LEED-ND program: everyone wants in

The committee putting together the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development program (LEED-ND) was overwhelmed this spring by the number of applications it received from people wanting their projects included in the program’s first phase. Jennifer Henry, program manager for LEED-ND, told CNU attendees in mid-May that 371 applications have been submitted — more than triple the number that were expected to be chosen to participate. The committee — drawn from CNU, the US Green Building Congress, and the National Resources Defense Council — had capped the number of participating projects at 120. Since receiving a flood of applications, however, the committee has been considering whether to raise that number. The selected projects were expected to be announced by June 1. Berkeley-based planner Peter Calthorpe applauded the committee, which has worked at formulating LEED-ND for more than three years. “It’s going to be probably the most important thing that’s happened to New Urbanism in years,” he predicted. The applying projects ranged in size from 0.12 acre to more than 800 acres. certified “green” Projects in LEED-ND will be vying to be certified as environmentally superior — a judgment that can help them obtain government approvals, financial backing, and other benefits. Some but not all of the projects in the pilot phase are likely to be certified in the next nine months, Henry said. The pilot program is expected to continue into 2009, and will help the committee refine the system. Projects that missed the April 6 deadline or were not selected “can still certify in the post-pilot program,” Henry pointed out. The system is intended to cover whole neighborhoods, fractions of neighborhoods, or multiple neighborhoods, Henry said. It can apply both to infill development and to “appropriate development of undeveloped land,” she added. The projects can be residential, commercial, or mixed-use. One of the many things the committee hopes to determine during the pilot phase is whether there should be a minimum size, a maximum size, or both. “Forty percent of the 371 were CNU people,” said Doug Farr, a CNU representative on the committee. “We more than delivered our third” of the applications, he noted. The Transect is not explicitly included in the program, said Susan Mudd, another CNU representative, but “The committee is open to ways of incorporating the Transect into it.” Among the new urbanist criteria to be used in certifying the projects are compactness, diversity of use and housing type, affordability of rental and for-sale housing, reduced parking footprint, walkable streets, transportation demand management, and access to public space. Information is posted at www.usgbc.org/leed/nd.