Sudbury committee outlines contractor and community forums to build support for specialized stretch code

Members of the Town of Sudbury Sustainability Committee discussed plans to build support for a proposed specialized opt‑in stretch building code and agreed on outreach steps and a tentative schedule.

Staff and committee members said the outreach should include two formats: a technical forum for local builders and contractors to address detailed implementation questions, and a broader community forum to present high-level information. The committee recommended inviting building and wiring inspectors, the Planning Board, Historic Preservation, Sustainable Sudbury and other town committees; staff noted that the building department (Andrew Lewis) could provide lists of past permit applicants.

Committee members proposed assembling a merged slide deck using Jim’s and Dylan Patel’s materials and circulating it to committee members and the select board before public forums. Suggested dates included a contractors forum the week of Jan. 13 (tentatively Jan. 16) and a community forum during the week of April 7, timing designed to avoid school and holiday breaks and to allow for select board notification and newsletter deadlines (select board article submissions discussed for late January).

Members also discussed building a stakeholders spreadsheet to prioritize deeper engagement with committees that may require more detailed one‑on‑one briefings. The group agreed to start outreach with targeted committee visits and to use the select board newsletter and town venues for broader notification.

Next steps: staff will prepare an abridged presentation, circulate it for editing and begin populating the stakeholder spreadsheet, and confirm dates and venues for the two forums.