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Groton unveils draft "Climate Ready Groton" plan; public comment open through June 12
Summary
Town staff and consultants presented a draft Climate Ready Groton plan that sets a 90% emissions-reduction target by 2050, prioritizes transportation and buildings actions, and opens the document for public comment through June 12; presenters said adoption will be considered by the town council on July 14.
Groton released its first comprehensive climate action plan, "Climate Ready Groton," at a public forum where town staff and consultants described goals, underlying data and next steps and invited residents to submit comments through June 12.
"This has been a year-long effort and it is community-driven," said Sabit Nasir, Groton's sustainability and resilience manager, who opened the meeting. He urged residents to review the draft and submit constructive feedback, noting the plan is posted on the town website and that staff will present the plan to the town council on July 14.
Consultant Alex Maxwell of Fussen O'Neal said the plan combines adaptation and mitigation and rests on four guiding principles — resilience, greenhouse-gas mitigation, equity and accountability. He said the plan's greenhouse-gas inventory finds roughly 300,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions annually in the town and that transportation is the single largest source.
"Electrifying transportation and shifting modes have the greatest effect in reducing overall emissions," Maxwell said, describing the analytic pathway for Groton's 90% reduction target by 2050. He added that municipal operations account for slightly less than 2% of community emissions, so community-wide measures are required to meet the target.
The plan is organized into five focus areas — buildings and energy; community preparedness and resilience; infrastructure and land use; natural resources and consumption; and transportation and mobility — with specific goals, strategies and draft actions listed for each. Sample actions cited at the forum included energy benchmarking and reporting for municipal facilities and schools, neighborhood-scale flood outreach and green stormwater infrastructure in a storm-prone neighborhood, and steps to enable municipal fleet electrification and resident EV adoption.
Presenters stressed that the plan's implementation phase remains the next essential step. "We have a roadmap of actions and responsible parties," Nasir said, but added that funding and prioritized timelines are still needed to move projects from recommendation to construction.
The consultants said the detailed data sources and methodology used to develop the greenhouse-gas inventory and vulnerability assessments exist as a separate supporting document the town holds; the supporting materials were not posted with the summary plan at the time of the forum. Nasir told attendees the town will make supporting documents available and incorporate public feedback into an updated plan before seeking council action.
The town set a public-comment deadline of June 12 (comments accepted via the plan page on the town website). Staff said they will bring a revised package, informed by comments received, to the town council meeting on July 14 for higher-level consideration.
