Building Capacity

Client Health and Autonomy, Building Durability, and Cost Control were Key Drivers for Sound Mental Health’s LEED Platinum Housing Project in Seattle, Washington

Kathleen O'Brien interviews project designer Chirstina Bollo.

 

 

Kenyon House is an 18-unit two-story affordable housing project for previously homeless people with disabilities and fragile health. The project was developed by Housing Resources Group, AIDS Housing of Washington, and Sound Mental Health, all 501©3 organizations. O’Brien & Company provided initial rating, technical assistance, field application assistance, and performance testing and site verification of the envelope installation.

The project was the first project in the State of Washington to attain LEED for HomesPlatinum certification for affordable housing and only the second in the United States. It was completed in 2008 and featured in GreenBuild 2009’s LEED Project Showcase. According to Owner Sound Mental Health’s Trish Blanchard (Chief Clinical Officer), the agency is “grateful for this beautiful and sustainably built project and the partnerships that made it possible. Kenyon House provides supportive housing for some of the neediest and hardest-to-house in our community.”

Christina, you were the Project Designer with SMR Architects on the Kenyon House Project. What was your experience with “green” design prior to this project?I was lucky enough to study at the University of Oregon with John Reynolds and Alison Kwok from 1999 to 2002. While there I was involved with the Agents of Change Vital Signs Case Study Project, which included investigating actual buildings, conducting post-occupancy surveys, and developing case studies based on real world results. I’ve been interested in sustainability from the beginning.

It shows! You managed to achieve the highest LEED rating on the project. Was that planned from the beginning? Yes and no. From the beginning, I was referring to the LEED for Homes checklist to make sure the design was meeting the standard. But the owner was not planning to get the project certified. That changed when the non-profit developer found funding for certification. It was actually pretty late in the game, but because I’d been using the LEED checklist all along the project was actually able to do pretty well.

I’ll say. Was LEED the driver then for your decisions? I would not say that. It informed   but did not drive the sustainability decisions. Thinking about the owner’s goals and the residents needs was truly what drove them. For the owners, it was important to design a building that would last 50 years -- the term of the funding requirement. So for example, we detailed the windows so they can be replaced without tearing the building envelope apart. We used a fiber cement rainscreen for a more durable enclosure and focused on durability throughout. Of course the other big issue for the owner is cost of operating the facility. So saving energy and water was also a priority. All of this matches very well with LEED for Homes.

And what about the residents?Thermal comfort and good indoor air quality are always important in a residential setting, but especially in this one, where the occupants are in fragile health. I will say that LEED for Homes is much more suitable for this type of project. One concern with the non-residential LEED standard was its smoking prohibition. In a situation like this, such a ban would actually encourage surreptitious smoking, perhaps causing fires. Continuous ventilation was obviously key.

Any hiccups getting into LEED so late?We had a few stressful moments. O’Brien & Company had to submit a CIR for the paper-faced drywall already installed for the tub enclosure. They determined the drywall could meet the performance requirements, especially since we had the contractor apply a primer to the board. But probably the most challenging aspect of implementing LEED so late in the game was our needing to solicit signatures for accountability forms from consultants who had been off the project for quite some time. We got it done, but it was daunting.

How did your contractor feel about the added LEED performance requirements? Our contractor Walsh Construction was pretty enthusiastic about it. They saw it as an opportunity to learn advanced sealing techniques and committed to implementing them on all of their projects as a matter of practice.

Besides LEED performance, what else about the project meshes with the goal of sustainability? Social equity is an important aspect of sustainability. For the owner, above all else was the desire to create an autonomous, independent living situation for the residents, while fostering interaction between them and staff. The lobbies and central staircases were designed to force circulation past the case workers’ office. Yet, the studios are totally self-sufficient. The backyard was deliberately set aside for vegetable gardens maintained by the tenants. So it’s a nice mix of community and privacy.

You mentioned community. How do the neighbors feel about the project?Well actually the project addressed a safety problem the neighborhood was dealing with. The zoning called for the long side facing E-W (perpendicular to the street). This was terrible orientation for passive heating and cooling (as well as daylighting). The site’s original configuration also made for a pass-through for “hooligans.” Turning the building, so the long side now faced SW (with the front facing S), helped provide a buffer against such straying and entirely changed the building’s energy performance potential for the better. It was definitely a win-win and a no-brainer getting through to the city. This configuration also made more space for the tenant’s backyard garden.

Looking back, how do you feel about the project now? I am very happy with it. In fact, I’m finding it difficult to leave it behind! The landscaping budget was pretty tiny. So for a while it was a very fancy building sitting in a bunch of mulch. I’ve been involved with a series of volunteer landscaping projects for the front yard. And now that the Seattle Department of Transportation has started allowing it, I’m hoping we can do something fun with the parking strip. It gets great light all year round.

Christina Bollo designs environmentally and socially sustainable homes for homeless people and people with special needs. She received a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon and is a registered architect in Washington State. She is the chair of the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board and a member of the national board of Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility.

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Shoreline's Sustainability Strategy Bears Fruit: Interview with Juniper Nammi, Associate Planner, AICP.

  
Editor: The theme of this blog is to provide inspiration and practical advice to help build capacity in the realm of sustainability and green building. In 2007, O’Brien & Company partnered with the planning firm AHBL to help develop an Environmental Sustainability Strategy for the City of Shoreline. This Fall, we checked in with Juniper Nammi, Associate Planner for the City of Shoreline, and Project Manager for our contract to see how implementation of the Strategy is going.

Before we get into today, let’s provide the reader with some background. Can you provide a little history for our reader? JUNIPER: Certainly. As of 2006, there was actually a good deal happening throughout the City’s departments and among our residents with regard to sustainability. But there was nothing tying all of these efforts together and no comprehensive guidance going forward. In 2006 the City Council added "creating an environmentally sustainable community" to its goals. Under the Council’s charge, City Staff leadership worked on what this might mean and determined that a plan or strategy to define and direct municipal and community wide efforts towards sustainability would be helpful. The Council approved a consultant budget of $75K (keep in mind this was different economic times!) and City Staff leadership created an interdepartmental team to work with the consultant team. This team was the foundation for our green team which still functions today and is a key component of Strategy Implementation. The process took one year, and included review of our Comprehensive Plan and Development Code regulations, interviews with various city staff, and two very important community conversations. The Strategy document went through an intensive review and was adopted formally by the Council in 2008 with unanimous support of Council, Planning Commission, and the Parks Board.

You mentioned an interdepartmental green team as a key component of Strategy Implementation. What is your role on the team and how does the team function? I’m co-chair of the green team along with Miranda Redinger. We have about 13-15 members at any given time and meet monthly, although there are subcommittees that meet in between to do more specific tasks. I’m happy to say that all City departments are committed and the work is included in our work plans. With lean times, it is definitely a challenge to get full support from every team member all the time, but the team does provide a city-wide forum for the implementation of ideas generated during and since the strategic planning process in 2007-08. As I mentioned earlier, prior to the Strategy there were a number of individual efforts going on. This team gives us all a better understanding of what's happening in other departments, and allows us to collaborate. It enables us to do what we are already doing, better, and to build on that.

What kind of budget does the team have? Not much. We have a few hundred dollars for direct expenses. However, sustainable elements recommended in the Strategy are being integrated into many of the City's projects. An important outcome of the strategic planning process was to add the question -- What are the sustainability implications for your project? -- to the budgeting process.

Bravo! What other positive outcomes have you seen? The Strategy provided a good starting point for the green team’s discussions, but it intentionally wasn’t a prescriptive plan. If you visit our City’s website you will see projects that have been completed or are in-progress that were identified at the community conversations we held as part of the strategic planning process. The City is also doing a better job of explicitly calling out the environmental sustainability implications of our plan updates and capital projects

A good example is our Transportation Master Planning process, which is currently underway. A number of specific recommendations in the Sustainability Strategy are related to transportation planning and the plan update is systematically reviewing those recommendations for incorporation into the Master Plan. Recommendations being considered include transit oriented development, improving the safety and connectivity of walking and biking routes in the City, and addressing transit service issues.

Anything else? We were able to secure grant funding for some projects including getting our sustainability indicators and baselines up on our website, conducting a carbon inventory, and updating our urban tree inventory and related regulations. Also, we have an approved framework for an environmentally preferable purchasing policy in place. Now we are working on specifics for various categories of purchases such as office supplies, janitorial supplies, or consulting contracts.

What about green building efforts? Planning and Environmental Services staff are currently developing a comprehensive Green Building Program, including evaluation of building codes, outreach materials, technical assistance and training opportunities, as well as incentives for greener buildings in our zoning standards. We are developing guidance for capital improvement projects to ensure sustainability is a consideration along with financial feasibility. In addition, we are in the process of benchmarking the energy efficiency of our facilities through a comprehensive carbon emissions inventory effort.

In addition to all the activity you've described, have you seen a change in the way City staff approach the concept of environmental sustainability? From the very beginning of the strategic planning process, the City Council and management staff recognized that environmental sustainability was not just about trees and recycling. There has definitely been an organizational shift in thinking about environmental sustainability, broadening staff understanding beyond the commonly understood environmental topics of habitat and the three Rs. Interdepartmental involvement supported by the leadership has been a big part of making this shift happen.

Strategy development engaged the community in planning. How is the public involved now? Public participation opportunities in environmental sustainability include outreach events such as Earth Day Every Day and Clean Sweep Recycling events, community meetings and public hearings related to specific plan and project development topics, and ongoing volunteer opportunities in our parks. At this time the City does not have a citizen committee or volunteer opportunity specifically related to the Sustainability Strategy implementation because the Green Team is primarily focused on city operations, updating processes, and developing new programs.

Any lessons learned you’d like to share with municipalities trying to do something similar? Start with the basics. In our case the leadership explicitly added sustainability as a value for our community. This begins to shape all other guiding documents and policies. And it is critical to have interdepartmental collaboration, even more so when our budgets are so constrained. For this to happen you need the blessing of your leadership, both from elected officials and City staff. Shoreline has been fortunate to have the continued support of our Council, our City Manager, Department heads, and the community at large.

Are there other tools besides a sustainable strategy that you feel are/could be useful for municipal planners? (Including tools that don’t exist but would be great if they did!) We need analytical and assessment tools that are easy to use -- for example, a Life Cycle Cost Analysis tool that doesn't require you to be an LCA expert. We also need tools that can help us convey the significance of the data in an articulate manner.

What do you think the big opportunities are there now for municipalities? We need to be looking at neighborhood or district level solutions -- although there can be challenges with maintaining centralized systems. Collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions will also be essential, especially given limited resources, to share ideas and tools that work as well as coordinate projects and ideas that need to be implemented at a larger scale. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel if the city next door has an excellent wheel model to get things rolling. Cascadia Green Building Council has issued a challenge to create Living Communities using the International Living Building Institute's Standard.. It will take some time and effort to shift the thinking of the building industry and general public as to why this approach is a good idea, but I think it's time to move beyond the low hanging fruit to more comprehensive steps toward sustainability.

Juniper Nammi is currently an Associate Planner with the City of Shoreline and a Shoreline resident. She acted as project manager for development of the Shoreline Environmental Sustainability Strategy and is currently co-chair of the City’s interdepartmental Green Team, which is charged with implementation of this Strategy. Juniper also works as part of the permit services team reviewing a wide variety of permits and assisting customers when they have questions about City regulations. She has a Masters degree in Water Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2004).

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Creating Effective Energy Efficiency & Conservation Strategies in Your Community (Part 2 of 2)

In looking at communities in general, an EE&C Strategy or Energy Plan will involve considering all of the ways energy is consumed in that community as a starting point, because this will also identify where the opportunities are. In this pie chart, we show just a few opportunities  associated with identifiable sectors of energy consumption.

It will also involve setting a baseline and future requirements for energy consumption and generation. With the EEC Strategy there is a strong interest in tying the effort into local economic development and job creation, so existing conditions in this arena would be helpful as well.

Remove Regulatory Barriers

The “third rail” of existing conditions is the regulatory arena. Communities seeking to establish energy plans may consider the ways in which their codes and regulations present possible barriers to implementing energy efficiency and conservation strategies. Evaluating codes and regulations against EEC Strategy goals is necessary to assess what stands in the way and needs to be either updated or eliminated, as well as what provisions may be missing. Obstacles can exist in the content of land use and development codes, design standards, building and energy codes, as well as in the regulatory process itself. Simply navigating the system for approvals can be off-putting to innovative energy projects.

Common land development code obstacles include provisions that restrict or prohibit onsite renewable energy systems. Height restrictions and setbacks may limit the feasibility of building-mounted systems such as PV or small wind turbines. In addition, strict provisions around building orientation and eave overhangs can deter passive solar design strategies. Updating codes to allow for greater flexibility during site planning to address solar orientation and instituting solar access regulations can result in measurable energy efficiency advancements for new developments.

Zoning codes have a direct relationship to a community’s transportation-related energy use. A recent study conducted by King County to map residential carbon pollution generated by neighborhood found that local urban form plays a significant role in the quantity of travel-related carbon emissions. The study found that mixed use neighborhoods had the most significant influence on carbon emissions, pointing towards the benefits of walkable, compact communities. Transportation energy savings can result from updating codes to promote infill and mixed-use development, reducing minimum lot sizes, and increasing densities or permitted Floor Area Ratios (FARs). These code changes support Smart Growth principles adopted by many communities, including greater connectivity and walkability.

Barriers can also exist in building codes and even in energy codes intended to promote energy efficiency! For example, structural and ventilation requirements may unintentionally conflict with advanced energy efficient measures such as superinsulation. Another problem is when energy efficient design strategies are not specifically prescribed. An example of the latter might be code "silence" regarding non-conventional construction such as strawbale. In these cases, building officials may require extensive (and expensive) testing to permit such strategies, require redundancies that make them economically infeasible, or prohibit them all together. Even less obvious are prohibitions by local health districts against water saving strategies such as composting toilets. Less water to treat means less pumping and process-related energy spent by the local wastewater treatment facility.

Energy codes establish minimum energy performance and often fail to incentivize higher performance and more efficient buildings. Lack of energy code enforcement or performance testing requirements or assistance, has resulted in many buildings falling short of meeting even minimum energy code standards.

A comprehensive approach to removing regulatory barriers involves not only updating existing standards but also filling in missing gaps. A number of communities are developing new standards for renewable energy and water conservation, such as solar and wind ordinances, or even requiring new homes to be solar-ready or pre-plumbed for water reuse. Flexibility within the codes to allow for demonstration projects to test innovative strategies is essential to provide information to policy makers that can be incorporated in future code updates. Lastly, regulatory agency staff need ongoing education and credible sources of information on energy efficient design strategies in order to make reasonable interpretations when faced with new technologies and practices. Understandably their main concern is avoidance of health and safety risks. Better information can reduce the perception of risk and open the door to energy saving innovations.

Identify Additional Opportunities

In addition to removing regulatory barriers, it is important in developing an EEC Strategy or Energy Plan to think beyond the typical regulatory construct. A number of opportunities exist for communities seeking to implement energy efficiency and conservation measures at both the building-specific and the community-wide scales. Examples of local jurisdictions at the forefront of progressive policies and regulations exist from around the country, serving as models for those just getting started with EEC Strategy planning. Evaluating a community’s existing energy use, identifying the biggest energy users, and defining a benchmark for measuring efficiency and conservation actions serves as an important starting point for future policies and regulations.

Resources:

US Dept. of Energy
Community Greening: How to Develop a Strategic Energy Plan www.nrel.gov/applying_technologies/pdfs/community_greening.pdf

US EPA
Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments www.epa.gov/region4/recycle/green-building-toolkit.pdf

Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute
Sustainable Community Development Code and Reform Initiative: http://law.du.edu/index.php/rmlui/sustainable-community-development-code-and-reform-initiative

US EPA
Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Urban and Suburban Zoning Codes: www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/essential_fixes.htm

Cascadia Green Building Council
Codes and Regulatory Research Publications
http://cascadiagbc.org/resources/research

Kathleen O'Brien is President of O'Brien & Company, a nationally respected green building consultancy founded in 1991. She is currently Principal-in-Charge for the firms planning, policy and programmatic work (including the Ellensburg project), and has been instrumental in the development of multiple sustainability strategies for government, non-profit, and private sector organizations. She served as an officer on the Cascadia Board of Directors in its early years and has been recognized by the organization as a Cascadia Fellow, a lifetime honorific. She is Editor of Building Capacity Blog.

Katie Spataro is Cascadia’s Research Director for Codes and Standards. Katie’s efforts to assist local governments with identifying obstacles and seeking pathways to support more sustainable development practices has assisted in the creation of policies, programs and code-related curriculum around the region. Katie heads up Cascadia’s Research Department which provides groundbreaking research and technical consulting services to help to further the adoption and understanding of the Living Building Challenge and other high performance policies, programs and standards.

Editors Note:O’Brien & Company and Cascadia Green Building Council are currently working together to develop a EEC Strategy for the City of Ellensburg, Washington, with the assistance of Makers Architecture & Urban Design, Transpo, and The Watershed Company. This work is in conjunction with an update of the Land Use Development Code, led by Makers. More in depth treatment of the topic is in the fall issue of Cascadia Green Building Councils publication, Trim Tab here: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/95a19dea#/95a19dea/1

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Interview with City of Shoreline’s Juniper Nammi

Creating Effective Energy Efficiency& Conservation Strategies in Your Community: Getting Started (part 1 of 2)

Creating Effective Energy Efficiency& Conservation Strategies in Your Community: Getting Started

EECS & Strategic Energy Plans: What are they?

Many government municipalities around the country have taken advantage of Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EEC) Strategy Block Grant money authorized by the National Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to fund strategies that reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency in transportation, building, and other sectors as appropriate. For many cities, counties, and states, the funding represents an opportunity to act on commitments to respond to climate change, to identify and capture operational savings now and in the future as a measure of fiscal prudence, and to assist citizens in doing the same.

The Block Grant covers developing and implementing an EEC Strategy, which may include everything from conducting audits, developing financial incentive programs, analyzing and updating codes and enforcement, and implementing public education, among others.  Although the EEC Strategies we’ve seen thus far range in scope and detail, they generally include some form of action or implementation plan. Often this involves project descriptions with budgets and projected results associated with those budgets (such as energy savings, job creation, emissions reductions). The latter justification is used to prioritize and disburse remaining Block Grant monies.

Budgets for implementation can run to the millions. Las Vegas, Nevada’s Implementation Plan  announced in July of 2009 represented a proposed investment of nearly $28 million, including the planning element, and including items such as solar covered parking structures, a solar powered waste water treatment facility, facility and exterior lighting retrofits, financing and incentive programs, upgrading its green building program, and outreach. Charlotte, South Carolina has a more modest budget, roughly $6.5 million. Again, this investment is proposed for a number of different activities, primarily retrofits improving energy efficiency of existing facilities and incorporating renewable technologies. Like several of the EEC Strategies, the Charlotte Strategy proposes that some of this funding be used to staff a position to coordinate implementation.

A couple of good examples of EEC Strategy documents we’ve seen are those developed by Loudon County, Virginia and Topeka, Kansas.

In addition to EEC Strategies, we are also seeing a growing number of “Energy Plans” at the city, county, and state level. Not surprisingly, these are often allied with a concurrent commitment to addressing Climate Change. The City of San Diego’s “Energy Strategy for a Sustainable Future” is a good example of a stand-alone document. Burlington, Vermont’s Energy Plan is a section of the City’s 2006 Municipal Development Plan. King County, Washington, has an Energy Plan that it continues to update as it internalizes ongoing analyses of its operations and transportation energy efficiency measures and impacts.

An outline for an ideal strategic process for developing a community energy plan is provided by the Department of Energy (DOE) in its publication “Community Greening: How to Develop a Strategic Energy Plan.” Like most community strategic planning, the DOE outline proposes a stakeholder process, visioning and goal setting exercises, benchmarking existing conditions, identifying programs to fund as well as ways to fund them, prioritizing those programs, and memorializing all of this in a written document, which is then subject to review and ratification.

What’s Right for Your Community?

Embarking on an EEC Strategy will entail a unique process guided by the champions and leaders within your community, and influenced by resources available for the process. Although the Department of Energy process outline (discussed above) should work for most communities, the devil is in the details. It is our experience in community planning that a one-size-fits-all approach will not succeed. Each plan should be tailored to reflect the goals and interest of the stakeholders and be directly related to city and utility planning efforts. Begin by asking three high-level questions: 

• What planning efforts are already in place that would support an EEC Strategy such as comprehensive and code update cycles, greenhouse gas emissions planning, or community master planning?
• Where is the leadership and strongest support for efficiency and conservation within the community: the building and design sector, policy makers, public? 
• What federal, state or county technical assistance and funding is available to assist with strategic energy planning in your community?

Where to next?

Once you've pondered these questions, we anticipate a hunger for more information. Fortunately, resources abound for local governments seeking assistance with strategic energy planning, removing regulatory obstacles, and developing policies and standards in support of energy efficiency and renewables. A few of our favorites follow. In the meantime, good luck! Whether your motivation is operational savings, civic duty, or environmental protection -- or all of the above -- an EEC Strategy is a worthwhile venture. While it is most certainly an opportunity to save energy, it is also an excellent an non-partisan way to build community -- in itself a transformative gesture.

Resources:

US Dept. of Energy
Community Greening: How to Develop a Strategic Energy Plan www.nrel.gov/applying_technologies/pdfs/community_greening.pdf

US EPA
Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments www.epa.gov/region4/recycle/green-building-toolkit.pdf

Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute
Sustainable Community Development Code and Reform Initiative: http://law.du.edu/index.php/rmlui/sustainable-community-development-code-and-reform-initiative

US EPA
Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Urban and Suburban Zoning Codes: www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/essential_fixes.htm

Cascadia Green Building Council
Codes and Regulatory Research Publications
http://cascadiagbc.org/resources/research

Kathleen O'Brien is President of O'Brien & Company, a nationally respected green building consultancy founded in 1991. She is currently Principal-in-Charge for the firms planning, policy and programmatic work (including the Ellensburg project), and has been instrumental in the development of multiple sustainability strategies for government, non-profit, and private sector organizations. She served as an officer on the Cascadia Board of Directors in its early years and has been recognized by the organization as a Cascadia Fellow, a lifetime honorific. She is Editor of Building Capacity Blog.

Katie Spataro is Cascadia’s Research Director for Codes and Standards. Katie’s efforts to assist local governments with identifying obstacles and seeking pathways to support more sustainable development practices has assisted in the creation of policies, programs and code-related curriculum around the region. Katie heads up Cascadia’s Research Department which provides groundbreaking research and technical consulting services to help to further the adoption and understanding of the Living Building Challenge and other high performance policies, programs and standards.

Editors Note: More in depth treatment of the topic is in the fall issue of Cascadia Green Building Councils publication, Trim Tab here: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/95a19dea#/95a19dea/1  

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How does a community support the use of FSC certified wood in its built environment? Ian Hanna, FSC-US Director of Development, Responds.

There are both direct and indirect ways a municipality can support the use of FSC-certified wood. But for readers who are unfamiliar with the term FSC- certified wood, I should provide a brief definition of the term.

FSC-certified wood is wood that is certified under the standards set the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). FSC-certification is given to companies and landowners to verify that they practice forestry that is consistent with FSC standards.

FSC is a non-profit organization that advocates responsible management of the world’s forests. Our standards ensure that forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible way that takes into account economic viability, and social responsibility. Although there are other certification programs, FSC is by far the most rigorous and takes great pains to avoid being dominated by industry.

There are many benefits to using FSC-certified wood including the direct and permanent positive impact on the world’s forests and the people living from, in, and around the forest. You might want to check out FSC International or FSC-US websites for more information on these..

Communities that promote green building and/or sustainability in general will find that using FSC-certified wood is directly aligned with these goals. The same is true for communities that make a living from forest products. What are some practical ways to encourage its use?

First: Include specifications for using FSC-certified wood in public sector capital improvement projects. Specifications may require or include a preference for FSC-certified wood by including a deduct (preferred) or alternate to allow pricing FSC-certified wood as part of bid. (Deducts make it less convenient to drop the preference.) Include a list of FSC-certified wood sources in the bid documents.

Second: Provide education as part of the bidding process. When the Bainbridge Island City Hall was being contracted in 1998, it became clear that the “lowest” bidder (and winner of the project contract) knew the least about FSC-certified wood (and certified wood in general). The deduct he offered for FSC-certified wood was extremely high, triggering a strong negative political reaction community wide, as well as a call from the local paper to drop FSC-certified wood from the design. Miller-Hull (the project’s designer), O’Brien & Company (the sustainability consultant), and the Forest Stewardship Council understood this to be a “teachable moment” and organized a presentation at a televised Council meeting. At the conclusion of the presentation the Council voted to send the contractor back to the drawing board, and the bid (and actual cost) for FSC-certified wood was reduced fourfold. The project was able to utilize 70,000 board feet of FSC-certified wood, the largest quantity of wood used by a public project in the Northwest at that time.

Third: Require proof of understanding as part of the bid process. In the recent FSC Local Living Economies Tour (photo) conducted by King County’s Green Tools Program, participants learned that the bid process for the Cedar River Watershed Educational Center required prospective bidders to complete a pre-bid walkthrough as well as provide brief presentation on how the bidder intended to fulfill the project’s requirements for green building materials and FSC-certified wood. As a result of this and specifications with a preference for FSC-certified wood, the wood in the project’s buildings is comprised of 98% FSC-certified wood.

Fourth: Adopt a procurement policy for the municipality in general. The City of Seattle has had a preference for FSC-certified wood products in place for years.

Fifth: Use public projects to demonstrate the feasibility of using FSC-certified wood. One of the nice things about public projects is their access for this purpose. Signage and tours can tell the story to those in the private sector considering FSC-certified wood.

Sixth: Pursue FSC-certification of municipal land. This will create “anchors” of supply, and eliminate the argument that FSC-certified wood is not as available. Two of the mainstays of supply in the Puget Sound region are the Department of Natural Resources South Puget Region and the forestlands within Fort Lewis. In addition to municipal land, communities might work with private landowners who have development interests and might certify some of their forested land in return for permission to develop other property. The circle is completed for communities that are hoping to promote the local economy as part of their overall sustainability when they specific FSC-certified wood from local properties.

Seventh: Incentivize green building generally. FSC-certified wood is widely recognized as a green building material choice. There are several ways to incentivize green building, including providing free technical assistance, and – when construction is more active than it is now – expedited permitting.

Eighth: If your municipality does not own forestland, consider purchasing tree-based carbon offsets. You’ll want to make sure these offsets are based on trees growing in FSC-certified forests. If you want to encourage certification by small landowners, there is a group in the Northwest that has created a carbon offset program (NW Neutral) specifically with small landowners in mind. There may be similar programs elsewhere.

Ninth: Take the long view. If we can all agree that we want to live here forever, we need to be talking about forestry for the next 1000 years – the lifespan equivalent of a Doug Fir. Or even 3500 years, the lifespan of a Yellow Cedar. Government is the appropriate vehicle for taking the long view.

Ian Hanna is the Director of Development at the Forest Stewardship Council U.S. National Office and has been involved in FSC supply chain and market development since 1997. He brings broad perspective having worked across the supply chain in forest management, family forest certification, manufacturing, market development, and sales. With the FSC market quickly coming to scale, Ian is responsible for growing FSC-US's operational and financial capacity to match the needs of the thousands of producers, manufacturers and retailers that have integrated the protections and value FSC offers into their business strategy.

Building Capacity Blog is edited by Kathleen O'Brien, Principal and Founder of O'Brien & Company. Editor's Note: Some of you may not be aware but a very important ballot to revise the USGBC LEED Credits with regard to certified wood is underway. The consensus body is open to individuals employed by USGBC member organizations. If you opted-in and have not yet received information from USGBC regarding voting procedures, please email [email protected]. The ballot will remain open until Nov. 23, 11:59 p.m. ET.

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Why must we reinvent the wheel when conducting collaborative change projects? Kathleen O’Brien, LEED AP, CSBA and Yvonne Kraus, LEED AP, CSBA Responds.

At the Washington State Boundary Review Board for Kitsap County annual conference this past September, Kathleen sat on a panel with Art Castle, Executive Vice President of the Kitsap Home Builders Association, and Dave Tucker (Director, Surface and Stormwater Management, Kitsap County) to discuss the highly successful collaborative process used to develop the Kitsap LID Implementation Standards. The project made history because the work product developed through the process was unanimously adopted by Kitsap County and all four Cities within the County -- something that hasn't happened in recent memory. (This blog published an interview with Art Castle on this project on April 7, 2010.) Panel Moderator and Resource Conservation Manager Katherine Morgan said: "You need to write an article in your blog on an effective collaborative process!"

Anyone who’s ever conducted a project where the point is for groups of individuals or organizations to change the course of their everyday practice and/or business – that’s everyone who is seriously working in the field of sustainability – knows that ownership of the work product is absolutely key.

You can’t simply plop down a program, plan, or policy that another group has developed and expect a stakeholder group to adopt it wholesale. A true collaborative process must take place. And that means you can’t predict what the product of that process will be. And that means that to some degree you must allow for “re-inventing the wheel” -- as taboo as this concept might seem in a society that focuses on “uber” efficiency. Efficient isn’t necessarily effective!

Does this mean that we have to start from ground zero every single time? No, but we do need to allow room for the reality of what it takes to create real social change.   Kathleen asked Yvonne Kraus to join her in providing O’Brien & Company's top ten tips for effective collaborative change projects:

1. Include Everyone. Make sure everyone who has a stake in the process is represented at the table, and that everyone knows why and what they are expected to contribute. This means holding orientation conversations with individuals you are inviting to the table before stakeholder meetings take place. It may mean paying extra attention to individuals who are likely to contribute unpopular views or minority opinions. Hear them out, identify what their issues concerns are, and design a collaborative process that leverages discussions of these concerns as opportunities to expand perspectives and open minds (including yours!). Be prepared to coach your stakeholders from time to time during the process itself. In the photo, Kathleen is facilitating a pre-design workshop for the Building Industry Association's Construction Training Center for the Pacific in Honolulu, HI.

2. Manage Expectations. Be clear how much authority and scope you can offer your stakeholder group. If they think they are going to approve the collaborative work product, but legally they can only provide input, they need to know this right up front! If your budget only permits you to tweak an existing deliverable, you need to tell them this as well. (But be prepared to let them tweak to the fullest extent of your resources!) If you’ve just finished a process that you don’t want to reopen with this one, let them know.

3. Build a foundation for consensus and compromise. In your orientation discussions, you should be able to identify common concerns that could lead to common solutions. For real change to occur, it helps to get all parties behind one or two items that are really important to them. There may be other aspects the stakeholders are less consistently supportive of, but may be willing to compromise over, if these key items are addressed successfully.  And don’t assume you know why someone is resisting change. It may be for reasons you are totally unaware of, and perhaps for one that is more easily resolved than the problem you are imagining.

4. Plan and Prepare Thoroughly. Meeting preparation and follow-through will convey to your stakeholders how much you value their contribution of time and energy. Provide clear agendas that include a statement of the meeting's purpose and desired outcome. Meeting handouts or visual materials should correlate with the agenda so participants can easily map their progress. Have the meeting room set up in plenty of time before your participants arrive. Provide a warm welcome. Follow the maxim: "A good meeting begins on time and ends on time." And, plan a process that “fits” your stakeholder group. (This should be easy, since your orientation process, described in #1 should help you determine the nature of your stakeholder group.) Make sure any presentations are aimed at your audience’s general level of understanding, and that interactive exercises (such as icebreakers) will be inviting rather than off-putting. It may feel like overkill, but setting ground rules is never a wasted exercise. Having a few rules to start with and asking to complete the list is a great way to get a "read" on how the group will interact as a group before you get into content.

5. But, be flexible. Your stakeholder group may come up with a better solution (and process) than what you had in mind! In the Kitsap LID project mentioned above, the first meeting of the Leadership Team identified a different (and even better) way to organize the work. We took a break from the next monthly meeting to allow for planning and preparation, and then restarted the process. The Leadership Team was content knowing they were heard. They owned the process and in the end, they owned the product!

6. Use a knowledgeable facilitator. We’ve observed processes where the facilitator was significantly more focused on getting everyone heard then on getting to a solution. Perhaps they didn’t know enough about the content area to move things along. So annoying. A facilitator with content expertise can help make gentle course corrections. You'll want to make sure, however, that the facilitator has enough ego strength to provide functional leadership without manipulating or dominating the discussion.

7. Encourage full engagement. If someone or several some ones (a very bad sign) shut down by remaining silent or withdrawing from the process, hit pause and find out what's going on. Make sure the facilitator provides a number of different methods for drawing your participants into the dialogue or activity.

8. Educate everybody. No collaborative process is worth a grain of salt unless it leaves the stakeholders more knowledgeable. This knowledge gives them the confidence to be cheerleaders later when the work product is completed, and helps them create a better result in the first place. We like to bring in peers from other organizations or jurisdictions that can provide information about how they completed a similar project with lessons learned as well as content experts who can present information on specific topics in non-technical terms. Don’t forget the stakeholders themselves. Besides asking them what their informational needs are at the outset of the process, find out who has special areas of expertise and can contribute to the general body of knowledge. Include them in the agenda as presenters. This can be especially helpful if they are opinion leaders. And, you’ll find that most stakeholders (even those who hated school) love learning when it’s presented in a way that helps them do their job better or improve their life. (They may even volunteer for the next stakeholder process!) In the photo, you see stakeholders, invited content experts including King County’s Tom Watson, and residents at a recent City of Sammamish Community Workshop for planning the City’s Sustainability Strategy. This particular breakout group is focused on strategies for waste reduction and recycling.

9. Keep things moving. If you have the luxury of time, spread your meetings out just enough for your participants to digest the information and process as you go -- but not much more. You don't want to lose momentum. If you do need to take a significant break (which can happen when you’re preparing the final deliverable), keep participants apprised and excited with updates and content-related announcements, such as seminars on the topic they might be interested in attending. If you’ve set up a website for your project (a good idea) keep it active between meetings. The Kitsap LID website offered a presence during the project and continues to be an outreach tool for the Kitsap Home Builders Foundation on the subject of LID.

  10. Take care of your stakeholders and celebrate! With education you feed your stakeholders’ minds, but don't forget their bodies and souls! Take restorative breaks with yummy, healthy food, lots of water, fresh air and light. Make sure each session with your stakeholders represents a milestone that is obvious and take the time celebrate it! They'll thank you for it. And of course, thank them, every chance you get. At the City of Sammamish Community Workshop, the Staff put together a basket (see photo) containing local, healthy goodies for a raffle held at the end of the session. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Kathleen O'Brien, Editor of Building Capacity Blog, and President of O'Brien & Company, and Yvonne Kraus, Program Manager of O'Brien & Company have facilitated scores of meetings, workshops, and charrettes focused on sustainability in their professional careers. Yvonne leads the company's strategic plans, programs, and policies team. Among other professional credentials, she has multiple certifications in group process including: Design Charrette Planning and Facilitation, Group Facilitation Methods, and Public Facilitation. The company also provides services in green building consulting and education, all in the name of promoting sustainability of the built environment.  Kathleen also wants to acknowledge that the top ten tips reflects many lessons learned along side our wonderful clients and stakeholders!

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Environmental Educator Targets Latino Community: Interview with Stuart Vazquez

O’Brien & Company, Inc. has long been concerned with the lack of diversity in green building service providers, so when one of our staff members saw you promoting the bi-lingual Eco-Logica Magazine at a local solar festival she brought your project to my attention. I’m impressed. Can you share with the readers what you are trying to do with this publication? STUART: Eco-Logica Magazine is part of an educational effort I am making that is primarily aimed at the Latino community, but the magazine should also be a bridge between Latino and Anglos. Hence the articles are in both Spanish and English. The focus is on living and doing business in a more sustainable manner. The magazine is available for free to the community, in both print and electronic versions.

So is Eco-Logica a non-profit venture? I’m convinced that I can make a paying job out of this. Perhaps we’ll go that route in the future. Right now, the advertisements appearing in the magazine don’t yet support the time I invest, so I’m hoping that will change. This is not about being a saint like “Mother Teresa” but it definitely is a passion for me. I’ve had a lot of encouragement to expand the educational effort beyond the publication itself. We are taking invitations to organizations, such as churches, schools and businesses in the Latino community to talk about the project, and sustainability in general.

What’s been the response to your project? We’ve had positive feedback from both the Latino and Anglo community. However, most of the invitations to speak have been from the Anglo community. We’re hoping to change that. We want businesses and groups in the Latino community to see how this applies to them, and can help provide a more sustainable quality of life. Notably, once we get their attention, they will often say, this is how we did it back home! Conserving was a part of life.

I understand you make your living as a musician. How does environmental education fit into the picture? Well my degree was actually in biology with courses in chemistry, environmental issues, and waste management. When I was a college intern I worked for the Department of Ecology for a city in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, and then they hired me as Director of Solid Waste Department. We worked on developing a recycling program, conducting community education, and building the first legal landfill in that area. Unfortunately when the municipal administration changed, that job went away. They wouldn’t even let us work for free, so the landfill was not completed. Just prior to moving to the States, I ran a company doing business consulting. Since moving here, I’ve been performing and teaching drums, and writing the magazine on the side.

You mentioned advertising income earlier; do you have any criteria for accepting an advertisement? We are trying to avoid products that are part of an unsustainable system. On the other hand, this is a great opportunity to educate the businesses who want to advertise to the Latino community. It’s important to point out that there are diverse income levels in our community, and not to assume that Latino families can’t afford or wouldn’t want green services if they knew about them.

O’Brien & Company focuses on sustainability of the built environment. For the people you are targeting with your publication, what kinds of green building information would be most useful? For the most part, they need basic, simple ways to maintain their homes sustainably, such as changing the light bulbs, replacing leaky fixtures. Also, they need to know how to take advantage of weatherization programs now available. My understanding is that the Latino community here in Washington is not participating; they probably don’t even know about it, or truly understand the benefit. In some cases, it’s an issue of renting vs. owning, but not always. We need the Latino media to take this green building movement seriously and cover the topic in a meaningful way.

Kathleen O’Brien is the Editor of Building Capacity Blog and President of O’Brien & Company. O’Brien & Company is a woman-owned business founded in 1991 to promote sustainability of the built environment. The firm would love to see more diversity in the “feeder fields” – those that naturally feed into green building services consulting, such as design and planning, construction trades, and engineering.

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Why Must We Reinvent the Wheel When Conducting Collaborative Change Projects?

To what type of construction does the Passive House system apply? James Jenkins, Certified Passive House Consultant replies.

It is a common misconception in the US that the Standard is only for single family residences.  Passive House is applicable to any building type, new or retrofit. The name “Passive House” originates from the German standard PassivHaus. The German word “Haus” directly translates to “building”. For example, “Haus” can be used to describe a house, factory or any other building. The US is no different, we recognize The Waffle House as a restaurant given the context. The principles that PassivHaus is based upon originate from the super insulated and passive solar housing movement in the US many decades ago. This historical context likely ties passive principles to housing in the US just as waffle implies restaurant. “Passive Conditioned Building” might be a more accurate title but it just doesn’t roll off the tongue.

 The early adopters of Passive House here in the US are primarily applying it to custom single family residences. However, with larger glazing areas, more internal heat gains and potentially more solar heat gain, non-residential buildings have the opportunity to achieve the Standards’ requirements with lower first cost premiums than residential construction. Passive Conditioned Buildings can significantly reduce operational costs for the lifetime of a building without increased maintenance, something any building owner can appreciate regardless of occupancy type.

 

James Jenkins, LEED AP BD&C, and Homes, CSBA and Certified Passive House Consultant, acts as Project Manager at O'Brien & Company, a green building consultancy founded in 1991. His work portfolio at the firm includes consulting on all types of sustainable structures, both non-residential and residential structures. Also see James' previous posting entitled "Isn't Passive House a Bit of Overkill?" (It isn't, James explains why.)

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Economic Sustainability is all about Place: Interview with Ellen Miller-Wolfe, City of Kirkland

In 2007, O’Brien & Company was privileged to support you in the development of an Economic Sustainability Strategy for the City of Kirkland, located on Lake Washington in Western Washington. It was a pretty intensive effort, combining a somewhat traditional update of economic data with an assessment of sustainable economic development opportunities. Now that some time has passed, what were you hoping for, and did you achieve it?

MILLER-WOLFE: Primarily we were hoping to identify ways to develop and promote Kirkland as a green business destination – a place where people are applying the green concept to their products and services. Some of this was already going on, but the study showed that there were lots of ways businesses could be “greener” and enhance their business profile by doing so. We felt the green idea was a good match for our community culture – people are generally very supportive here of the environment and healthy, outdoor living. We also wanted our own community to understand that we actually have it all right here, that Kirkland isn’t just a place to come home to, but a place to visit, play, work, and live. A lot of very creative commercial activity is going on here, including a significant number of home businesses. We wanted to fill out Kirkland’s business profile more, with green businesses, and green jobs. And yes, I think the project was a very good starting point for this development. It gave us a map, so to speak.

 

I understand you’ve received calls from all over the country about the project..did you anticipate the level of interest your project received? Well, we knew that our approach to combine an economic assessment with a look at green business and green business practice was unusual. So we weren’t totally surprised that there were a number of communities watching this project as it went forward. We also participated in regional forums on green jobs and green business, including one with Governor Gregoire who spoke on green jobs legislation that had just passed. It was an exciting time, and a great time to be launching our green business effort. And you’re correct, we have fielded phone calls from communities interested in what we have done, from back East, as well as around here. I enjoy the mentoring role this project has placed us in. It’s very energizing.

Of project outcomes, which makes you feel most proud? One of the most significant points coming out of your study was the idea that sustainability is about place. It’s local. Your study recommended a buy local campaign and we’ve created Kirkland First. This is a web-based platform providing a local business directory; it also promotes awareness and participation in the City’s Green Business certification program. We could have posted all of our licensed businesses on the site but we didn’t want to dilute the effort, and we definitely didn’t want to offend a business that didn’t want to participate. So we work with our businesses to get their information on the site and ensure it is complete and correct.

That sounds like a challenge. It is. It’s probably taken a year to get to the point we feel this is ready to be promoted to consumers. We have roughly 400 businesses (of just over 3600 Kirkland businesses) now subscribing to the site. The other challenge is funding. We’d like to spin Kirkland First off to a private entity, but they need the capacity to keep it going. We’re working on it. There’s some interest in it going regional – but then that would defeat the premise of being local. We have been somewhat “non-conventional” in that we are interpreting local to include franchises that are located in Kirkland. Jobs are local.

But it’s worth it? Definitely. At one of the public information sessions we held for the project it became clear that people who live here had absolutely no idea that goods and services they were looking for were actually available here. The Kirkland First site is changing that. It’s saying “Look who’s here!” Not only that, many of our green, local businesses don’t know about each other, either. We recently had a business to business event on the first anniversary of setting up the Kirkland First website, and many of these local business owners met up for the first time. This kind of interaction strengthens the community. I mentioned earlier the high number of home-based businesses. And a surprising number – over 60% -- of the businesses located in Kirkland are here because the CEO lives in Kirkland. And these CEOs can become ambassadors for Kirkland, pulling more businesses and more jobs into our community. It’s back to the importance of place again. These individuals like the quality of life in Kirkland, so they live here and start their businesses here.

What else are you doing besides Kirkland First? We’ve been running a very popular seminar series for local businesses called “Weathering the Storm” – focused in part on how to get through this downturn by greening their businesses. We’ve brought in experts to talk about things businesses can do to save on operational costs, and how they can creatively finance these improvements.

The biggest commercial development in Kirkland currently is Park Place; this redevelopment and expansion in the City’s downtown commercial district is expected to provide an important economic boost for our community. What may be especially significant to your readers is the project’s goals to achieve LEED certification, as well as provide other public benefits, such as walkable connectivity with adjacent areas and attractive open spaces. We’ve been incentivizing green building with expedited review for LEED and Built Green certification projects as well as for projects using Low Impact Development techniques where they are not required. (We are in the process of expanding this benefit from just single-family permits to include multi-family and commercial projects.) Kirkland’s Green Building Program offers free green building consultations; we have 5 LEED AP’s on Staff, and the Program's Lead is a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor (CSBA) so we are able to provide quality technical information. We are also developing a Green Code for the City that should be completed by June 2011.

In addition we are working with a number of Cities in the region including the C-7 New Energy Partnership on issues such as climate change, electric vehicle technology, greening our fleets. Within the City, our interdepartmental green team has really evolved. Every department has sustainability initiatives going on.

Any plans to revisit or update the Strategy? Not at this point. Although this interview makes me think I should revisit your report to see what we haven’t yet applied.

Any advice for your peers who might be reading this? I’d suggest a similar approach. An assessment and strategic planning process that includes community dialogue is a great starting point. The analysis and process provided us with enough data to confidently act, as well as some directions to move in. It was also fairly comprehensive in its scope, so it tied together multiple City departments, which has benefited us as we’ve moved forward.

Ellen Miller-Wolfe is Economic Development Manager for the City of Kirkland. The interview was conducted by Kathleen O'Brien, Editor of Building Capacity Blog, and President of O'Brien & Company, sustainability consultant. The Economic Sustainability Accessment and Strategy was developed by O'Brien & Company with E.D. Hovee & Company, economic and development services consultant.

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LEED Silver Building Stands as Beacon of Hope for Agency with Long Legacy of Fighting Poverty: Interview with Larry Eyre

Kitsap Community Resources (KCR) achieved a long-held dream in 2007 when it opened the Bremerton Community Services Center (CSC). Since its founding in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty, this was the first time KCR was operating out of a building it had designed and constructed. It was also the first building to achieve LEED Certification in Bremerton. As KCR’s Executive Director, can you share with our readers why your agency was willing to invest time, energy, and money in a green building? EYRE: It goes back to our mission, which is "providing hope and opportunity for low-income Kitsap County residents with resources that develop self-sufficiency." Since 1965, when our agency was created as part of the War on Poverty effort, we have been providing services to low-income individuals and families. Our goal is not just to provide emergency assistance, but to put our clients on the path to financial independence. The services we are now providing from the Bremerton CSC had been provided in four scattered rental locations. It seems fitting that we have built our own building, and that this building is built sustainably. We are so much better off financially.

It's got to be better owning rather than renting. How about savings directly related to the new green building features? It's fair to say we are saving about 40% a year on utilities with the new scenario. And this is with 10% more square footage than we had when we were renting four buildings.

Any other reasons for building green? Well the other half of our mission is providing "hope". Having a new LEED Silver building in downtown Bremerton is a very visible symbol of hope. We feel it has contributed to the revitalization of the Bremerton's downtown. And because the LEED concept was still novel in our area, we were able to obtain funding as a "pilot" -- this helped with the cost of documentation and certification. The project has brought the organization additional recognition. We won the Kitsap County 2008 Earth Day Award, and enjoyed good press about the project.

Any particular challenges with the project? Well it's hard to believe now, but construction was booming at the time, and the cost of construction was escalating tremendously -- up 20% during the year of construction. So we had a budget gap. Our funding partners, including Senator Patty Murray, came through for us, though, and we were able to complete the project. The project's goals were considered significant enough for this boost, and we appreciate that.

Are you happy with the building? We are delighted with it. Of course we're in a building designed for the services we provide, so it is much more functional. But the green emphasis on natural light, operable windows, and low VOC finishes, is making for a much better and healthier working environment. We're also really proud of the fact that we were able to purchase la high proportion of local materials for both building and furnishings. We're lucky to have Watson Furniture here, their manufacturing process is very green and they supplied all our furniture. Our plantings are local too, which saves us on watering and upkeep.

Looking ahead now, we're working with you on a new project that combines a community services center with eight units of affordable housing: What lessons are you hoping to apply here? Well we feel that the Bremerton building turned out pretty well. But we are more experienced. And the conditions are different. In this case we have a more natural, less urban site. We're going to take advantage of the fact that there are trees and we're going to look at on-site rainwater collection. There were a couple of things we didn't do on the Bremerton building we'd like to look at again here. In that building we ended up with a less advanced HVAC system than originally designed; a clerestory with operable windows was also value engineered out. It would be nice to see how those items would work in the new community services center. And we'd like to find a better-wearing low-VOC paint. The one we used isn't doing as well as we'd hoped. Even so, there was a lot we like about our Bremerton building and we plan to reproduce most of that in this new building.

      Based on your experience, what would you tell other community action agencies considering  capital improvement projects? I would certainly suggest they give serious consideration to sustainability early on. At this point (in Washington), if you are using state funds, you will be expected to certify your project with a LEED-Silver rating. To be successful you need to build in sustainable features as a practical matter. It's worth the extra effort because your clients, your employees (often former clients) will appreciate the investment you are making on their behalf. We have found it is more attractive for funders, also, so make sure it's part of the story you tell. With our Bremerton building, we used the project's sustainability goals to mandate no smoking on the premises, rather than just meeting the rule of law (25 ft. from entrance). Because of the extra hassle, several employees have quit. This is just one example of a positive outcome we can share with potential funders.

Also look for green features that have funding attached to them, such as alternative energy. This can help cover first cost premiums. Frankly, the more commonly these features are used, the lower the relative cost is going to be. Long term savings can also justify some expenditure. For a community service organization, it isn't just about the money, although it can certainly feel that way when dealing with the budget. For our part, it is very important that we are doing our part for the larger community by doing the right thing, and owning and operating sustainable facilities is a part of that.

Larry Eyre has served as Executive Director of Kitsap Community Resources (KCR) since 1979. KCR administers programs and services to meet the specific needs of Kitsap County’s low-income populations. KCR currently employs approximately 180 full-time employees and 80 part-time employees and is one of 31 Community Action Agencies in the state of Washington. Kathleen O'Brien, President of O'Brien & Company, and Editor of Building Capacity Blog conducted this interview. O'Brien & Company acted as the sustainability consultant on the Bremerton Community Services Center, which was designed by Rice Fergus Miller Architecture and Planning, and constructed by the Rafn Company.

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