A brief urbanist’s guide to LEED-ND

After years of deliberations among representatives of CNU, the United States Green Building Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the LEED for Neighborhood Pilot has enrolled 238 projects – one of the strongest launches in the nearly 10-year history of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. USGBC President Rick Fedrizzi calls LEED-ND “the next generation of green building thinking,” and CNU President and CEO John Norquist says it will help counteract “the conventional transportation and development practices that made creating green communities impossible, by requiring the use of automobiles to get practically everywhere.” Here are answers to a few questions you may have about LEED-ND. What is next for LEED for Neighborhood Development? Pilot participants now submit documentation of project performance. Third-party reviewers — led by Criterion Planners, whose principal Eliot Allen participated in CNU’s Mississippi Renewal Forum — will verify that information and qualifying projects will become certified. Project partners will use information learned during the pilot phase to revise the rating system. The resulting draft will be posted for public comment before it is submitted for final approvals and balloting. How does the pilot rating system determine what qualifies as a green neighborhood? LEED-ND adapts the principles of smart growth, New Urbanism and green building into measurable criteria in four categories — smart location and linkage, neighborhood pattern and design, green construction and technology, innovation and design process. Each category has prerequisites as well as a set of credits. Projects that meet all prerequisites and earn at least 40 out of 106 possible credits to become LEED-ND certified. Those that earn higher point totals qualify for silver (50), gold (60), or platinum (80) ratings. How well does the new system measure urbanism? New Urbanism and smart growth certainly strongly influenced the program’s core values. Dispelling the loose association between green buildings and verdant locations, LEED-ND sends a strong message that low-density development is not sustainable. More specifically, New Urbanism directly shaped the system’s neighborhood pattern and design criteria. As a result, projects must have at least seven residential units per acre and not be gated. And they earn points for features such as short blocks, frequent intersections, doors and windows fronting sidewalks, higher densities, rich use mix, and diverse housing types. The smart location and linkage criteria reinforce infill development, transit use, and other patterns important to urbanists. But some projects may meet basic requirements and earn many of their points through the use of green technologies, getting certified without being outstanding examples of urbanism. As CNU Board Chair Hank Dittmar said of the new system, “It sets a floor not a ceiling.” What can I do if missed the deadline for participation in the pilot program? New projects will apply to participate in the full program, which is expected to launch in early 2009. Fortunately, the new system allows participation of projects from early to very late in their development process. Visit www.cnu.org/leednd to join the LEED for Neighborhood Development Corresponding Committee and stay engaged with the program during the pilot phase and for more program details.