The LEED for Neighborhood Development LEED-ND program won approval from all of the groups essential

The LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) program won approval from all of the groups essential to taking it from pilot status to a full-fledged program. In a consensus body of approximately 3,000 members of the US Green Building Council, just over 80 percent of those casting ballots voted in favor of the program, says Sophie Lambert, director of LEED-ND. LEED-ND won approval earlier from the Congress for New Urbanism, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Smart Growth America. Nearly 240 projects, mainly in the US but also in Canada, China, and elsewhere, tested a pilot version of the rating system, which began in the summer of 2007. Lambert hopes registration for the permanent program will open early in 2010.