SLC mayor wants green rules in black and white

By Derek P. Jensen 
The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 11/16/2008 08:45:34 AM MST

A progressive push     Salt Lake City is striving to become the first U.S. city with a comprehensive sustainability ordinance. The effort, in the middle of three phases, will include a rewrite of city codes to address everything from installing solar panels and energy-efficient windows to adding trees and urban gardens.      Here are the areas under review that could be overhauled as early as February:      * Water quality and conservation.      * Alternative energy.      * Mobility and transportation     * Urban forestry.      * Housing accessibil- ity and diversity.      * Community health and safety.      * Food production and nutrition.      * Recycling and waste reduction.      * Open space, parks and trails.      * Climate change and air pollution.      * Environmental ordinances

    Humming light rail, a fleet fit with hybrids and a passion to preserve open space. 
    Salt Lake City has long walked its environmental talk. But to be a truly green city, Mayor Ralph Becker's team is using its black pen to cut the red tape. 
    Marking the first major overhaul since the mid-90s, capital planners are rewriting the city's code book to help ensure sustainability for generations to come. 
    That includes everything from helping owners of historical homes replace single-pane windows or add solar panels to allowing public gardens where residents can sell backyard produce from their front stoop. In the name of urban forestry, the city may even start planting trees in homeowners' front yards. 
    "It's an entire rewrite of the city code to see where we are shooting ourselves in the foot and where we can be more progressive," says Jennifer Bruno, a policy analyst for the City Council. 
    The so-called sustainability project also purges outdated ordinances that now seem laughable, albeit quaint. For instance, who knew city rules still account for "night soil" to dump bed pans? Or what about "clinkers" for disposing hot coals? 
    "There's stuff that really needs to be cleaned up," shrugs Vicki Bennett, the city's director of sustainability. 
    But besides taking the white-out to antiquated rules, the capital is looking at state-of-the-art measures to go green. 
    Colorado-based Clarion Associates, which has national and international experience, was retained for $100,000. Local expertise will come from consultants Bear West Co. and Fehr & Peers. 
    Already, the team has highlighted 10 areas - from alternative energy and air pollution to food production and nutrition - to improve the quality of life for future generations.    "It's kind of reshaping the way we look at our city ordinances and our policies," says Becker, who characterized the enterprise as fast but appropriately sensitive. "We are the first city in the country to have a comprehensive sustainability ordinance." 
    During the next month, city leaders will identify weaknesses and opportunities in existing codes, which will be presented at open houses by year's end. The first-year mayor hopes to complete the rewrite by February. 
    Bennett says some rules can be tweaked, reworked or thrown out. She hopes to solve "barriers and impediments" to the creation of a more walkable and livable community. 
    Some highlights: Provide incentives for transit-oriented development, place large recycle containers in office buildings, and identify south-facing structures for solar access. 
    Bennett hopes to spur urban gardens by making it legal to sell backyard produce in front yards. 
    "Make that a right that they could have a small-home business," she explains. 
    She points to talk from the pioneer era that people were told they needed two fruit trees to boost the food supply as the valley was settled. "Wouldn't it be neat if we had that much fresh fruit." 
    Some changes - such as the promotion of xeriscaping and the new streamside ordinance to protect natural streams - already are done. 
    But environmental safeguards could go further, including an aggressive policy to provide front-yard trees for willing homeowners. 
    "Trees would flourish there," says Bennett, noting few cities employ the practice. "It really is state-of-the-art to do that." 
    The challenge, officials concede, is upgrading codes in historical districts without compromising the character or value of classic structures. Bennett says existing restrictions across the Avenues and Marmalade to Central City and Harvard-Yale could be negotiated. 
    Right now, Bruno notes some owners must secure new construction permits if they want to install an energy-efficient heating or cooling system that accounts for more than 50 percent of the building's value. A rewrite could erase such red tape. 
    Becker, an urban planner by trade, is confident a balance can be met. 
    "There needs to be a sensitivity to historic neighborhoods and historic homes," the mayor says. "But I don't see that as being incompatible with sustainability." 
    djensen@sltrib.com 
    
    "We are the first city in the country to have a comprehensive sustainability ordinance." 
    -Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker 
    RALPH BECKER, 
    Salt Lake City mayor 

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10997761

Environment

Becker offers builders a hefty green bonus

Developers employing energy savings and other design efficiency methods would be fast-tracked for permits

By Derek P. Jensen 
The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 07/30/2008 12:04:43 AM MDT

Ralph Becker wants to grow Rocky Anderson's green revolution by spreading it to a sometimes-stubborn demographic: developers. 
    The new Salt Lake City mayor is crafting an executive order to fast-track permits for builders who agree in advance to achieve energy efficiency for homes and other projects by snagging an Energy Star rating. The incentive also would apply to developers who meet or exceed the "silver" level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. 
    "Our goal is to see how we can get everyone to build with LEED standards," says Vicki Bennett, the city's sustainability director, who adds that architects and builders are enthusiastic about the idea. 
    "They're quite pleased because time is money." 
    And money, besides environmental stewardship, may become a mutual motivation. Bennett predictsdevelopers will hype green design as a marketing tool to lure buyers. That, in turn, could mean more cash for homeowners who would save over the long term on their energy bills. 
    Becker plans to sign the green measure in late August. It would take effect 60 days later. After a one-year trial, Bennett says, the City Council could adopt the policy as an ordinance. 
    Few U.S. cities require LEED certification in private-sector projects, though an increasing number use it as an incentive. Bennett notes that while Rocky

Mountain Power also offers discounts for energy-efficient homes, only 10 percent of 2007 permit holders applied for the break. 
    "There's still a gap we need to fill," she says. "That's the only way we're going to reduce our power use in the valley." 
    Ellen Parrish, marketing manager for Salt Lake City-based VCBO Architecture, says Becker's move "might" work as a green-building incentive - depending on the downturn in the economy. 
    "It could be contagious," Parrish says. "We're all for it. It's a lot more cost effective to plan for sustainability on the front end of a design than to retrofit a building." 
    VCBO should know. Besides working on the Main Library, the firm also handled the Sorenson Unity Center and restoration of the state Capitol. VCBO is currently going green with the Health Sciences Education Building at the University of Utah, and Parrish says the firm is going for "LEED gold" with Westminster's science center. 
    "We're finding interest in the corporate world as well." Becker's push to put green builders at the front of the permit line satisfies a campaign promise. It also comes as the new regime has promised to streamline city planning, which an audit recently scolded for a decade of dysfunction. 
    djensen@sltrib.com 
    
    
   

   The line on LEED in SLC

* Right now, anything built by Salt Lake City itself must meet the silver level of LEED certification. 
    * Mayor Ralph Becker wants to expand the scope to private projects. He is writing an executive order that puts home builders and other developers who agree to meet LEED standards at the front of the permit line. 
    
   

    
   What's next?

    
    The city's Planning Division is staging an open house Thursday about the mayor's latest green initiative. The gathering is from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Room 126 at City Hall, 451 S. State St. Comments will be included in a report to the Planning Commission. 

Condos take energy savings to new level
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
08/30/2007

A patch of ground where three drug houses once cast a pall of fear over a West Temple neighborhood has been brought back to life by a Salt Lake City company that builds super-efficient dwellings.

Earlier this week, the Blue Conservancy took the wraps off of the Rowhaus Condominiums - two buildings containing 24 condominiums that look like East Coast row houses but take energy efficiency to new heights.

"We're trying to provide comfortable living spaces that have a long life span and utilize energy-efficient design and building techniques," Mark Wisniewski, principal officer of the conservancy and a freelance anesthesiologist, said earlier this week.

The condos at 1130 S. West Temple St. are separated by foot-thick insulated concrete partition walls that virtually stop sounds from traveling between units. The same material was used recently to construct sound-proof walls at movie theaters in West Jordan and Ogden, Wisniewski said. Floors withstand ground temperature fluctuations, cutting heating costs. White membranes covering the roofs reflect summer solar energy away from the building. Gas-heat and air-conditioning units are mounted on the roof to minimize interior noise. Each unit is priced around $300,000, which buys 2,000 square feet of living space - there is virtually no wasted area in the building, Wisniewski said. Each condo also comes with a 500-square-foot garage and a yard with sprinklers for gardens or xeriscaping. Perhaps best of all, pets are allowed.

The neighborhood around 1100 South and West Temple used to be a high-crime area. That began to change 15 months ago after the drug houses were burned down by the Salt Lake Fire Department and construction began on the Rowhaus project. Over time, as some of the condos were sold, children returned to a park across the street that police say was notorious for drug-related crime.

"The Rowhaus project not only turned a former crime scene into a much-needed training experience, but also served as a catalyst in turning the neighborhood around," Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank said. "Where we used to get four or five calls per day to investigate criminal activity at the park, we now see a true community gathering place where people can walk safely," the chief said.

The conservancy has constructed 12 energy-efficient houses in Virginia, Montana and Salt Lake over the past decade. The Rowhaus project is the group's biggest effort, Wisniewski said. So far, nine condos have been sold. Buyers include a University of Utah professor, a retired couple, a young family with one child, and two professional couples without children. "They appeal to a wide range of people," Wisniewski said. Another two units are for sale, and the rest will come onto the market at a rate of about two a month. Babs DeLay, owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, is the agent.

"There are certainly other projects that utilize sustainable design elements. But Rowhaus is an outstanding project in terms of energy-efficient design and efficient use of electricity and other resources," said Patrick Thronson, a spokesman for Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6765790