Student group asks council to adopt green building standard

College Park needs to adopt a green building standard, members of the student group UMD for Clean Energy told the College Park City Council on Tuesday night.

The group advocated for establishment of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification system for new and extensively modified buildings in the city, arguing such a standard would benefit the community both environmentally and economically.

The LEED rating system for new buildings or major renovations contains four levels of certification: certified, silver, gold and platinum. The group proposed a requirement for new buildings owned or funded by the city to achieve LEED Gold certification and new non-residential and multi-family residential buildings to achieve LEED Silver.

The group proposed the same standards last year, said Sam Rivers, the media director for UMD for Clean Energy, but the proposal did not go through due to concerns that these standards would drive away businesses.

However, Rivers said as part of his research for the presentation, he contacted seven developers who either have worked or are planning to work in the city, and five out of the seven said they would have built regardless of whether a LEED Silver certification was required.

"Businesses may not like it, but very, very few, if any, will actually turn away, because it's about location," Rivers said. "If people want to build here, they're going to build here."

Because the city does not have sole control over development projects — they also need approval at the county level, which does not have a LEED standard system in place, though it recommends Silver certification — city officials said more time is needed to research available options before taking a definitive stand.

Members of UMD for Clean Energy said a change in the city code would at the least put forward a public message of commitment to sustainability, which they called a step in the right direction. Additionally, they said the city has considerable input into the county planning process and can influence development to a large degree, even if it is not the final authority on project permits.

The group showed examples of county and city codes in the state that already contain some form of LEED-based green building standards, including Howard and Montgomery counties as well as Annapolis, Baltimore, Gaithersburg and Bowie.

City council members seemed to support the initiative this time, agreeing that sustainable development should be a priority for new city development.

"I think that we should have high standards for ourselves and the courage to have a bold vision for our city. … It's definitely something we should pursue as strongly as possible," said District 4 Councilman Marcus Afzali.

District 4 Councilwoman Denise Mitchell said she feels it's time to lay down a concrete plan for implementing green requirements.

"We are truly interested in this project," Mitchell said. "We've talked about it, and I think it's time to get together and move forward. Let's stop talking about it, and let's start doing it."

kirkwood at umdbk dot com