The debate is on over what environmental standard Mayor Sam Sullivan’s EcoDensity initiative should set for private buildings in Vancouver.

City director of planning Brent Toderian says Vancouver already has the highest standard—LEED gold—for municipal buildings in North America. With EcoDensity’s requirement of an LEED silver rating for private buildings of at least 600 square metres and four storeys in areas to be rezoned, Toderian points out that the city would be setting a new and ambitious benchmark.

“LEED silver would give us the highest standard for private buildings in North America,” Toderian told the Georgia Straight.

On April 15, Vancouver city council voted to ask staff to post revisions to a proposed EcoDensity Charter and 16 proposed “initial actions”, including one dealing with LEED silver ratings, on the City’s Web site by May 13. Council voted to allow written comments from the public until June 10.

A building-certification system developed by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It awards points in categories such as sustainability of the site, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. The system rates buildings on a scale ranging from certified to silver, gold, and platinum.

A long-time environmental activist, Vision Vancouver councillor Heather Deal is pushing for the gold standard for buildings located in areas that property owners will ask the City to rezone.

But according to Toderian, setting such a high standard could hurt new development, thereby putting a strain on housing supply and compromising one of EcoDensity’s stated goals: improving affordability.

“On the other hand, we want to keep the pressure on for greener and greener performance, and send a clear message to the industry that says, ‘Learn to do green buildings because they’re a fact of life,’ ” Toderian explained.

Deal noted that LEED silver has already
become a common standard, and argued that the City should be bolder in defining a new benchmark. She pointed out that discussions around LEED standards have moved away from individual buildings to rating entire neighbourhoods.

“Can you live and work and play in the same area?” Deal asked. “This is important because you can have the greenest building in the world but if you still can’t get to your job, if you still can’t get to your shopping, and there isn’t still a place to play in the neighbourhood, well, how sustainable is it?”

Cam Brewer is the LEED program manager for the Canada Green Building Council, the group that evaluates applications for ratings.

“We would encourage LEED gold,” Brewer told the Straight when asked how his group feels about EcoDensity. “It’s attainable and verifiable.”

Brewer pointed out that the system isn’t just for new construction, dispelling suggestions that developers have to tear down an existing building and put up a new one in order to qualify for a rating. LEED also applies to heritage buildings. “We feel that LEED actually complements heritage goals very well because LEED for existing buildings is about building performance,” Brewer said. “In other words, we can maintain the existing building stock—just have them perform better.”

Former city councillor Jonathan Baker suggests that LEED is a questionable system that allows developers to buy their way to rezoning by simply scoring points. In a January 20 posting on the Web site of EcoDensity-critical group EcoPreservation (www.ecopreservation.org/ ), he notes that according to some American architects, LEED “has more to do with generating good PR than saving the planet”.

“What we can expect from LEED in Vancouver is what has happened in many states,” Baker writes. “Developers will assemble large parcels of land in low-density areas. They will then retain a LEED consultant who will score them a high rating. Architectural toadstools will spring up replete with bicycle racks, solar panels, windmills, micro glaciers and owl habitat.”