Mid'town mayor: It's easy being green Scharfenberger lists 'green' measures for environmental council BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer KEYPORT - Members of the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council spent their Valentine'sDay talking about the thing they all hold most dear to their hearts: the environment. The topic of the Feb. 14 meeting held at Keyport Borough Hall was "How Do You Make Your Local Municipality Save Money and Help Solve Climate Change?" and was organized byAssemblywomanAmyHandlin (R-13) and the New Jersey Sierra Club. "We have all so often said, Think globally, act locally," Handlin said. "Well, this really is a step in the right direction, because there really is so much that we can do locally around the neighborhood and we really need to start acting together." The speakers at the meeting included Middletown Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger and professor Patrick Hossay of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Scharfenberger spoke aboutMiddletown's implementation of the Green Initiative in municipal programs, while Hossay told the council,whichmeetsmonthly, that oldermunicipalities, like Keyport, have many environmentally friendly characteristics. According to Scharfenberger, he is among the minority of mayors in the area in terms ofmaking decisions based on helping the environment. "The reason I'mhere is because I feel like I'm the first guy with his foot in the swimming pool saying, 'It's OK to come in,' " Scharfenberger said. "I feel very strongly about this issue." He said Middletown passed a Green Initiative, which started in 2007, and he built support for it as benefiting the township as a way to save money, save the environment, and lower dependence on foreign oil. "Everybody knows that Middletown got hit one of the hardest in the area during 9/11," Scharfenberger said. "Why would we want to enrich a part of theworld thatwants to do us harm? So this is an easy sell forme." He said that partisanship does not matter in this issue, because helping the environment and saving money are ideas that everyone supports. Scharfenberger went on to list the steps that Middletown has taken in order to become amore "green"municipality, which include changing light bulbs from incandescent to LED and utilizing the Dock and Roll shuttle service that transports senior citizens around Middletown and transports commuters to and from ferry terminals. He said the change in light bulbs helps the environment by saving energy, but comes at a cost. "They can be very expensive, and this is where I have to walk a fine line as a fiscally conservative mayor and super-environmentalist, which I like to think that I am," Scharfenberger said. He said that the township has started using alternative fuel in chainsaws, which helps save fuel. The township is also looking into using biodiesel to power municipal trucks and cars. Solar panels are another measure that Middletownwould like to install on buildings around the township. "Middletown has 17 schools, andwe have a tremendous amount ofmunicipal facilities, including Croydon Hall, Town Hall and the library," Scharfenberger said. "All of these things we are looking to place solar panels on." He said that solar panels could be installed at no cost and that they would result in a 15-17 percent reduction in energy use. "The Sewerage Authority is one of the great success stories," Scharfenberger said. "We recently purchased a boiler that reuses methane gas that used to be let out into the atmosphere. Not only does it capture the methane gas thatwe are using, it creates hot water for the whole facility." He also said that this method saves the township $40,000 a year as well taking harmful gases out of the atmosphere. Open space is also something that Scharfenberger is a huge supporter of. "Open space to me is a big deal," Scharfenberger said. "I wish I had a money tree that I could just shake to buy open space.We are trying to do the best we can in acquiring open space and creating zoning changes that canwithstand the test of legal challenges." The township has even begun using solar-powered surveillance cameras at skate parks. Scharfenberger said that there has been vandalism in the past at the local skate parks and that it was an easy choice to start using this type of camera. Hossay spoke after Scharfenberger and told those in attendance about different local solutions to address climate changes that are taking place in the environment. He started off by saying that since 1979, more than 2 percent of the polar ice caps have melted away and that global warming is something that has been caused by humans. "It's going to cost us a lot ofmoney to preserve the beach lines," Hossay said. "We are going to lose a lot of what we have now due to the climate change." He said that the most energy-efficient community in theUnited States isNewYork City because of the use of mass transit and pedestrian walkways. Townships such as Keyport, which use mixed-use overlay zoning, are key to helping the environment, he said. In communities where stores and homes are in close proximity, people do not have to drive to go shopping. "Instead of hopping in your vehicle to buy food at the store, you walk," Hossay said. "Everything is in one place." He said that people are learning that the most energy-efficient way to build in a municipality is the way towns were in the past. "We are seeing that the right way to do things are ways that have already been done," Hossay said, "[how] cities and townships [were] 50-60 years ago, we are seeing some places revert back." Representatives and residents from all the towns in the Bayshore region were on hand to listen to the speakers and came away with knowledge that they will bring to their towns. "Our group brings everyone together in the Bayshore to speak about our environmental concerns," JosephReynolds, co-chairman of the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council, said. "We all fell in love with Dr. Hossay's ideas."