the future,” said Catherine Diviney, energy specialist for the Town of West Hartford and West Hartford Public Schools.

“Congratulations to our 2018 certified Sustainable CT communities,” said Lynn Stoddard, executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University, which administers the program. “We are inspired by your leadership and eager to share your accomplishments in building efficient, thriving, and resilient communities.”

With input from municipal leaders across the state, Sustainable CT was developed under the leadership of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University. The program is independently funded, with significant support from three Connecticut philanthropic foundations. The founding funders include the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, the Hampshire Foundation, and the Common Sense Fund.

West Hartford and other certified communities will be recognized on Oct. 30, 2018 at the Annual Convention of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, followed by additional local and regional recognition events in the coming months.

Bronze Winners (17)

• Bristol
• Coventry
• Hebron
• Madison
• Middletown
• Milford
• New Haven
• New London
• New Milford
• Old Saybrook
• Ridgefield
• Roxbury
• South Windsor
• West Hartford
• Westport
• Windham
• Woodbridge

Silver Winners (5)

• Stamford
• Hartford
• Greenwich
• Glastonbury
• Fairfield

For more information, visit www.SustainableCT.org.

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