Green Options » Smart Growth

California Moving to Block Sprawl

Philip Proefrock — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:34:47 +0000

Sprawl is a constant issue at the outside periphery of every city in the country. Although matters have abated temporarily in the midst of the housing and mortgage crunch, new construction continues to decimate the countryside at further distances away from the city centers. However, the state of California is weighing a measure in the state legislature that might help curtail the growth of exurban sprawl developments.

The extension of suburbs further and further out from the core of businesses and services not only consumes acres of land, with its attendant loss of woods, fields, wetlands, farmland, and animal habitat, but it also requires miles of pavement, and the attendant infrastructure (sewers, phone and power lines, etc.) to support the new development. Residents of these displaced communities are forced to rely on cars for more and more of their access to various services and amenities, and very often travel greater distances to work as well as other destinations. This increases both the consumption of fuel resources and the pollution caused from the extra travel.

Can Sprawl be Green?

Kristin Dispenza — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:36:45 +0000

In my post of May 6th, “Traditional Neighborhood Development and LEED Go Hand in Hand,” I made the point that smart growth and new urbanism are helping give a ‘boost’ to green building practices. While conducting research for that article, however, I did find several assertions to the contrary. So, for the sake of playing devil’s advocate, I will here take a look at some of those assertions.

Vail Resorts to Develop $1B Green Resort Dubbed “Ever Vail”

Preston Koerner — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:30:02 +0000

Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) just announced an ambitious plan to build a new green resort development in North America. Ever Vail will be a $1B, 9.5 acre, multi-use resort village on the current site known as West Lionshead. If approved for development, Ever Vail will be the largest LEED-certified project for resort use in North America and one of the earliest developments to come under the LEED Neighborhood Development certification program.

In all, the total development will be about one million square feet, with 150-250 whole ownership condominium units, 75-125 fractional ownership condominium units, a 100,000 sf hotel, 100,000-150,000 sf of commercial retail, office, and restaurant space, and 100,000 sf mountain operations facility.

Importantly, Ever Vail plans are still being finalized and haven't been submitted to the Town of Vail for approval. Once approved, sales will start in about 2009, so this is very much a prospective project. Vail Resorts has partnered with Callison to help design and plan the development. Callison Principal Steve Harmon remarked on the partnership: "Callison believes sustainable design is good business and is honored to partner with Vail Resorts on leading the effort to create an innovative, smart-growth destination that uses land more responsibly, reduces resource consumption and minimizes sprawl."

As our writers here on Green Options have reported, environmentalism and climate change is always on the mind of winter resort operators, so seeking LEED certification is another way for resorts to consider the impact of their operations. The LEED for Neighborhood Development certification program (actually still in the pilot program stage) was officially inaugurated on February 1, 2007. It's a rating system established by the U.S. Green Building Council that integrates principles of smart growth, urbanism, and green building on a neighborhood level. Vail Resorts plans also to develop all of the buildings at Ever Vail to LEED criteria.

Image Credit: Vail.