GreenClips.164 03.28.01 LOCAL INTERESTS SCUTTLE PLANS FOR GRAND CANYON COMMUNITY Canyon Forest Village (CFV), a sustainable "gateway" community proposed for Grand Canyon National Park's South Rim, stands as a cautionary tale for the green building industry. On November 4, 2000, this project, which survived federal, state and county approvals and won support from major environmental and cultural organizations, was killed by a commercially driven local referendum. With five million visitors annually, the Park suffers from traffic congestion, inadequate employee housing and community services, and a threatened groundwater supply. CFV, a project designed to address these problems, not only set consistent standards for sustainable development, but also backed them with a review process, funding, and enforceable "teeth." But the plan was scuttled by local opposition, including the Thurston family which owns most of Tusayan, a town built astride the South Rim's only access road. Tusayan's owners, despite decades of tourism profits, have invested almost nothing in community services. These missing services (fire and emergency, banking, medical, churches) are provided for Tusanayites in Grand Canyon Villageat the expense of the government. The Thurston's Grand Canyon Improvement Association (GCIA) decried CFV as "government giveaway," ignoring Tusayan's dependence on the national park. Using an Arizona law that allows voters to overturn zoning decisions by referendum, GCIA won. But CFV's standards may live on. Despite a few flaws, CFV's guidelines should servealong with DeWees Island, South Carolina, and a few other "green" developmentsas models for new sustainability codes. Landscape Architecture, Mar 01, p 48, by Kim Sorvig. CONSERVATION GROUP'S HEADQUARTERS SITE DRAWS CRITICISM The new National Wildlife Federation headquarters in Reston, Virginia, is, in the group's own assessment, a model of environmental design. But to others, the $17.4 million three-story headquarters, which is located in a suburban office park, looks a lot like sprawl. "Another office building isolated in another office campus is not smart growth, it's sprawl," says Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. That one of the nation's leading conservation groups finds itself accused of questionable development decisions underscores the complexity of the growing debate over sprawl. The federation considered more urban locations, but those sites cost too much. The Reston site also made sense, federation leaders say, because most of the staff live in Virginia, and many live close to the new headquarters. Employees can walk to nearby fast-food outlets for lunch, and the property backs up to a park, which will remind staff of the federation's conservation mission. The group intends to purchase a fleet of bicycles for employees to use on a bike trail that passes right by. "Sprawl is not a black-and-white issue," says John Kostyack, who heads the federation's smart-growth campaign. "Sure, a case can be made that building in a downtown looks more like smart growth, but that's not a good analysis. There are complex factors that come into play." Washington Post, 21 Mar 01, p B01, by Peter Whoriskey. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS DETERMINE ZONING IN FLORIDA DEVELOPMENT Three miles from the center of Tallahassee, Florida, on the edge of existing development, construction has begun on the first phase of Southwood, a mixed-use community that will eventually be home to 10,000 people. The project, which won an American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 2000 Merit Award for Planning, will include a variety of housing options, with more than 60 percent of the residences within walking distance of the town center. One-third of Southwood will be maintained as open space, including a 130-acre park; a golf course; lakes and wetlands; preservation areas for historic sites and endangered species (such as the gopher tortoise); and 10 miles of trails and bike paths. Project landscape architects Sasaki Associates identified nine "landscape design guidelines" to inform the development, including maintaining the character of the land, preserving existing trees, and using native plants. What makes this project unique, according to Sasaki's Joe Hibbard, is that the landscape architects had the opportunity to develop "the zoning framework when we designed the physical plan. The configuration of the land, the natural systems of hydrology, land and views, were in fact the driving force and determining factor of the zoning regulations." The ability to determine zoning allowed the landscape architects to provide environmental protection, says Hibbard. Landscape Architecture, Mar 01, p 34, by Lisa Speckhardt. [More: http://www.arvida.com/southwood] CALIFORNIA AGENCY SUPPORTS SUSTAINABLE BUILDING Through grants, loans and demonstration projects, companies involved in green building industries are getting a boost from the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB), the major state agency that promotes waste reduction and recycling. "Sustainable building became a natural evolution toward looking at things in a more holistic way," says Bill Orr of CIWMB's Recycling Technologies Branch. "It means examining what is going into the buildings when they are constructedthings like reducing material demands and specifying recycled content." Last August, California Governor Gray Davis signed an executive order making sustainable building a matter of policy for state construction projects. At least 30 state building projects will incorporate green building principles this year. These projects are having a carryover effect in the private sector. "We're definitely creating sustainable business opportunities, from demolition subcontractors to construction companies to product manufacturers," says Orr. CIWMB has also provided grants to San Francisco and Los Angeles for projects that demonstrate the feasibility of deconstructingrather than demolishingcity-owned buildings. And the agency is helping start-ups by offering State Recycling Market Development Zone low-interest loans for businesses starting or expanding recycling operations. In Business, Jan-Feb 01, p 16, by Dave Block. [More: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Grants] NEW TWIST ON CEILING FAN TECHNOLOGY A more energy-efficient ceiling fan should be available in Home Depot stores in March: the Hampton Bay Gossamer Wind series, manufactured by King of Fans. The new fans feature blades that are twisted instead of flat to move air more efficiently. Depending on speed, the Gossamer Wind ceiling fan increases airflow (cfm/watt) by about 40 percent compared to a conventional flat-bladed fan with the same motor. The Windward II model is the first ceiling fan with an electronically ballasted, dimming (100 percent down to 20 percent) fluorescent lamp. The Windward II and Calloway II models come with a remote control that includes both a timer and a temperature-actuated variable speed control. Most fan motors use 20 to 100 watts depending on the quality of the motor and the fan speed; the Gossamer Wind fans use about 20 watts at low speed and 65 watts at high speed. The suggested retail price of the Calloway II is $129, and the Windward II is $149. Environmental Building News, Mar 01, p 6, by Peter Yost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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