It’s the brainchild of Greensboro hotelier and restaurateur Dennis Quaintance, who has made his mark in the Triangle as owner of the Lucky 32 restaurant in Cary. Proximity opened in 2008 as the first hotel in America to earn the highest rating offered by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system. With water heated by 100 solar panels on the roof, a high-tech elevator that feeds energy back into the building’s electrical grid and an array of ultra-efficient materials, the Proximity uses 39 percent less energy and 33 percent less water than comparable hotels.

“The widely held notion that building and operating hotels with a commitment to sustainable practices is too expensive is a myth,” Quaintance said. “We wanted to get to the point where we’re not wasting energy and the guest is still very comfortable – and that’s where we ended up.”

But why aren’t more developers joining him? And what can they learn from Quaintance’s project that might serve both their bottom line and sustainable construction?

“Most property owners start with a calculator” – and often hastily decide green buildings cost too much, said Todd Mansfield, past chairman of the Urban Land Institute and current CEO of Charlotte real-estate developer Crosland.

Developers, for example, finance up to 90 percent of the money needed to build a hotel. With that high debt load, they focus on maximizing profits quickly by selling the hotel in three to five years. “There’s also been a long-standing misperception about the cost of green elements, that they add 20 to 25 percent to the cost of a project,” Mansfield said. In fact, he said, those costs more typically run less than 5 percent – and developers are gradually catching on.

Quaintance estimates the green elements of the Proximity added a net cost of about $800,000, or 3 percent, to his $29 million hotel. He expects to recoup it by 2012 through energy savings, state and federal tax credits and other incentives. He’s rooted in Greensboro, put considerable equity into the hotel with his investors and is willing to wait for his payoff – but many developers aren’t. Nor are they inclined to create more work for themselves by vetting the myriad green options that are available – from sensors that switch off the lights in empty rooms to high-tech drapes that retain heat more efficiently.

The result: In the two years since the Proximity opened, just one other hotel in the United States has achieved the platinum LEED rating. Quaintance finds that more disappointing than gratifying. He didn’t build the hotel to make a social statement; he did it because it made business sense.

The hotel’s energy efficiency will add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the bottom line in coming years. And, already, about 15 percent of the Proximity’s revenues come from clients who want to hold weddings, meetings and charitable events there precisely because it is a green hotel.

In the Triangle, there are several dozen LEED-certified office, university and public buildings under way or finished. Durham, in fact, is among the national leaders in LEED buildings per capita. Duke University sets the pace with 16 buildings completed and another 12 seeking certification. Scientific Properties and Trinity Design/Build have kept pace with their own LEED-certified buildings. Greenfire Development, one of the city’s largest developers, has several innovative projects using green technology.

To prod more developers in this direction, Quaintance offers a few modest proposals. For example, he said, what if developers received incentives for earning LEED certification? What if they got accelerated tax depreciation for new buildings with energy and water consumption that exceed efficiency thresholds? What if colleges, universities, school systems and government agencies required that all new buildings include an estimate for the first five years of utility costs in their capital expenditure items? The math would show where the long-term savings from green features, such as solar panels, exceeded upfront costs.

“My hope,” Quaintance said, “is that in just a short while our accomplishments with the Proximity will be overshadowed by other hotels and restaurants that surpass our performance.”

Christopher Gergen is on the founding team of Bull City Forward and Director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative at Duke University. Stephen Martin, a former business and education journalist, is a speechwriter at the nonprofit Center for Creative Leadership. They can be reached at authors@bullcityforward.org.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/06/515631/green-hotel-proves-saving-energy.html#ixzz0qXmNlEyz

Read more:  http://www.cbf.org//Page.aspx?pid=1839&srctid=1&erid=3090984

BY DAN FLYNN | MAY 12, 2010

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/05/cleaner-water-goal-of-nutrient-trading/

I read with interest Rand D. Weinberg’s opinion in The FNP about the recently approved Frederick County Comprehensive Plan. If I am left unconvinced by his argument, it is because of his own actions to organize and contrive a long series of property amendments that show much less concern for the overall public good and the impact on residents than any actions by our current county commissioners in reviewing and drafting our approved plan.

In fact, Weinberg and Blaine Young represent the pointy end of the spear in political efforts to challenge and rewrite county ordinances and zonings to the benefit of their own property and power interests. This is the fox guarding the henhouse, and the cynical use of mock outrage and emotion to elicit sympathy. Outside the comp planning process, these “defenders of property rights” constantly sought individual rezoning of properties to usurp the broad goals of the plans.

In the years leading up to 2006, the cabal of development interests they represent sought to constantly amend county regulations, particularly the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, by text amendment in order to justify special interests. That practice was ended, but not without their objections and an attempt by Delegate Galen Clagett to support those interests by amending state law. They obfuscate the ends and absorb the time and energy of government to achieve ends for the very few, the opposite of the goals our legislators should seek to accomplish.

If property owners built future dream castles of wealth based on a property zoning, they held no current value, only imagination. That given the future development pressure and the wealth to determine it arrived, they may have found a value that did not exist presently. As my father, a staunch property rights believer, says, “If it was farmland when you bought it, why shouldn’t it stay farmland when you sell it.” A deed is not a lottery ticket, and a zoning designation is not a crystal ball.

Someday I hope that we will look to undeveloped property and farmland as our most valuable resource. The true economic value is underrealized today. Our local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay, and our very sustainability of population and shared long-term economic success, depend upon an adjustment in our recognition of land resources’ full value.

Changing our expectations, our values, our lifestyles, this may seem an unworthy hardship, an unnecessary adjustment, but we cannot proceed at our current pace of developmentand land and population impacts if our future is to accommodate our best common interests. Our crowded roads and stressed schools provide examples of our quality-of-life impacts.

I am not certain if the citizen lessons on our past civic life have been truly ingrained and safeguarded for the future of Frederick County. In the efforts by these “defenders” to strangle our interests in favor of their own, we can see that we have an important election looming in Frederick County, when we can either maintain the positive change we achieved in 2006 when electing our current board, or we can fall back to a planning process directed by favoring individual properties, which Weinberg and Young appear to prefer.

Jack Lynch

writes from Frederick

Originally published in Frederick News Post May 08, 2010

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_lte.htm?storyid=104688

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The view from Braddock Heights is a popular touchstone for lifelong Frederick Country residents when they think of the changes the area has undergone since the first Earth Day.”All you could see was barge traffic and church steeples,” recalled County Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr. “I often picture myself as a 7- or 8-year-old child looking over there, and then as a 50-year-old elected official looking down at all that development now.”

Since Frederick celebrated the first Earth Day 40 years ago, sprawl may be the most visible change, but it’s not the only one. Here’s what local environmental leaders peg as top environmental issues for the region today:

Land preservation

Forest and well-managed agricultural land doesn’t just make for scenic landscape. They also store global warming-causing carbon dioxide, provide vital habitat for plants and animals, and serve as a filter for the water supply.

“Preserving forests is one of the most protective things we can do with our land in the Chesapeake Bay region,” said Steve Bunker, who directs preservation for The Nature Conservancy in Maryland.

Invasive species

As people have become much more mobile, we haven’t traveled alone — we’ve brought an array of plants and animals with us. Seeds and insects can hitch a ride on hiking boots, sailboats or tire treads, traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to habitats that are totally unprotected from the strange, new invaders.

“We’re literally getting overrun,” said Mel Poole, who oversees Catoctin Mountain Park.

One of the species Poole has an especially close eye on is hemlock woolly adelgid, an insect native to Asia and western North America that is decimating eastern trees that lack natural resistance. Hemlocks are particularly important because they provide shade along streams.

Local economy

Building a strong local economy doesn’t just preserve local jobs, it also reduces the amount of fuel used to ship goods around the world.

“In the next 40 years, I’d like to see a vibrant local economy based on local production,” said Janice Wiles, director of Friends of Frederick County. “It would minimize transport costs and would mean connecting with your local food system by eating what’s locally available.”

Green building

Improving energy efficiency is one of the simplest ways of reducing global warming pollution. Building homes and offices with energy-efficient appliances can lock in savings for years to come.

“It really matters when you’re talking about construction of homes and businesses,” said Hilari Varnadore, director of the county’s Office of Sustainability.

The nature experience

Environmental awareness has grown by orders of magnitude since 1970, and the younger generation leads the way in many respects. For instance, children are often the most dedicated recyclers. But Poole still worries about the next generation’s environmental ethos.

“Look at the rates of childhood obesity,” he said. “We think, plain and simple, it’s that our kids don’t get outdoors and have regular nonstructured play.” Please send comments to webmaster or contact us at 301-662-1177.

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The Frederick News-Post Privacy Policy. Use of this site indicates your agreement to our Terms of Service. On 40th anniversary of Earth Day, local leaders look ahead
Originally published April 22, 2010
By Annie Snider

The view from Braddock Heights is a popular touchstone for lifelong Frederick Country residents when they think of the changes the area has undergone since the first Earth Day.

“All you could see was barge traffic and church steeples,” recalled County Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr. “I often picture myself as a 7- or 8-year-old child looking over there, and then as a 50-year-old elected official looking down at all that development now.”

Since Frederick celebrated the first Earth Day 40 years ago, sprawl may be the most visible change, but it’s not the only one. Here’s what local environmental leaders peg as top environmental issues for the region today:

Land preservation

Forest and well-managed agricultural land doesn’t just make for scenic landscape. They also store global warming-causing carbon dioxide, provide vital habitat for plants and animals, and serve as a filter for the water supply.

“Preserving forests is one of the most protective things we can do with our land in the Chesapeake Bay region,” said Steve Bunker, who directs preservation for The Nature Conservancy in Maryland.

Invasive species

As people have become much more mobile, we haven’t traveled alone — we’ve brought an array of plants and animals with us. Seeds and insects can hitch a ride on hiking boots, sailboats or tire treads, traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to habitats that are totally unprotected from the strange, new invaders.

“We’re literally getting overrun,” said Mel Poole, who oversees Catoctin Mountain Park.

One of the species Poole has an especially close eye on is hemlock woolly adelgid, an insect native to Asia and western North America that is decimating eastern trees that lack natural resistance. Hemlocks are particularly important because they provide shade along streams.

Local economy

Building a strong local economy doesn’t just preserve local jobs, it also reduces the amount of fuel used to ship goods around the world.

“In the next 40 years, I’d like to see a vibrant local economy based on local production,” said Janice Wiles, director of Friends of Frederick County. “It would minimize transport costs and would mean connecting with your local food system by eating what’s locally available.”

Green building

Improving energy efficiency is one of the simplest ways of reducing global warming pollution. Building homes and offices with energy-efficient appliances can lock in savings for years to come.

“It really matters when you’re talking about construction of homes and businesses,” said Hilari Varnadore, director of the county’s Office of Sustainability.

The nature experience

Environmental awareness has grown by orders of magnitude since 1970, and the younger generation leads the way in many respects. For instance, children are often the most dedicated recyclers. But Poole still worries about the next generation’s environmental ethos.

“Look at the rates of childhood obesity,” he said. “We think, plain and simple, it’s that our kids don’t get outdoors and have regular nonstructured play.”

by Annie Snider

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=103998

Sustainable Communities (SB 285/HB 475) Continues the highly successful Historic Tax Credit program and extends the program to key non-historic properties for revitalization. This bill also improves coordination between a number of important revitalization programs including Community Legacy, Maryland Main Streets and Maple Street. This important Smart Growth program was funded at $10 million.

Agricultural Estate Tax Bill (SB 396/HB 1571) The primary purpose is to:  (1) provide farm families with adequate time to make good decisions about the future of their property; (2) provide farm families with an estate tax payment option that better reflects the challenges of the farming community and the current economic climate; and (3) allows the state of Maryland to gauge the need of farm families for estate tax relief and to monitor the fiscal impact of providing that relief.

Transportation Funding Criteria Bill HB 1155/SB 760 ensures that state transportation funding will now be aligned with state goals including climate change and smart growth.

In addition, three bills were passed to improve bicycle – pedestrian issues in Maryland

• SB624 – Shoulder Rule bill:  cyclists no longer have to ride on road shoulders even when unsafe
• SB51 – 3-Foot bill:  a safe distance must be left when passing a cyclist
• HB 282 – Funding for Bike/Ped Access bill:  Funding must be equitable

State Budget:

A big part of our effort this year was to protect key programs from budget cuts. We were successful in demonstrating that these programs were critical to the state economically and environmentally.

• Program Open Space funding was not diverted,
• Maryland Agriculture Land Preservation Funds were preserved,
• Funds for Maryland Department of Planning staff were not cut

Stormwater:

1000 Friends is a strong supporter of improving stormwater controls for new and existing development.  There was a serious attempt by some in the development community to roll back the regulations passed in 2007. 1000 Friends successfully negotiated to keep changes to the regulations modest and reflecting real concerns.  These changes included:

• Clearly defining which projects must comply with the new regulation and which few can follow the 2000 regulations
• Setting strict time frames for these developments to keep, or they must meet the new standards
• Setting a date by which all grandfathering ends
• Clarifying redevelopment project standards and ensuring improved water quality.

This material was copied from the  1000 Friends of Maryland newsletter sent 4/16/2010.

Water quality public hearing called a good first step
Session leaves more questions than answers
 

Farmers and other stakeholders in agriculture packed a room Wednesday at Winchester Hall to hear state officials discuss plans to clean four local waterways — Catoctin Creek, Double Pipe Creek, and Upper and Lower Monocacy rivers.

All are watersheds determined by the Maryland Department of the Environment to be polluted with unacceptable levels of phosphorous.

At the discussion’s center was Total Maximum Daily Load — an estimate of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can tolerate without violating water quality standards.

The main focus of the meeting was to address water quality in the four local watersheds, not the Chesapeake Bay, said Tom Thornton, a technical review coordinator with the environmental department. The bay’s water quality measurement, being developed in conjunction with other states, will be available in draft form in August, he said.

Excess fertilizer or wastewater may interact with and affect the watersheds’ biological communities. The goal is to eliminate excessive phosphorous, said Ross Mandel, associate director of watershed analysis with the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.

“We’re addressing problems of aquatic life in smaller tributaries, not the Monocacy River,” Mandel said. “A body of water that supports aquatic life has to pass a certain threshold. We’re asking the watersheds to pass a relatively low bar, not a high bar.”

Mandel said the goal for their work on local waterways is to be compatible with the Chesapeake Bay’s measurement for pollutants. He hoped an analysis of the local watersheds will be complete in 2010.

Several farmers were concerned they would be seen as responsible for any water problems.

“It sounds to me that farmers are being targeted,” Monrovia farmer Evelyn Wilcom said. “It sounds like agriculture is the big culprit here. Is that correct?”

“I don’t think anyone at MDE made that claim,” Thornton said.

“I’m not shooting the messenger but at the same time agriculture is having a really tough time right now. We’re the No. 1 industry in Maryland but once again I just feel we’re being put in a bad position,” Wilcom said.

Farmers spend a lot of money on nutrient management programs. In contrast, homeowners can buy and apply as much fertilizer they want just because they want a green lawn, Emmitsburg farmer William Morrow said.

Farmers are more heavily regulated than homeowners, but part of the program is to educate them about fertilizer use, said Shannon Moore, project manager for Frederick County’s watershed management section.

Moore said she has many questions that have not been answered about how these regulations will affect the county government and its operations.

“But I don’t know if they are answerable yet,” Moore said. “I thought the meeting gave people an opportunity to learn more about how the state creates pollution limits in water bodies. They have a lot of work to do before they can explain how these limits will affect landowners and people who hold environmental permits. That’s what people are most anxious to hear. But the communication lines are open and that is important.”

Lisa Gaver owns and operates Gaver Tree Farm with her husband in Mount Airy.

“We are farming in an important food shed and this is a critical issue hanging over everything we do in the food and agriculture industry, so our concerns are many,” Gaver said after the meeting.

She questions whether Total Maximum Daily Load requirements will be fair, and if the model will reflect up-to-date practices and accurate animal population data. She also wonders if her business will be credited for the environmental practices it has in place already.

“Will all states be required to report all voluntary practices and raw source data before TMDL are defined? Will new regulations expand to other sources like turf and urban runoff? Will requirements stick to the facts and be based on science?” she asked.

Frederick County Farm Bureau President Tom Browning called the meeting a good first step.

“Frankly, I think it raised more questions than answers. TMDLs are very complicated. I saw a lot of heads looking quizzically at some of what they were hearing,” Browning said.

With a number of water quality issues on the way, Thornton said it was good to see so many attend the discussion. MDE is responsible for shepherding TMDL review, from the local level to the Environmental Protection Agency, he said.

The MDE’s Total Maximum Daily Load review of local watersheds, which is in its early stage, will be followed by several analyses by agencies within the state; a preliminary examination by the EPA; stakeholder/public critique before submission to the EPA for review and approval, Thornton said. Public comments will be submitted to the EPA as well.

Originally published April 08, 2010

Frederick News Post article 4/12/2010 by Ike Wilson

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=103431

The next webinar to discuss water clean up for the agricultural community is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on May 4. Register at www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl

Two prior webinars can also be reviewed.

These two bills seek to amend the federal Clean Water Act to ensure that the six states of the Bay watershed and the District of Columbia develop and implement detailed plans to reduce pollution sufficiently to achieve the Bay-wide pollution reduction targets for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment by 2025.

The bills:

This notice was published by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation on their website www.cbf.org.