November 15, 2023

Dear members of the North Andover Town Conservation Commission,

My name is Kunal Bhatia. My father, Naresh, mother, Bharati, and I live in North Andover. We have been residents of the Town since 1997 when my parents purchased our home.

The backstory
We have been trying to make improvements to our home in order to reduce our carbon footprint and go as close to carbon neutral as possible. We started by switching to electric vehicles in 2015.

In 2022, we started the process to install a geothermal well and a heat pump to replace our inefficient, polluting oil heating and AC units. We are also in the process of installing a solar roof to offset the extra electric demands of our planned HVAC system and cover our overall electricity consumption.

In working with Town Conservation Commission
We first started working with the Commission when we found out that our Certificate of Compliance (CoC) was not filed when the house was built. In order to file the permit to continue with our geothermal project, we not only had to file the CoC, but we also went through a number of arduous steps in order to appear before you today. I can only hope that our earlier Notice of Intent (NOI) submission was granted approval in the meeting today.

In working with the Commission, we’ve had to learn about many complex regulations and processes along with the science and technology behind our projects. To start, I learned that the State of Massachusetts enacted the Wetlands Protection Act in 1972. Wetlands, as you all know, are a vital part of our ecosystem. Amongst the many benefits wetlands give us, I’ll focus on one major benefit – their ability to store carbon. Despite covering 3% of the Earth’s surface, wetlands capture roughly 30% of all land-based carbon.

By reducing our carbon footprint, we will not only make a positive impact for the wetlands, which you are here to protect, but toward reducing climate change overall. I certainly hope we can all agree that man-made climate change is real and that we should be actively working to fix it! And when it comes to climate change, speed is crucial.

Rather than the 2 years it has taken us to just get permits, I would love to live in a town that creates a great customer experience for residents. And one where doing a clean energy project is easier than a kitchen remodel.

Valuing speed for clean energy projects
In the spirit of trying to make an impact in our local community, we'd like to propose common-sense regulations and ways for neighbors who've shown up tonight and all across North Andover to accelerate their projects. The current experience working with the Town is long, costly, and complex to navigate for the average resident. We have 6 recommendations we can use to move faster:

1. Fast-track approvals for common projects.
   If we are going to use similar processes and technologies for multiple projects across the Town or State, we should be able to give automatic approval for the same configuration.
   
   For example, Hawaii Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) uses a process where vendors can submit for a Methods and Materials Number (MM#). Once approved, reviewers can treat that component like a black box. See the Hawaii DPP site for more details.
   
   
2. Certify vendors who prove they do good work.
   Similar to projects, we can certify vendors after they’ve proven to build successful projects in the town. This can lead to a higher trust environment and way in which new vendors can meet quality standards.
   
   
3. Amend town ordinances sitting above and beyond the MA Wetland Protection Act of 1972 that don't apply.
   Currently, the Town of North Andover is 1 of 2 towns out of a total of 8 towns Dandelion Energy has worked with in MA that require additional steps above and beyond the state regulations.
   
   Our town ordinances do not use first-principles thinking and forced projects like ours to go through the complex NOI (Notice of Intent) submission process, rather than the simpler RDA (Request for Determination) process, which the state allows.
   
   The most important part of our process should involve environmental monitoring when proceeding with drilling projects, which I believe to be crucial.
   
   We should be looking holistically at the North Andover Wetland Protection Regulations and Chapter 190 of the Town of North Andover Bylaws to implement common sense regulations to accelerate clean energy projects. The State of Massachusetts already has a comprehensive Wetland Protection Act (310 CMR 10.00).
   
   
4. Put unclaimed permit fees (nearing $4M from unfinished projects) toward incentivizing clean energy projects.
   
   From my understanding, many projects in North Andover have gone unfinished. And these unfinished projects have unclaimed permit fees sitting on the Town’s books. We could repurpose these funds to move clean energy projects forward.
   
   
5. Create educational resources for town residents to help them understand and complete their own clean energy projects.
   
   There are lots of technologies and incentive structures that exist that could meet residents’ goals and economic considerations. However, there is an education barrier that most residents would not be able to overcome on their own.
   
   Creating simple and easy-to-use educational resources could benefit many residents. There are many for-profit and non-profit examples we could reference, including YellowTin, Helio Home, and Sierra Club. There is an opportunity to create something targeted for the Town of North Andover residents.
   
   
6. Enact better standards for new construction projects.
   We should be able to create standards for new construction projects that incentivize the use of clean energy. California Title 24 is enabling an environment where heat pump sales outpace all other HVAC systems. This should also create more jobs, which North Andover could benefit from given our thriving contractor ecosystem.
   
   Ask any questions about CA Title 24 with the CA Title 24 Wizard and the State of MA and Town of North Andover regulations (cited earlier) with the Wetland Park Ranger I’ve set up as GPTs.

In closing – let’s move fast together
I certainly hope mine and my parents' experience is not re-lived by others in the town. In my capacity as a product designer for the past 12 years, I use my skills to deliver impact and defy customer expectations habitually. I am ready to invest time into making these 6 proposals a reality by collaborating with The Commission. Perhaps we can influence other towns and the State of Massachusetts to follow in our footsteps.

And in the spirit of doing things fast, my offer to help comes with a quick timeline. I'm looking for my next role and can't guarantee I'll be on the market by the end of the year.

I look forward to working with The Conservation Commission to complete our project and hundreds of clean energy projects across the Town of North Andover – fast.

Sincerely,
Naresh, Bharati and Kunal Bhatia

 

 

Thanks to Aric Saunders, Adam Bagni, Kit Wu for reading drafts of this and making contributions to make this a more compelling letter.