When consumers want a “green” home, they usually think of aspects such as using nontoxic building materials and energy-efficient appliances — details that deal with energy conservation and indoor air quality. One aspect not widely considered in green building is site management, and the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County (HBA) hopes to change that.
Several years ago, the Kitsap HBA pioneered a “Built Green” program that has been recognized nationally for its innovative approach, and became the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) green building model. Now, the HBA hopes to continue its tradition of innovation by introducing the idea of Low Impact Development (LID) in the county.
LID refers to an environmentally friendly way to manage stormwater runoff on site, usually via small-scale elements that mimic the natural hydrology and leave the site in the same condition as it was in undeveloped stage. Picture beautiful rooftops and attractive landscape elements instead of the giant, ugly stormwater retention ponds.
“Low Impact Development is a sustainable, stormwater management strategy that controls storwater at the source,” said Kathleen Byrne-Barrantes, grant writer for the Kitsap HBA’s nonprofit foundation and president of Liberty Bay Foundation. “It is more attractive, has less maintenance and does less damage to the property.”
Stormwater can carry pollutants and damage wildlife habitat. LID minimizes the impact by preserving or restoring the native soils and vegetation; in many cases developing, maintenance and liability costs are reduced. LID is especially effective in bigger developments, but smaller scale elements can be used on single-family lots as well.
Although the techniques have been practiced on the East Coast for a few decades, the Pacific Northwest has been slower to follow. But by 2000, groups like Puget Sound Water Action Team were actively pursuing the idea. The problem is that many of the techniques are not allowed by current building codes, and in some cases contradict them.
“The standards are outdated,” Byrne-Barrantes said. “Everything (involving LID) requires a variance, and at great expense.”
Lobbied by environmental groups, progressive developers and others, planners in many jurisdictions in Washington State took notice. Pierce County, for example, has an LID chapter in its new 2005 Stormwater Management and Development Manual.
“It’s not rocket science, it’s been done before,” said Art Castle, HBA executive vice president. “We’ll find a way to do it in Kitsap County.”
One would expect an environmental group to take the lead in introducing green ideas, but developers? Castle says there’s no better fit. “Our members are practitioners in the field,” he said. “We are excited because when the industry takes the lead, it will make it mainstream more quickly.”
The HBA foundation recently received an EPA Section 19 grant to implement LID in Kitsap, and a big portion of that grant will be dedicated to educating developers, builders, planners, Realtors, consumers and other stakeholders about the approach. The ultimate goal is to change the county design and development codes to allow, if not encourage, low impact development. Castle hopes to see them implemented by 2006, though acknowledges that timeline may be too optimistic. Once they are written into the codes, they would be integrated into the HBA’s Built Green program.
“I can see it in the future being the de facto standard,” he said.
Scientists and some builders in other jurisdictions have said the same. From Seattle to Olympia, they have been taking small and big steps to make it happen.
