LEED-ND reaches important milestone

By Mary Lynch The first national standards for green neighborhoods moved one step closer to completion this fall — and one step closer to becoming a force in the blossoming green segment of the development market — with the release for public comment of the draft version of the LEED-ND rating system. LEED-ND, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND), is a partnership between CNU, the US Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The ratings system integrates best practices from both New Urbanism and green building with smart growth principles. The system will be different from other LEED ratings systems offered by the USGBC — and more significant environmentally — in that it will evaluate entire neighborhoods, rather than individual buildings. It recognizes the crucial role of context in determining a development’s environmental impact. Since the new rating system was drafted by the 15-member Core Committee drawn from the ranks of each organization, the 45-day comment period (running through October 27) gives all CNU member and other stakeholders an opportunity to provide feedback on the draft system. With the myriad details in the draft, this comment period is a particularly important time for advocates to voice their opinions. The rating system is set up with 10 prerequisites plus optional credits for a maximum of 114 points per project. Projects must earn 40 percent of the total points to earn certification and can aim for Gold, Silver or Platinum status by earning more optional credits. Some of the credits and prerequisites have been particularly challenging for the Core Committee, and its members anticipate a vigorous response. One example is the Farmland Preservation prerequisite, intended “to preserve irreplaceable agricultural resources by protecting prime and unique farmland from development.” While hardly the norm, there are counties in the farm belt where as much as 97 percent of available land is prime farmland, thus rendering this LEED-ND requirement untenable. Another challenge was the Transportation Efficiency prerequisite, which requires a project to be located near “existing or planned adequate transit service.” Transit agencies will often only commit to expand service into an area once it is fully populated and demand is proven, meaning developers might have to wait to full buildout to become eligible to submit for a rating. Striking a balance Since developers have little incentive to seek a LEED-ND rating if it cannot be used as sales tool, the fear is that some developers will end up ignoring LEED-ND altogether. A host of other important criteria that would otherwise be met as a result of certification would continue to go unaddressed. According to Core Committee and CNU board member Susan Mudd, “We attempted to strike a balance that would allow some new towns to develop but not allow sprawl development. We need feedback to know whether or not we got it right.” The farmland and transit issues underscore the challenges of designing a national rating system to fit varying local situations. The Core Committee is depending on feedback during the comment period to identify and address issues that could result in the system being ignored in entire regions or metro areas. According to Doug Farr, principal of Farr Associates Architecture and Urban Design and co-chair of the LEED-ND Core Committee, the point is not to defend the credits as they stand now, but to use them as a starting point. “We hope and believe that over time LEED-ND will raise standards of the entire land planning and development industry in terms of how it locates, designs, and operates neighborhood scale projects.” The best work of new urbanists will far exceed LEED-ND standards, according to Farr, and that could bring many new faces from the green building movement into CNU. “The goal of LEED-ND really supports the work of CNU, in that it aims to transform the market,” he says. “LEED-ND raises the bar by setting fair, achievable, and objective standards for thresholds of performance.” Farr, a CNU board member, adds: “In developing the standards, the Core Committee has tried to balance a leadership standard, meaning one that is achievable but rarely being followed today, with a practical rating system that allows developers to make good money.” Jennifer Henry, the USGBC program manager for LEED-ND, said that once all the comments are in, the Core Committee will issue a short report on the findings, after which the draft will be revised accordingly. Pilot projects to test the standards will be selected, it is hoped, by early 2006. With its focus on the way buildings come together as neighborhoods, LEED-ND is the first time that the New Urbanism, Smart Growth, environmental, and green building movements have made a serious attempt to align themselves in practice. The potential impact of a collaborative rating system is huge, but developing the preliminary draft has been a complex balancing act that has taken over a year and a half of hard work to achieve and marks an important milestone for the Core Committee. Due to the complexity of the credits, Mudd, Farr, and Henry urge members to go to www.cnu.org (see “It’s time to help shape LEED-ND) and submit comments on the system before it is implemented. This is a unique chance for members to share their opinions and experience before it goes to the pilot phase. u Mary Lynch is a real estate management consultant based in Madison, WI. It’s time to help shape LEED-ND To view the current draft of LEED-ND and submit comments, either as a Corresponding Committee member or member of the general public, please visit cnu.org and look for the link that says Comment Now on LEED-ND.