CNU and two partners approve LEED-ND

The LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) program won approval in September from three of the four groups that were asked to decide whether the program should advance from pilot phase to full-scale operation.

In on-line voting, 249 CNU members, a little under 10 percent of CNU’s membership, cast ballots. They endorsed the program 94 percent to 6 percent, according to CNU planning associate Nora Beck. The CNU Board of Directors followed up by giving its unanimous approval to a full-fledged LEED-ND.

The board of the Natural Resources Defense Council approved NRDC’s continuing participation in LEED-ND and delegated acceptance of the program’s final standards to the NRDC executive committee. Separately, Smart Growth America endorsed the program through a vote of its board.
The last organization to weigh in was the US Green Building Council (USGBC), which submitted the question to the approximately 2,600 members who make up a “consensus body” within USGBC. Their voting proceeded more slowly than anticipated, and was consequently extended into October. As New Urban News went to press, voting was still under way.

If USGBC attains a quorum within the consensus body and the vote is favorable, LEED-ND will then become a permanent certification program. It would be the first of the Green Building Council’s regular programs to draw from principles of New Urbanism.