Story Mill developers seek ‘green’ certification for project
Tuesday February 20, 2007
Bozeman Daily Chronicle, February 20, 2007
By CAMDEN EASTERLING Chronicle Staff Writers
The team behind Bozeman’s Story Mill Center redevelopment project is seeing green.
The group hopes to build one of the country’s first neighborhoods certified as “green” by the U.S. Green Building Council, a national nonprofit organization that promotes environmentally responsible building.
“It really, I think, offers the best use of the land for Bozeman,” Chaucer Silverson, a member of the development team, said of the green approach.
USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, has a rating system that sets “the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation” of green buildings, according to the organization’s Web site.
Buildings, including the new Bozeman Public Library, earn points for incorporating environmentally responsible components, such as watersaving technology and energy efficiency.
The Story Mill Center team, headed by Bozeman’s Blue Sky Development and Gobuild Inc., plans to apply for USGBC’s pilot program for green neighborhood development.
The neighborhood program expands on LEED’s criteria for individual structures, Silverson said. Neighborhoods will be graded for compliance with LEED standards, such as the inclusion of bicycle networks and reduced dependence on cars and other vehicles, according to USGBC’s guideline document.
“It ends up looking like a small town,” said Kath Williams, the project’s LEED-accredited professional. Her company, company Kath Williams +Associates, also worked on the library.
Story Mill’s team also hopes to generate some of the neighborhood’s power supply on site with a turbine or biomass.
USGBC will accept 120 projects for the pilot program but hasn’t yet selected participants.
The environmentally responsible components, though, won’t come free to buyers — they carry a small “green premium,” Williams said.
However, such efforts and materials save money over time, she said. For example, betterquality insulation lowers utility bills.
Efforts to reach the Green Building Council Monday were unsuccessful, as its offices were closed Monday for Presidents Day.
Camden Easterling is at ceasterling@dailychronicle.com
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