Green Team member Amy O'Meara presented the statement below to the TC Tuesday night:
The Green
Team Advisory Committee met last night and approved the following
statement
to be delivered to the Maplewood Township Committee regarding
whatever
structure ultimately occupies the space in the Village which has
been
utilized by the United States Postal Service since 1958:
1) The Green Team applauds the Sustainable
Design section of the
Redevelopment
Plan, particularly the section which states that "Development
shall meet
the United States Green Building Council's" LEED design
requirements. The Plan goes on to say that "The
Township encourages the
redeveloper
to exceed the certified status by accumulating additional
points and
higher ratings." We urge the
Township Committee to encourage
the
highest rating that is practically possible, and to give this the
highest
priority as against other trade-offs.
2) We also applaud the Township Committee's
commitment to "encourage" cool
roofs,
green roofs, and solar collectors on top of the resulting
structure. The Green Team is of the definite opinion
that, among these
alternatives,
"solar collectors" are of the highest value. The Village is
in an
ideal location for solar installations, but, as of yet, has none in
place. Maplewood has a huge opportunity to develop a
flagship green
building
at our town's center, demonstrating leadership in the adoption of
technologies,
including solar, which are critical to tackling our town's
growing
environmental footprint. The new building will hopefully enjoy a
long
history at our town's center and Investments in efficiency and
renewable
energy have the potential for significant pay off, while also
encouraging
similar installations throughout the Village.
There is no more
important
action item in the fight for long term sustainability than the
encouragement
of renewable energy. We urge the
Township Committee to use
its best
efforts to achieve a solar installation at the Post Office site,
and we
stand ready to aid in providing whatever relevant information may be
helpful to
achieve this end.
Sincerely,
Amy
O'Meara
Maplewood
Green Team Member
2 comments:
It would be great if the Maplewood Green Team would have addressed the fact that the Redevelopment Plan does not consider re-purposing of the existing building as the very best "green" option, but rather it requires demolition. Building re-use is a best practice form of sustainability. A building as well built and is such good condition as the PO building (interior and exterior) represents an enormous embodied energy in demolition and re-building.
Cool roofs, green roofs, and solar collector panels are but a small piece of the equation. And these can be used on a re-purposed building as well.
Further the RFP for the project states the following "A respondent must describe how it will EITHER meet LEED Certification as determined by the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design OR an alternative environmental/sustainability rating system that is equal to or above the standards of LEED certification". The project is not required to be LEED certified. There are numerous other excellent programs out there including "Living Building" and more. I point this out because LEED is a tremendously expensive process ..and if required, it is likely that this will be part of the cash negotiation for the property.
Drawing on recent experience in connection with Olive's remarks: The Station House (located on Memorial Park, at old Police station site) was LEED certified in 2014. Certification is the lowest tier of LEED compliance, and Station House was awarded the lowest score allowed for "certified" status. Half of the points came from the buildings location near the train station. In the energy category, only 2 of 35 points were awarded.
Expensive process with minimal payback.
You want it, you pay for it. Very reasonable position from a developers point of view. Some one please ask our elected officials what it is exactly that they want!
Check it out: http://www.usgbc.org/projects?keys=Maplewood+NJ
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