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When people hear about housing developments planned for their communities, they often assume the worst. More traffic, more pollution, fewer green spaces -- and nothing much in return but higher property taxes. For several decades, this has too often been the case. In recent years, however, developments using new smart growth principles offer a promising alternative, including more neighborhood conveniences, less traffic and safer streets. But how do you know in advance if a development will follow the old, sprawling model or the new, greener one?

NRDC and our partners are providing the answer. We have joined with the U.S. Green Building Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism, and a blue-ribbon panel of experts to create the first set of national standards for "smart" neighborhood development. These standards will provide an objective tool for evaluating how new projects will influence the environment and everyday quality of life.

The standards follow a model NRDC helped create several years ago to certify green buildings, a program called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Our new standards for land development are titled LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) and have been issued for the program's pilot phase, which began in February 2007. And just as the green building standards have proven a strong incentive for innovative building practices, LEED-ND will help spur development that offers mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that are easy on the environment.

How Developments Will Be Graded

The LEED-ND standards are designed to reward developments that offer superior alternatives to sprawl. They will give points to projects based on several smart-growth criteria. Here are a few examples.

Choosing an Environmentally Sound Location: Sprawling land development is gobbling up the American countryside at an alarming rate -- around 251 acres per hour, according to government figures. Instead of bulldozing farms, trees and wetlands to build housing developments, smart growth promotes strategies such as converting abandoned urban lots, redeveloping old buildings and choosing new sites that are close to existing communities and infrastructure.

Reducing the Need to Drive: Thanks to suburban sprawl, people are logging more miles and using more gasoline just to do their daily activities. To help residents save gas and time behind the wheel, as well as reduce emissions, the LEED-ND standards recognize developers who locate projects within easy walking distance to dependable, frequent public transit stops. They also give points for wide sidewalks, inviting streetscapes and other design elements that encourage people to walk to nearby conveniences.

Using Less Land to Create More Benefits: Smart growth communities use less land than their sprawling counterparts, but residents don't feel crowded because homes, stores and offices can be built around public squares, parks, gardens and tree-lined streets that lend a green and inviting feel to the community. The LEED-ND standards reward this type of compact development. For example, developers can earn points by ensuring that new buildings are placed within a short, easy walk to a neighborhood park or other public green space.

Conserving Energy, Water and Other Natural Resources: Buildings that make the most of water- and energy-saving features such as solar panels, shade trees, natural light and ventilation, rainwater collection systems and graywater recycling not only save energy, but also reduce operating and maintenance costs. Likewise, choosing green building materials makes for healthier indoor environments and less stress on our natural resources. The LEED-ND standards offer points to developers who use these and other energy- and resource-conserving techniques.

Who Will Use the LEED-ND Standards

The LEED-ND standards will provide a tool for a variety of people concerned with development, from developers seeking environmental guidance, to public officials who want to assess the impacts of a proposed project, to citizens wanting to know a new proposal's impacts. The most likely users include:

Developers Looking for Market Appeal and Municipal Support: Developers will be able to apply for a LEED-ND rating from trained evaluators. We hope that this certification -- which will amount to an environmental stamp of approval for good development -- proves valuable in the marketplace as developers seek citizen goodwill and municipal approvals. Forward-thinking developers already enjoy the benefits that come with LEED certification for green buildings. For instance, the City of Santa Monica allows expedited permitting for LEED-certified building projects, taking weeks off the approval process. We expect that a LEED-ND certification will make it easier for developers who practice smart growth to navigate the often daunting gauntlet of citizen and municipal reviews.

Municipal Leaders Creating Tax and Zoning Incentives: Many municipalities are eager to adopt smart-growth zoning and tax incentives, but lack the budget resources to develop their own standards. LEED-ND can fill the gap. Because the standards have been developed through an extensive consensus-building process, we expect local officials to have a high degree of confidence in their usefulness as an objective measure for determining the best locations, designs and building practices for superior community development. The LEED criteria for green buildings have already been successfully adopted for public initiatives in this way. Baltimore County, Maryland, for example, offers a 10-year property tax credit to new commercial buildings that qualify for a LEED silver-level rating.

Community Members Trying to Assess a New Development: Citizens are often particularly concerned about the environmental impacts of projects, but until now have lacked an objective system of measurement. A concerned citizens group, for example, will be able to ask a developer to obtain a LEED-ND rating before they give their opinion -- which often carries great weight -- to municipal authorities. And in addition to the development-by-development rating process, citizens' groups may find the standards a useful starting point for assessing how well their own communities handle growth, and to press their local land use authorities to think smarter and greener.

The LEED-ND Pilot Program

The LEED-ND core committee -- made up of 15 nationally recognized experts representing a spectrum of expertise and constituencies -- completed the first full draft of the LEED-ND rating system in late 2005. Based on more than 4,000 comments from reviewers, the core committee made extensive improvements to the system, launching the LEED-ND Pilot Program in February 2007. The pilot program includes 238 diverse projects at various stages of planning and construction. Registered projects are located in 39 states as well as 6 other countries, and range from urban infill projects less than an acre in size to entire new communities of over 12,000 acres.

Two additional public comment periods follow the pilot phase before the system receives final approval in 2009. The first post-pilot comment period concluded Jan. 5, 2009, and generated more than 5,000 comments. A second public comment period will end on June 14, 2009. The post-pilot version of the rating system, which will be available to the public, is expected to launch in the summer. The U.S. Green Building Council will manage the day-to-day details of LEED-ND in cooperation with NRDC and the Congress for the New Urbanism once the final system is approved.

As of April 2009, more than 25 pilot projects have achieved LEED-ND certification. For the full list of certified projects, please visit USGBC's LEED for Neighborhood Development website, which also provides program updates and the latest version of the LEED-ND Rating System.  Additionally, a review of pre-LEED-ND evaluation systems for neighborhoods is available from NRDC Endorsement and Rating Systems for Smart Development.

Our Partners
The U.S. Green Building Council
Congress for the New Urbanism

last revised 4/27/2009