Santa Monica Property Blog

CALGREEN – > CALIFORNIA NOW HAS THE COUNTRY’S GREENEST BUILDING STANDARD

By Jodi Summers

Bravo to us! California has adopted the greenest building standards in the United States…and the world.

The new code, called Calgreen, goes into effect next January 2011. It requires all builders to:

v Install plumbing that cuts indoor water use.

Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, said the new building code would require developers to slash water use in their buildings by 20%, using more efficient toilets, shower heads and faucets.

v Divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills to recycling.

v Use low-pollutant paints, carpets and floorings

v Buildings will be given certificates of occupancy occupied only after strict energy standards were verified.

In addition, for non residential buildings:

v Install separate water meters for different uses.

v Mandates the inspection of energy systems by local officials to ensure that heaters, air conditioners and other mechanical equipment in nonresidential buildings are working efficiently.

v It allows local jurisdictions, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, to retain their stricter existing green building standards, or adopt more stringent versions of the state code if they choose.

“California should be proud… These are simple, cost-effective green practices. …” notes Tom Sheehy, acting secretary of the state Consumer Services Agency and chair of the California Building Standards Commission, which approved the standards. “This is (something) no other state in the country has done - integrating green construction practices into the very fabric of the construction code.”

While California’s largest metropolitan areas have adopted their own green building standards, these new regulations will be particularly useful for smaller jurisdictions that have been unable to develop their own green construction guidelines.

This is a positive alternative to LEED construction standards. Sites Sandra Boyle, an executive vice president of Glenborough, a developer, “The cost for owners to go through this rating system is astronomical — in a very challenging commercial real estate market.”

“You will have a whole bunch of cities that never would have included this in their building doing it, and doing it in a way that won’t kill the economy,” observes Matthew Hargrove, a vice president with the California Business Properties Association. “Outside the coastal areas it will be helpful - like in West Sacramento, where they looked into creating a green building code but balked because it’s cumbersome to develop and they didn’t have the resources.”

Buildings currently account for about one-quarter of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions. These new standards are applauded as an important step in helping California meet its goal in reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/01/13/MNDR1BH9SA.DTL#ixzz0dJ9grkaW

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/01/13/MNDR1BH9SA.DTL

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-green-building11-2010jan11,0,1841989.story

http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/WA/Kohler-DualFlush-BR08-lg.jpg

SANTA MONICA CREATES COMMUNITY WITH THEIR GARDEN SHARING REGISTRY

SANTA MONICA CREATES COMMUNITY WITH THEIR GARDEN SHARING REGISTRY

edited by Jodi Summers

Here’s a great idea for Santa Monica property owners with a small area in your yard that you’d like to transform into a productive and beautiful garden, but lack the time and expertise? Consider sharing your soil with an experienced gardener by listing your space on the city of Santa Monica’s new Garden Sharing Registry.

Once registered, you’ll be able to choose from a list of avid gardeners. Together, you and your
gardener will structure a sustainable partnership that makes sense to both of you, including type of gardening project, how the cost of seeds and supplies will be handled, supply storage, length of commitment and availability. Property owners provide land and water, while gardeners do the work. Together, you share the crop!

Bountiful benefits include home-grown produce, fresh herbs, fragrant flowers and a deeper connection with the community around you. Signing up is simple – just complete an application online at
http://communitygardens.smgov.net or call (310) 458-8573.

MALIBU GOES GREEN UNDER PRESSURE

MALIBU GOES GREEN UNDER PRESSURE

By Jodi Summers

Malibu should be ashamed of itself, acting like conservation is not for the wealthy. Santa Monica has been heavily into the green movement for years – aiming to become a net zero city, Our mother city, Los Angeles, is very motivated to become one of the greenest cities. Meantime the gilded village of Malibu is only turning green because of upcoming deadlines for compliance with state-mandated sustainable development standards.

Under pressure by state mandates, Malibu is finally getting around to developing a sustainable development program. This comes more than a year after the City of L.A.’s green building ordinance to reduce the City’s carbon emissions by more than 80,000 tons by 2012. Motivated only by state regulation, Malibu is planning to require larger projects to be LEED certified. Money is green; Malibu will get the hang of it.

Grudgingly, in late summer, Malibu began to comply with mandated standards addressing water use for landscape irrigation. Additionally the fabled city on PCH will comply with other statewide requirements, such as weather-proofing, formaldehyde content in wood products, air conditioning refrigerants, and outside air ventilation, not to mention finally getting collection areas for recyclables. (Hello! If that’s an issue for you guys, just bring in some homeless, and they’ll recycle for you.)

As Malibu has been so late to get on board the green bandwagon, the city is panicking about meeting residential construction standards effective Jan. 1, 2011, benchmarks that are already in place in neighboring Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Los Angeles.

The January 2011 requirements call for sediment and runoff protection from construction sites; diversion of at least 50% of construction waste; low or no use of volatile organic compounds such as indoor adhesives, paints and coatings; low formaldehyde indoor finish materials.

Looking further forward, as of July 1, 2011, residential construction projects will be required to be more water efficient – insisting on a 20 percent reduction in indoor water use.

Not to be berated for being totally arrogant and antiquated, Malibu does already have mandates in place for water conservation landscaping – though some city residents are insisting that is not enforced.

“I think our biggest problem is water in Malibu,” planning Commissioner Regan Schaar noted, more than a year after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought. “The issue of people submitting plans [development applications] without any landscaping plans is a way for them to get around the issue. We need to put landscaping plans in place and make sure they’re low water usage.”

Malibu has been an ostrich, hiding its proverbial head in the sand while other local cities have been proactive on conservation measures. Lifestyles of the rich and infamous.

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http://www.malibutimes.com/articles/2009/06/10/news/news3.txt

http://pleinlesyeux2.ifrance.com/ocean/inside%20out,%20baja%20malibu.jpg

http://www.socalgreenrealestateblog.com/?p=75

http://www.north-cyprus-properties.com/places/malibu-beach/photos/Malibu-Beach-(01).jpg

http://www.triyoga.com/Galleries/images/malibu_point1.jpg

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/835/images/malibu_sportfishing_pier_sign.jpg

http://www.beaumondevillas.com/images/cities-malibu.jpg

http://www.imagekandi.com/photo/images/Malibu-Beach-Houses.jpg

http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/california/images/s/malibu-beaches.jpg

http://www.city-data.com/picfilesv/picv7812.php

http://pics2.city-data.com/city/maps/fr2937.png

BUY NEW GREEN HOUSES -THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY WILL DRIVE GREEN BUILDING

BUY NEW GREEN HOUSES -THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY WILL DRIVE GREEN BUILDING

By Jodi Summers

Here’s a good statistic for you - the US market for “green” building materials generated sales of almost $57 billion in 2008.  Enthusiastic pundits are predicting this market is projected to expand 7.2% annually to over $80 billion in 2013, outpacing the growth of building construction expenditures over that period. A solid conclusion, since green building is in the forefront of our economic recovery. The fact that the government is leading our green revolution is confirmed in Green Building Materials, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.

Sure,  green building materials are expected to account for an increasing share of materials used, but the growth of this market will be driven primarily by the recovery of the residential market through 2013 as it rises from its depressed 2008 level. 

Among the products that are favored in our new, green recovery are interior products – like lighting, wall and floor coverings, and windows – as opposed to energy efficient renewables that are leading the change.

This trend is confirmed by a National Association of Home Builders survey of multi-family builders and developers made similar conclusions. While 74% of respondents said that their buyers and renters are willing to pay more for green amenities, the median additional amount that they’re willing to pay is just 2%. Some other stats of note: 89% of respondents (again, multi-family builders and developers, nationwide) said they are currently installing energy-efficient appliances and lighting in their projects, 79% are installing low-E windows, 64% are incorporating recycled materials, and 50% are installing greater insulation than required by local code (that figure jumps to 70% among respondents based on the West Coast).

The Freedonia Group report concluded that the largest source of green building materials demand in the next few years will come from green floor coverings. Green carpets and flooring include Green Label Plus-certified carpets and products made from rapidly renewable resources (e.g., bamboo and cork flooring). 

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood products will sell out. As controlled forestry moves forward, FSC-certified lumber and wood panels are expected to be the fastest growing green product area.  FSC-certified products are produced via environmentally responsible and socially beneficial forestry practices.  As supply grows, demand for FSC-certified wood panels is projected to more than triple between 2008 and 2013, growing more than three times as fast as the overall market for wood panels.

Concrete made from recycled materials (e.g., fly ash, blast furnace slag) was the second-in-demand as far as green building materials sales 2008, accounting for over 15% of the market total.  The use of recycled materials in concrete not only reduces the volume of waste sent to landfills, but often enhances the performance of the concrete.  Going forward, demand for concrete made from recycled materials is forecast to grow 8.4% per year to $14.3 billion in 2013, accounting for an increasing share of total concrete used.

Other products expected to see fast growth through 2013 include water-efficient plumbing fixtures and fittings, and energy-efficient lighting fixtures.   Demand for each of these products is forecast to grow at a double-digit pace through 2013, but account for only a small share of total green building materials market. 

Sources:

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=78976&cat=1

http://www.greenbuildingsnyc.com/2008/08/28/green-building-statistics-demand-is-high-design-experience-is-low/

http://www.fypower.org/partners/ilg/statistics/green_building.html

http://greendevelopmentplaybook.net/database/images/display/sb4720d928d50d3.jpg

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/02/05/is-it-green-concrete/

July 8th Deadline to Protest the 60% Rate Increase for Water/Wastewater

The original article appeared in the Santa Monica Mirror: 

July 8th Deadline to Protest the 60% Rate Increase for Water/Wastewater 

Dave Quick, Mirror Contributing Writer 

 Are our city leaders using the current “drought crisis” to slip through huge water/wastewater increases, far outstripping any actual increased water costs? 

With all the buzz about drought I assumed water rate increases were on tap, and sure enough, the City sent all residents a May 20 letter detailing hefty increases of approximately 60 percent over the next four to five years.  Using their example, a sample Single Family customer will increase from $119.61 to $193.69.  A sample 8 unit building will go from $367.63 ($45.95 per unit) to $611.20 ($76.40 per unit).  And you thought health care expenses were spiraling out of control!  You can self-diagnose and self-medicate, but you can’t live without water. 

Where’s the beef?  The City’s letter cites a laundry list (no pun intended) of proposed expenditures with first mention of “funding for local and imported water.”  That makes sense – I assume that when I pay my bi-monthly water/wastewater bill most of the cost is water. 

Not so.  The City’s May 20 letter refers readers to water.smgov.net for more information.  So, I downloaded a 24 page Staff Report and waded through the details.  What about the rising cost of water? Page Five of the report shows that “Water Purchases” account for only 25 percent of Water Agency costs.  (Note that “Employee Salary & Benefits” and “Administrative Indirect Costs” aggregate to 35 percent of Agency costs; forget that dripping faucet – we are awash in salaries and benefits.) 

What about rising MWD rates?  Page Seven of the report notes that MWD accounts for 85 percent of our city’s water, and MWD rates will increase by 14 percent effective January 1, 2009 (one assumes due to the drought). 

Note that in 2001 city water/wastewater implemented annual cost-of-living adjustments so given the revival of inflation, the CPI adjustment alone may be able to offset planned and future MWD increases as a percent of your total water/wastewater bill.  

Remaining expenditures to be covered by the 60 percent increase cited in the City’s May 20 letter include: maintenance, capital improvements, financial commitments to L.A.’s Hyperion Plant and bumping up reserve levels by millions.  These proposed improvements could just as well be floated as a city bond so everyone has a chance to vote on them, or covered on an intermittent basis as needed by the city’s operating budget until the economy improves. 

There appears to be one silver lining in the May 20 letter – a proposed restructuring of charges that eliminates the flat bimonthly “service charges” for water and wastewater making your bill totally reflective of your actual water usage.  That seems like a really good idea that will better reward water conservation – but it is also an idea that could be implemented without huge rate increases on one of the necessities of life. 

Opposing the rate increase is a real fire drill.  

According to the city, under the cumbersome rules of CA Proposition 218, a majority of property owners (over 12,000!) must protest the increase in writing and the deadline is a whisker away – July 8. 

Objectors must send or hand-deliver letters of protest to: 

City Clerk 

, Room 102 

Santa Monica, CA, 90401 

Residents may also hand deliver written protests to the public hearing at the same location, Room 213 at 5:45pm on Tuesday, July 8.  Any protest at the public hearing must be accompanied by a written protest to count and only property owners’ protests (no renters) count.  (Note that all this activity inconveniently culminates right after the 4th of July three-day weekend!) 

Times are tough.  With rising unemployment, the return of inflation, health care costs continuing to romp, a tanked dollar, the stock market in the doldrums, gas approaching $5 per gallon and other mega economic woes these are indeed troubled times for many Santa Monicans and who is say the long term trend is toward improvement? 

To be sure we are in a water crisis (although as the people along the Mississippi can currently attest, one very wet rainy spell can turn things around quickly).  I am reminded of another crisis, the Northridge Earthquake, which really whammied our neighborhood.  Within hours the employees at the Pavilions store at Lincoln and Montana were rolling pallets of bottled water into the parking lot – handing water out free to residents who had lost water service.  Pavilions could have profiteered from the crisis but chose instead to lend a generous helping hand to our community in a troubled time.  I can only hope that our city leaders take the same high road during the current drought crisis.  Now is no time to use the drought as a canard to lay a couple of golden eggs on two city bureaucracies and raise a vital part of your cost of living way beyond any projected rate of inflation. 

Information circulated by the Friends of Sunset Park.