Town staff and consultants report progress on Resilient Danvers buildings plan; municipal energy baseline work underway

Town staff and consultants provided an update April 15 on the buildings portion of the Resilient Danvers CASPER plan, reporting progress on several implementation items and outlining next steps.

Aaron Henry, the town's buildings/climate implementation lead, briefed the Select Board on progress including: establishing an energy baseline for municipal buildings and facilities in coordination with Danvers Electric; completing updates to the town's floodplain bylaw at Town Meeting (the board was told FEMA has reviewed the measures and the new Flood Insurance Study and maps will take effect July 8, 2025); updating historic-district guidelines related to energy and solar installations; and pilot efforts to help low-income households with weatherization and energy-efficiency measures via Habitat and Affordable Housing Trust coordination.

Henry said roughly 40% of Danvers' greenhouse-gas emissions come from buildings and that around 93% of homes rely primarily on fossil fuels (oil or gas), so the town sees buildings as a high-impact area for emissions reduction. He described work to quantify municipal energy use across buildings, street and traffic lighting and municipal fleet as the primary near-term task, and said staff expects that effort to take several months to complete.

Board members asked about the economics of electrification for homeowners and the feasibility of incentives or rebate programs; staff said the town will coordinate with Danvers Electric on programmatic incentives and with state programs for low-income weatherization. The town manager also reported that FEMA had reviewed the floodplain management measures and that the updated Flood Insurance Study and maps will become effective July 8, 2025.

The board did not take formal action on new regulations at the meeting but directed staff to continue baseline work, seek funding and coordination for household retrofit programs, and return with specific program proposals and estimated costs where required.