There goes the neighborhood

A major ski resort and a former training site for disabled workers are among the projects aiming for certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Neighborhoods (ND) program, which will evaluate up to 120 pilot projects at various stages of planning and construction across the country. The program, which will notify selected applicants in mid-May, marks a departure for the green building council. LEED-ND is the first product to be developed in partnership with outside stakeholders — in this case, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the National Resources Defense Council. It is also the organization’s first rating system to move beyond individual buildings and focus on sustainable land use and transportation.

“One of the main criticisms of LEED is that you could get a building certified Gold or Platinum, and it could be located in a horrible place environmentally,” says Eliot Allen, a principal with Criterion Planners/Engineers, a Portland consulting firm and the primary certification reviewer for the new neighborhood category. What distinguishes LEED-ND is the emphasis on smart growth, Allen says. “In order to score points, the neighborhood has to be situated in a place that makes sense from a transportation standpoint.”

LEED-ND targets planned and existing neighborhoods; the focus is on high-density mixed-use communities that reduce automobile use. Although credits are awarded for LEED-certified buildings, most of the points revolve around location and transportation features such as walkable streets and bicycle paths; proximity of housing, schools and jobs; affordable housing; and conservation of farmland and open space. “LEED-ND will be an effective tool at focusing the discussion around sustainability,” says Eric Ridenour, an architect at Portland-based SERA Architects and a member of the LEED-ND corresponding committee. “It’s going to stimulate real debate about land use and development.”

Designed as a market transformation tool, LEED-ND certification will probably be easier and cheaper to achieve than LEED for New Construction, green building experts say. “Any developer that gets an ND certificate is likely to see a faster build-out and a premium price,” Allen says. Once the program opens to the public, he predicts: “We’re going to be busy.”

Vail Resort’s Ever Vail development will be located on existing transit lines and spring up on a brownfield currently occupied by a retail complex and the company’s vehicle maintenance shopyard. Courtesy Vail Resorts.

One of the projects aiming for LEED-ND certification is a $1 billion, 9.5-acre resort, to be developed by Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN). CEO Rob Katz says the development team is seeking certification because “we wanted an umbrella concept that would tie all our sustainable practices together.” There’s a misunderstanding that green building means straw-bale housing, Katz adds. “It’s very exciting to be part of a trend where green means high quality.”

A pedestrian village, Colorado’s “Ever Vail” resort will be located on existing transit lines and will spring up on a brownfield currently occupied by a retail complex and the company’s vehicle maintenance shopyard. Skiers have an obvious incentive to preserve natural resources, Katz says. “LEED-ND offered an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of green building,” he says. “The more that we can extend our connection to the environment, the better our connection to guests and buyers will be. It also does well for our shareholders.”

Another LEED-ND project applicant is the 32- acre Pringle Creek development in Salem, Ore., which is located on the site of the former Fairview Training Center. The project won the first-ever National Association of Home Builders Land Development of the Year award in March. “There’s a shift in thinking toward issues of site and land use,” says project architect James Meyer.

Pringle Creek includes several net-zero-energy homes with geothermal heating, a community orchard and biodiesel co-op, and a 9,000-foot network of “green streets” to manage stormwater. Housing is planned within walking distance of the town center, and interconnected paths will link the project to the Salem street grid. “You can actually bike to the airport,” Meyer notes. As of March, Pringle Creek had reservations for 23 out of 139 lots — a number Meyer says he expects to increase once the project is added to the regional multiple listing service in May.

LEED professionals are still analyzing the program’s certification and development costs. However, since the neighborhood category focuses on sustainable site selection instead of energy efficiency and green materials, “it looks like less time, hours and dollars than LEED on a building,” says Scott Lewis, a principal at Brightworks, a Portland consulting firm.

Expedited permitting is another cost saver, says Jennifer Henry, program manager for LEED-ND at the U.S. Green Building Council. “There’s a lot of time and money spent on the approval process,” Henry says. “If we can make LEED-ND a good housekeeping stamp of approval that municipalities look on favorably, it will help projects be approved quickly. That’s the main advantage we’re hoping to bring to projects in terms of the fiscal perspective.”

Two widely cited case studies underscore the bottom-line savings associated with green communities: the 240-unit Village Homes subdivision in Davis, Calif., which was built in the 1970s, and Prairie Crossings, a 667-acre residential development near Chicago. Both developments cut the cost of individual lots — by up to $800 — by narrowing streets and using bioswales. The saved money was put into community amenities. According to an analysis conducted by the Rocky Mountain Institute, properties at Village Homes now command $10 to $25 more per square foot than those of surrounding subdivisions.

“There is empirical evidence across the country showing that green projects consistently sell faster and at a premium price,” Allen says.

Net-zero-energy homes at Pringle Creek will use geothermal heating systems during the winter months. Courtesy Pringle Creek.

LEED-ND is not without challenges. The centerpiece of the rating system is the Smart Locations and Linkages section, which encompasses a total of six prerequisites and 11 credits. Within that section, the “really tough hurdle,” Allen says, is the first prerequisite, which requires projects to be located on an infill site, near transit, within walking distance of multiple amenities, or demonstrate a reduction in vehicle-miles traveled compared with the surrounding region. Allen says the intended effect is to disqualify any “leapfrogged greenfields,” in which new neighborhoods are developed on vacant land unconnected to previous development patterns.

Randy Jones, a project manager for Brooks Resources Corporation in Bend, Ore., says he explored the possibility of certification for IronHorse, a mixed-use development springing up on a former ranch in Prineville, Ore. However, the community will not meet the program’s density requirements, which mandate seven residential dwellings per acre. “It’s been frustrating,” Jones says. The pedestrian-oriented neighborhood will include Earth Advantage certified homes, a K–8 school, a town center within walking distance and more than 250 acres of parks and green spaces.

“We are a good example for rural areas and incorporate as many smart growth principles as we can,” says Jones, who would not comment on the exact densities of the IronHorse project. “We would have a reasonable shot at certification, but it would take face time with LEED committee folks … to provide context why they might rethink the minimum density standard.”

Henry says LEED-ND’s density requirement reflects a program “bias” in favor of urban and suburban developments. “These projects perform better in transportation efficiencies and the other efficiencies that go along with that,” she says.

However, Henry also says most rural neighborhoods incorporating typical small-town densities would meet LEED-ND requirements. In the meantime, other developers are moving full steam ahead. The Aldeia at Water’s Edge neighborhood, a planned mixed-use community in Boise, Idaho, features green-rated homes, narrow streets and pedestrian amenities such as an 8-foot green strip between the sidewalk and curb. Developer Steve Ribeiro describes the project as a “green Orenco Station,” a reference to the award-winning New Urbanist development in Hillsboro, Ore.

Ribeiro says he conducted a “really expensive traffic study,” which found that surrounding subdivisions average 13.5 car trips per day. Aldeia will reduce that figure by a few percent, he says. Ribeiro says he is aiming for LEED-ND “because it gives us a chance to hold up something as real. It’s like the organic label.”