EAST LONGMEADOW – East Longmeadow Town Council President Michael Kane was re-elected to the post at the body’s July 13 meeting. Councilor Ralph Page was chosen as the new council vice president.

Brew Practitioners

A public hearing was conducted on a request for a farmer series pouring permit from Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle and Joseph Eckerle, owners of the brewery Brew Practitioners. The couple plan to reopen their business at 45 Baldwin St., after moving from Florence. Cannon-Eckerle explained that the new space is larger and they wanted to be closer to family.

The owners plan to be open Wednesday through Friday, from 5  to 10 p.m., Saturday from 1  to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The brewery will have a patio area for the consumption of food and beverages, though customers will have to purchase the products inside the building, Cannon-Eckerle said. She added that as a practice, the brewery checks all IDs, regardless of age. The patio will be separated from the surrounding area by hedges. The business is not currently pursuing an entertainment license, though it left the option open for the future. Cannon-Eckerle said that they would wait until they know what the community wants. They plan to open no later than Aug. 15.

Councilor Patrick Henry asked if there would be retail sales at the location, which is in an area zoned for industrial businesses. Cannon-Eckerle told him that there would be limited sales, but the on-site consumption business would be their primary model. Councilor Thomas O’Connor suggested that selling retail beer made the business a package store, and therefore needed other permits.

Cannon-Eckerle explained that the farmer brewery license allows the business to sell at wholesale under MGL Ch.138 Section 19C. The limitation on the retail sales being that only products produced by the brewery can be sold there.

O’Connor expressed concern regarding beer with high alcohol content, which he said is sometimes served at breweries. He asked how the business will limit the consumption of such beverages.

Eckerle told him that the beer they make contains 4 percent to 7 percent alcohol. They do not sell what Cannon-Eckerle called, “high-octane” beer. She said that from a business standpoint, it costs more to produce and customers buy fewer of them. She also acknowledged that patrons can become “unruly” when imbibing drinks with higher alcohol content.

Henry commented that the Planning Board had not made a recommendation on food when it approved the special permit for the business. “I want to be sure there’s a clear understanding between us and the Eckerles and the Planning Board that this pouring permit still requires food to be served,” he said.

Cannon-Eckerle pushed back on that. She said that Brew Practitioners was contracting with a third-party food vendor, but that there is no requirement in the farmer series pouring permit that food must be served. Henry stated that it is required by the town’s bylaw. While not opposed to serving food, Cannon-Eckerle said that she was wary of putting a restriction on the business that would cause “unnecessary hardship” should there be an interruption in food service at some point.

“We do have a number of restaurant bars in town that would just be delighted if they did not have to serve food, or serve food up until 10 p.m., or other restrictions,” Henry commented. Cannon-Eckerle argued that those businesses would have to install a manufacturing operation to fall under the same guidelines.

Henry asked that the issue be taken up by the licensing subcommittee. Councilor Kathleen Hill, who sits on the subcommittee, weighed in and said that the couple is “very well-read,” on licensing matters, “to their credit and our edification.” She said no additional information would likely come from discussion by the subcommittee. Henry stressed that there needed to be clarification on if the town is allowed to impose restrictions above and beyond what is explicitly stated in state laws. He said he is in favor of the project but needs to know the town’s rights before he can vote for it.

Councilor Marilyn Richards stated that the license does not require food service, unlike a restaurant license. She called the brewery a “hybrid” business. Because the product is made on-site, it is considered manufacturing, but there is also service and consumption. “I don’t want to tie the hands of these folks who have been more than forthright in everything they are stating they plan to do,” Richards said.

The council voted to approve the farmer series pouring permit without further conditions.

Stretch Energy Code

Mark Rabinsky, the western regional coordinator for the Green Communities program, delivered a presentation on adopting the stretch energy code, one of five criteria necessary to become a Green Community.

He explained that the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations & Standards (BBRS) gives contractors two options when building a structure. The “prescription” model necessitates contractors to adhere to a checklist of compliance measures and undergo inspection during and after construction. The “performance” version requires computer-generated “energy efficiency modelling,” which estimates energy savings over a standard baseline, and inspections during and after construction in which the efficiency model is tested by a third-party to ensure the energy savings will be realized. Afterward, the building inspector signs off on the project.

The stretch code requires the second, performance model be used. It would apply to all new residential construction and new commercial construction larger than 100,000 square-feet or larger than 40,000 square-feet of conditioned space.

Kane said it enables builders to make repairs at various stages of construction. Richards noted that a contractor who once spoke against the stretch code at a Town Meeting told her new homeowners are asking for it when building a house.

Rabinsky said that the BBRS is moving closer to the performance model as it updates the building code each year. “It’s not much of a stretch, anymore,” he said.

Page asked what the Home Builders’ Association thought about the issue, but Rabinsky did not know their stance. Page also asked about the funding for the Green Community grants and if it was dependent on the will of the Legislature in any given year. Rabinsky explained that the funding comes from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and is not directly funded through the state.

“Sure, there are benefits and it’s great PR,” Henry said of adopting the stretch code and becoming a Green Community, “but it also means higher construction costs, which puts East Longmeadow housing a little more out of reach for low-to-middle income families.” He asked to table the issue until a further meeting.

Richards acknowledged Henry’s concerns. She asked how adopting just one of the Green Communities criteria would affect the town if the other four criteria have not been met. She also asked what effects it might have on zoning. Rabinsky told her that all aspects of the Green Communities program are important and was willing to go over the entirety of the program at a future meeting.

Page noted that all bylaw adoptions must go through multiple readings and a public hearing and could not be adopted that night. The council voted 6:1 to move the issue into the bylaw subcommittee.

PACE

Town Manager Mary McNally put adoption of the PACE program to the council. PACE, which stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy, is a program from the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. As explained on the department’s website, “PACE programs allow a property owner to finance the up-front cost of energy or other eligible improvements on a property and then pay the costs back over time through a voluntary assessment. The unique characteristic of PACE assessments is that the assessment is attached to the property rather than an individual.”

In Massachusetts, the program is run through the finance and development agency MassDevelopment. McNally said that East Longmeadow has little to no liability in adopting the program, as MassDevelopment vets the projects and the town acts as a pass-through for the funding.

“We feel it’s an opportunity to grant the business community a bit of an additional opportunity which, hopefully, will lead to some job creation,” McNally said. Both residential and commercial properties are eligible for the program.

When asked about the town’s obligation if a property owner is unable to pay back the loan, McNally explained, “In the event of a default, the project’s capital provider, who holds the PACE lien on the property during the financing term, can move to enforce and exercise remedies.” In other words, the property acts as collateral for the loan.

Councilor Connor O’Shea told his colleagues, “One of the criticisms of other PACE programs across the country was that when certain residential properties took advantage of it, they may be more apt to foreclosure if they wound up not paying back all the money if those particular projects never actually yielded the energy savings people thought they were going to.” He went on to say that the contracts the town was considering were worded in a way that lessens the risk of defaulting on the loans.

The issue was continued until the council’s August meeting.

Funding And Planning

O’Shea told the council that the Planning Board had approved the town’s new master plan, its first in 45 years. McNally thanked Planning and Community Development Director Bethany Yeo for the work done on the project. McNally called it “a guidepost to our town’s future.”

McNally informed the council that the town had been awarded $38,500 for the Shared Streets program. The money will pay for previously-identified curb extensions, updated crosswalks and improved bus stops at the north end of town along Route 83.

She also said that the town has received the first of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that it is slated to get. McNally said that one of the Department of Public Works (DPW) projects to be funded with the money is a replacement for the water main at the intersection of Cooley Street and Avery Street, which has broken more than once. McNally said she will keep the council up to date on further projects.