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Westchester board adopts energy plan to guide future grants and efficiency work
Summary
The Village Board unanimously approved a nonbinding Westchester Energy Plan to guide grant applications, reduce energy use, and prioritize actions that can lower emissions and costs for buildings and transportation.
The Village Board of Westchester on April 28 approved a nonbinding energy plan intended to guide future decisions on efficiency, emissions and transportation.
Consultant Ted Redmond presented the final plan, saying it was funded through a state grant and developed in four phases of research, community engagement, collaborative planning and review. Redmond reported about 167 online views of the draft, seven submitted reviews and roughly 40 people at a public input session; feedback and a prioritization exercise produced adjustments to the plan’s recommended action order.
"The plan seeks to provide a roadmap for decision making to help support energy sustainability, greenhouse gas reductions and increasing cost savings," Redmond said. He described two main sections: building energy, which focuses on efficiency, fuel switching and renewable energy, and transportation, which targets reductions in vehicle miles traveled and increased use of alternative modes.
Board members and participants framed the plan as a planning tool rather than a mandate. Resident Leon Krasinski, who served on the Energy Planning Committee, urged adoption so the village could better compete for grants. "When grant dollars come down the line, we won't be on our heels," Krasinski said during public comment.
Trustees approved Resolution 2026-1160 on a roll-call vote. The plan does not require the village to pursue specific actions; staff recommended forming an implementation team to identify near-term steps, pursue funding and coordinate a communications campaign to inform residents of available programs.
The board’s next procedural step on energy implementation will be to form that internal implementation team and to track actions in the plan’s implementation matrix; no mandatory requirements or funding commitments were adopted with the resolution.
