In the coming months, two big developments may come before land-use boards for final approval - Antares Real Estate's plans for 82 acres in the South End, and Metro Green, a commercial and residential project near the Stamford train station. Both are in a pilot program for neighborhood development in the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design programs. The projects are pursuing the kind of developments the city has wanted to encourage in the downtown for decades, land-use officials said.
"We worked closely with the city's staff and I would say that they are very much forward-thinking in green initiatives," said Thomas Durels, chief executive officer of W & M Construction, a Metro Green developer. City boards granted general site approval for both plans.
Besides environmentally friendly building materials and methods, the neighborhood development program considers the site of the project and amenities. "The research shows that, no matter how green you make a building, if it's in the wrong place, the energy consumption exceeds the benefits of the building itself because of the transportation," said Kaid Benfield, director of the smart-growth program for the National Resources Defense Council and vice chairwoman of the neighborhood development committee.
The program considers accessibility to walkers, diversity of housing types, range of amenities nearby, whether land is used efficiently and whether the buildings are built compactly. "LEED historically ignored the issue of location and walkability, the things that I consider terribly important," Benfield said. "The new LEED is a response to that."
Norman Cole, the city's principal planner, said many of the lessons were learned during the energy crises of the 1970s and '80s. "A multifamily building uses vastly less energy" than a single-family home, he said. Individual units in row houses or apartment buildings use less heating, for example, because they benefit from the heat used in units around them. Compact units also use less land and fewer resources than single-family homes.
The office building on the Metro Green site is aiming for platinum LEED certification, the highest level, and Durels said it could be the first such multiuse office tower in the country. The residential buildings are aiming for silver, the second-highest level. Antares' plans include new neighborhoods designed to encourage walking. The proposals include infrastructure improvements, including a mass-transit link to downtown, Cole said.
The city is awaiting the results of three studies to decide whether to create a special tax district that Antares has proposed to help pay for infrastructure. Should city boards approve the proposal, the state legislature would have to authorize it. Land Use Bureau Chief Robin Stein said the city tried in 1977 to restrict changes in zoning in North Stamford and encourage building downtown. The city is considering applying for a new state program that would provide money for municipalities that encourage development near mass transportation, Stein said.
Last year, Mayor Dannel Malloy announced a program encouraging energy efficiency, and the city is considering an official policy that recognzies global warming as a problem. The city does not require big developments to qualify for LEED certification, but it expects big developments to aim for LEED requirements, Cole said.
UBS, the Swiss bank whose North American headquarters are on Washington Boulevard, recently recommissioned its building to take more advantage of natural light, use less energy for heating and air, and other changes that saved 4.4 million kilowatts of energy a year.
Durels said businesses are beginning to see that developments that improve energy efficiency and improve workplaces are a nec
Source: AllHeadlineNews.com