Napa is working to create city wide green building standards.
When it comes to the green movement, the United States is still in the learning stages. To green or not to green? It’s a harder question for less sustainable industries like oil and nuclear power, but in California’s North Bay, it’s no longer a question at all: It’s a rapidly emerging reality.
Of course, given their long, agrarian histories, it’s hardly surprising that counties like Napa, Marin and Sonoma are leading the race toward a greener, more sustainable future. From organic spas like Osmosis in Freestone to Guerneville’s Hemp & Chocolate boutique, one might even say the North Bay was green before green was cool. And all three counties have pledged to institute green building ordinances. With help from Build It Green—a Berkley-based residential building company—and the Leadership in Energy Efficient Design program (LEED) developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, city councils across the North Bay have either developed, or are in the process of developing, their own unique construction regulations.
Recently, the Napa city council, supported by the progressive nonprofit Sustainable Napa County, proposed a citywide green building ordinance for large commercial construction projects. A plan to phase in new building regulations for residential buildings will follow at a later date. Though the details are still a work in progress, the future of building in Napa County is looking verdant.
Why green?
Nationwide, the jury is still out on the costs and benefits of building green or adopting eco-friendly economic practices. But in Napa County, where eco-tourism is booming, green businesses like the Gaia Hotel in American Canyon have proven not only ideologically attractive to business and consumers alike, but economically viable as well. Gaia, a LEED-certified gold building since 2006, was constructed with energy conservation in mind. Built largely from recycled (and recyclable) materials and partially powered by solar energy, Gaia has not only managed to reduce its yearly energy costs by around 25 percent since it opened but, according to hotel developer Wen-I Chang, has attracted plenty of out-of-state clientele eager to stay in an exclusively green establishment.
While admitting the hotel didn’t do much [economically] the first year, Chang is more than optimistic about Gaia’s future success. It will take eight years to recoup the cost that went into outfitting the building with solar panels and water-saving plumbing, but the ecological aspect certainly isn’t keeping anyone away. While President George W. Bush toured the recent wildfires in Shasta County, some members of the secret service stopped at Gaia to spend the night. And Chang reports that hotel workers, attracted by Gaia’s dedication to green, are eager to go above and beyond their normal duties in service to the establishment.
“One benefit of being green,” he says, “is everybody works together.”
“Work” is another important reason Napa and the surrounding counties are going green. The American economy is flagging. Jobs are needed, and the green movement is one of the few industries actually booming. Jeri Hansen-Gill, CEO of Sustainable Napa County, lists certification experts for programs like LEED and Build It Green and purveyors of sustainable building supplies among the positions that a green building initiative will supply to Napa, not to mention the rest of the country. And with a number of (new and remodeling) construction projects pending in the Napa Valley, it seems green jobs will be plentiful.
In July, the Napa Planning Commission OK’d the construction of a $200 million green-certified Ritz-Carlton hotel in the Alta Heights neighborhood. While concerns over increased traffic in the area and debate over fair wages for hotel workers continue, the city nevertheless cites the new hotel will be an economic boon, attracting more business to the downtown shopping district and providing new hospitality jobs for Napa and Solano county residents. The hotel will also pay hefty fees to the city to offset its energy and water costs and help reduce any negative impact of its presence in the community. Hotel landscaping and an agreement to pay for piping recycled water to Napa’s ballfields will also help offest water use.
Though comments attached to a June 2008 Napa Valley Register article about the Ritz suggest community concerns over fair worker wages (Napa employees, argues hotel-worker union Unite Here, need to be able to afford housing in the city where they work), and the possible inadequacy of preliminary environmental impact studies continue to be an issue, general consensus among city leaders is the hotel will channel much-needed funds into the local economy, including an estimated $400,000 that will be funneled into the city’s affordable housing fund.
How to get there
Of course, plenty of businesses talk about going green (a recent spate of “green-washing” articles in publications across the country attest that companies often desire the prestige of the “green” label without the hardship of actually instituting any policies), but what does the process entail?
According to Hansen-Gill, one of Napa’s primary focuses is studying other green-savvy cities and counties to see how they’ve implemented ordinances and changes. “Right now,” she says, “we’re trying to compile information to educate the stakeholders and the entire community on why a green building ordinance makes sense as part of our efforts to respond to climate change and reduce green house gas emissions, how it might work here and, if there are any concerns, what we can do to [alleviate] them.” The goal, she says, is to create something “the entire community can get behind.”
Mark van Gorder, vice mayor of Napa and one of the leading figures in the city’s push for sustainable building, notes that the question of what it takes to institute a green building ordinance is “a pretty broad question,” that the entire community must decide together. As Napa has discovered, green building codes vary widely from city to city and can be based on a number of factors, including community size and even the size of any given construction project. In Windsor, for example, a basic Build It Green GreenPoints rating of 50 is enough for a standard residential home to qualify as environmentally friendly. In Rohnert Park, the city has mandated 90 to 110 GreenPoints depending on the size of the home. (Points are awarded based on how the project performs in the areas of energy efficiency, resource conservation, interior air quality, water conservation and community impact. The maximum number of points available is dependent on the size and nature of each individual project.)
For construction of commercially zoned buildings, many cities are now demanding LEED certification (the process by which a commercial building is verified as meeting a certain environmental standard). Under the LEED system, a building is awarded points in the categories of water efficiency, site sustainability, quality of interior environment, energy and atmosphere, and design innovation. Depending on the percentage points, the building can then obtain one of four certification levels: certified, silver, gold and platinum.
Both van Gorder and Hansen-Gill confirm that Napa is currently discussing a mandatory LEED silver rating for all new commercial building projects. A commercial building of up to 20,000 square feet must earn 35 points to qualify as LEED silver, while buildings between 20,000 and 50,000 must score 55. To date, such certification has been voluntary, but Napa is currently considering whether to make such certification mandatory—and whether to institute the requirement immediately or to phase it in over time.
And then there’s the question of existing buildings that want to renovate. So far, van Gorder says, the city council has requested businesses incorporate more sustainability into various building projects, including the renovation of existing structures, but determining how fast green building should become mandatory is something Napa’s architects, contractors and conservationists are still discussing.
Not surprisingly, it’s taken longer to draft a new building ordinance than was originally anticipated. Napa’s city council was supposed to meet to hash out particulars on August 5th. But as talks continue, the date has been pushed back—at the request of all stakeholders, van Gorder stresses, and in an effort to find conservation methods that work. Only one thing is certain, he continues: “This is a priority for this city.”
Hopping on the bandwagon
Fortunately, both the business community as well as the majority of Napa residents agree with van Gorder’s sentiment. Everyone from the city’s Queen of the Valley hospital, which plans to build a new patient wing and lab in the near future, to the Ritz-Carlton, which volunteered to go green on its own accord (though possibly at a lower level than the city would like), seems energized by the possibility of green building.
Jaime Peñherrara, program director of marketing and communcations, says, “Queen of the Valley Medical Center strongly supports green building activities; we’re looking forward to working with government officials to institute the proposed green ordinances.” Queen of the Valley already has a LEED certification expert advising how to bring its new hospital wing up to standard.
And, in St. Helena, the Culinary Institute of America has submitted an ambitious plan for new student housing on its Greystone campus [see “Breaking New Ground,” Sept. 2008]. Ultimately, it’s hoping to certify the new building LEED gold, if not platinum.
Meanwhile, on July 17, 2008, the California Building Standards Commission made history by adopting the nation’s first statewide green building code, designed to significantly reduce water usage and energy output for both residential and commercial building projects by 2020. Currently, participation is optional, but participation will become mandatory in 2010. A comprehensive set of these mandatory guidelines is still being developed, according to the Building Standards Commission website.
The state building code was adopted unanimously by Commission members—a phenomenon paralleled by the North Bay’s reaction to going green. When asked if there’s been any resistance to the idea of green building in Napa, neither van Gorder nor Hansen-Gill could cite an example. “Napa is known for coming together as a community,” Hansen-Gill says. “The great thing about this is, everyone’s learning together, and they’re not afraid to help each other.” She pauses and laughs. “We all just need to start with something.”
