Peabody has now been designated as a Green Community by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, which would make the city eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in state grants for energy efficiency initiatives.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt said in a statement that the designation is timed well, especially with recent investment in a new public safety headquarters, and plans to build a new high school.
“Both are with the very latest technology to control rising energy costs,” Bettencourt said. “It positions us to be an energy leader in Massachusetts and is something our entire community can feel good about.”
According to the statement, the City Council and the Department of Community Development worked together with Bettencourt to achieve the Green Community designation.
In addition, the city was also named a 2023 Tree City USA community for its commitment to urban forestry. This is the 26th year that the city was given the honor by Arbor Day Foundation, the country’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees and inspiring people to plant and nurture trees.
“Planting and caring for trees is among the most important things we can do to benefit current and future generations,” Bettencourt said. “We all know that trees beautify the landscape and provide shade for our homes, but they also offer countless environmental, economic and social benefits.”
The four standards that the city had to meet to become a Tree City USA community are: the city needed to have a tree board or department, a tree-care ordinance, a community forestry program with annual expenditures of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day observance. The program is also sponsored by the USDA Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters.
To commemorate Arbor Day, Bettencourt went to Brooksby Farm where some 600 new trees, such as apple and peach, were recently planted.
