OCEAN CITY – Members of Ocean City’s Coastal Resources Legislative Committee, or Green Team, will consider an application process for a national designation program that addresses solar energy.
In a Green Team meeting last week, Gail Blazer, the town’s environmental engineer, introduced a designation program that was brought to her attention by committee member Tom Murray.
Murray said the SolSmart program, which recognizes communities that take steps to address and grow solar energy practices, is a free service funded by a U.S. Department of Energy initiative and offers free technical advice to solve local problems and meet certain criteria.
“I was at a conference where I heard about this,” he said. “What intrigues me is that I specifically asked the folks would this be something the Town of Ocean City could do and they said absolutely.”
Bill Neville, the town’s planning and community development director, told the committee Ocean City would meet many of the program’s criteria, but expressed his concerns about how the program operates.
“It got off on the wrong foot with me just because their basic premise is that they are the federal people and they want to come to town to tell local government what we can do to clear the way,” he said. “They talk about local government red tape and they’re beating up on our building development and inspection process and we don’t need help doing that. We are good at doing that ourselves.”
Murray left the decision up to committee members.
“It’s totally up to the Green Team and council if this is something that is attractive for us to join,” he said, “or we could totally ignore it.”
Councilman Tony DeLuca, liaison for the Green Team, asked what the program offered the town.
“What are its benefits?” he said.
Neville said the program offers the town credentials and visibility, and Blazer added that the program would give the resort points for its Sustainable Maryland initiative.
DeLuca expressed his support for exploring the application process.
“If we are doing most of it now, why wouldn’t we take a shot at it?” he said. “That’s my thinking.”
Murray and Blazer agreed to set up a meeting with a program manager to ask questions before bringing an application to the Green Team and full Mayor and Council.
“Everything about it is positive,” DeLuca said.
“It ties nicely with the sustainable part of what we are already doing,” Neville said.
