LEED building and design standards focus on six key areas:

* Sustainable sites

* Water efficiency

* Energy and atmosphere

* Materials and resources

* Indoor environmental quality

* Innovation and design process

Summit County, CO Colorado

FRISCO - Talking green is easy. But walking the green walk requires a higher level of commitment, as shown by the Frisco Town Council when it recently adopted a new set of building guidelines that should go a long way toward ensuring sustainable practices in the town.

"We've been working on this for a two years," said community development director Mark Gage. "For residential, we'll be requiring a bit more than what we do now. For commercial and mixed use, we'll be requiring the lowest level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification," Gage said.

Frisco's effort is part of a countywide push toward sustainability in the building sector. The town's guidelines were developed in that wider framework, and similar measures will be up for discussion and adoption in other local jurisdictions, said High Country Conservation director Carly Wier.

"Frisco jumped ahead of the process a little," Wier said, explaining that, as she understands it, the town wanted to make sure that all imminent new construction fall under the new sustainable guidelines and regulations.

"It's been a long process to get buy-in from all the stakeholders, including builders," Wier said. "As a whole, I think the builders association is going to support this code."

Gage said that, by some estimates, the measures adopted by Frisco could add two to five percent to the cost of construction, based on experiences in other communities.

But Frisco resident Andy Held, long an advocate of sustainable building, said that's not necessarily true across the board.

"What they (the town) are proposing to do is really ambitious. but Green building doesn't have to cost more, as long as you have integrated design," Held said. "It's absolutely imperative we move this way as a society. And municipalities need to lead the way." Held said.

"It's ground-breaking. It's really forward thinking. We would be rivaling what Boulder is trying to do, and they are really progressive," Held said.

Frisco's sustainable building measure also garnered praise from architect Tim Sabo, who also serves on the town's planning commission. Sabo said codification of green building practices will help dispel some inertia associated with current building practices.

"My general impression is that people really aren't doing it right," Sabo said. "I think the town wants to help people head in the right direction. I don't think it's going to limit things. It'll help to break out of the box of the conventions of building today."

Held characterized the town's steps in a similar way, saying it would help people push the envelop a little bit.

"With a lot of education, the market will support it," he said. "Frisco's standard will help show the way.

The draft sustainable building code for the county (reflected by Frisco's code) includes a number of mandatory measures related to minimum insulation values, windows and doors and mechanical systems like water heaters and boilers.

A slate of secondary measures is aimed at single-family homes. As homes increase in size, they must be incorporated into the design, or the additional square footage must be offset by the designated point value from other options on the sustainable building menu.

A feature like true passive solar design, is worth five points toward approval. In-floor radiant heat is worth four points, while wind-generated electrical power is worth five points per kilowatt.

To see all the documents and requirements associated with the sustainable building code, go to http://www.highcountryconservation.org/.

Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.



Summit sustainable building code forum on Thursday



The Efficient Building Advisory Group invites you to attend a public presentation on the draft Summit County sustainable building code Jan. 31, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Frisco Community Center on 3rd and Granite in Frisco.

The Efficient Building Advisory Group has been working on developing an achievable and locally relevant sustainable building code for the Summit County community for over two years. The presentation will cover the latest draft of the code and will demonstrate how the code applies to homes of varying size.

The code is intended to be a uniform code for all jurisdictions in Summit County and will cover all new residential construction. Comments and input from the public and the building community are being sought. For copies of the draft code and supporting documents, please visit http:www.highcountryconservation.org or contact the High Country Conservation Center at (970) 668-5703 or the Summit County Builders Association at 668-6013.