February/March 2009
Neigborhood Development
C O N T E N T S
Executive Director's Corner: Crossing The Potomoc
LEED: Fort Carson Building Awarded First Army LEED Gold
Neighborhood Development: LEED Neighborhood Development in Colorado
Recyling News: Some Thoughts on Recycling Old Office Furnishings
Sustainable Development: Creating a Sustainable Future
Getting Green Done: Forgive Me Father, I Don't Have the Money
Sustainable Strategy: Creating Effective Collaboration and Leadership Tactics
Executive Director's Corner: Major Speaker Announced for May Conference
Metro Branch Update: Denver Metro Branch is Looking for Volunteers
VISION
Promote responsibility for Colorado's environmental legacy.
MISSION
Advance and promote sustainable planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment through education, improving industry guidelines, policy advocacy, and information and resource sharing.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dana Kose, Chair
Universal Development Company
Jim Bradburn, Vice Chair, Chair Elect
RMH Group
Megan Christensen, Secretary
US LendLease Communities
Sebastian De Atucha, Treasurer
3BY
Clay Benson, Director at Large
Mortenson Construction
Mike Lowell, Director, Advocacy
US GSA
Bobby Molinary, Director, Membership
Julie Edwards, Director, Education
Oz Architecture
Matt Arabasz, Director,Northern Colorado Branch
RB+B Architects, Inc.
Joshua Radoff, Director, Resource Development, and Communications
YRG Sustainability Consultants
Bethany Trumble, Director, Southern Colorado Branch
Farnsworth Group, Inc.
Liz Sharrer, Director, Metro Branch
Holland & Hart
Mike Kolesar, Director, Emerging Green Builders
Facilities Engineering Associates
Deb Kleinman
Executive Director,
USGBC Colorado Chapter
Colorado Building Green is the official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council – Colorado Chapter, and is published bi-monthly. If you are interested in submiting a story, ideas or other information for publication, please contact the editor at dgloffreda@msn.com
LEED Neigborhood Development In Colorado
LEED-ND has not gone without its growing pains
By Conor Merrigan, Consultant, YRG sustainability
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As one of the newest rating systems released by the USGBC, LEED for Neighborhood Development (ND) is still working out the kinks. It’s a significant departure from previous systems that focus on individual buildings, and goes beyond to take into consideration such factors as a project’s location, site design, and infrastructure efficiency on a larger community-wide scale. In addition, there are a total of three stages a project may certify at; the pre-entitlement stage, approved plan, and completed project. This allows projects that are generally more complex and time intensive than single buildings to benchmark themselves during the process to help with approvals and/or reach particular goals. While projects are encouraged to certify through the completed project stage, it is not required that they do so.
Eight projects have been participating in the ND pilot phase in Colorado including a variety of projects that range from a smaller cohousing project in Boulder to a mixed-use neighborhood in Aurora that will cover roughly five hundred acres and the whole Stapleton development. Two of the projects, one in Snowmass Village and one in Vail (one of two in the nation to reach Platinum certification), are mixed-use resort communities, and another in Aspen includes the redevelopment of the Aspen Club. The remaining projects include the redevelopment of public housing in a downtown Denver block and an approximately 40 acre development in Denver.
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| DHA Courtyard edit - Park Avenue Block 3, Interior courtyard allows for resident interaction and off-street parking |
As with any new rating system, LEED-ND has not been without growing pains, and though it has been in development since 2004, the latest version, which is currently incorporating a first round of member comments, makes significant changes to the pilot version. The changes put more of an emphasis on building level energy and water efficiency and require at least one building on the project to be certified through LEED or an equivalent rating system. In addition, the new version makes it easier for projects to achieve several credits that were prohibitive in the pilot version such as wetlands prerequisite SLLp4(Smart Location and Linkages Prerequisite 4) and broadening the definition of ‘infill’ in SLLp1 to allow for more projects that met the intent but weren’t considered such during the pilot. In general, the new version is somewhat more stringent with more prerequisites, but also allows well designed projects the ability to showcase more features by offering more points for good design.
While changes will continue to be made before the rating system is made public in mid to late summer (the second public comment version will open sometime in March), now is an appropriate time to review and analyze the merits and demerits of the system. Having experienced the initial trial of application to projects in the pilot phase, there are now a number of philosophical and practical questions that should be raised. One of the most fundamental concerns the degree to which a rating system purporting to focus on land use and site design should be mandating the design of the vertical buildings.