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Mammoth aims to go green before State’s mandatory deadline |
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Friday, 06 March 2009 |
By Catherine Billey
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
Mammoth is poised to become a leader in green building practices.
“It’s tough to do right now, but it sets the example,” said planning commissioner Tony Barrett, who heads up the Impact Mitigation and Resource Conservation Planning Commission Ad Hoc Committee (IMRC).
Yes, it’s another acronym and another town committee. But in a presentation for the planning commission on Feb.. 25, Barrett said the IMRC is meant to dovetail with the work of the PAOT subcommittee.
Their aim is to voluntarily adopt Gov. Schwarzenegger’s “California Green Building Standards Code” ordinance before the mandatory implementation date scheduled for Jan. 1, 2010.
Development representatives Jim Smith of Starwood, local architect Bruce Woodward and local contractor Greg Jennison joined Barrett on the IMRC, alongside Chair Elizabeth Tenney.
They have begun to explore the green standards California will adopt in green building technologies, including energy management, water management, air quality and materials and resources, for integration into relevant sections of the 2007 General Plan, as well as town codes.
“We’ve got to learn all the ins and outs of it first,” Barrett said of this ad hoc committee’s ongoing work. “We’re going to go back to doing that in late May.”
In the meantime, the planning commission reached consensus to ask the town council to adopt the IMRC’s recommendations prior to the mandated date in 2010. During the voluntary interim period, this would include incentives for applicants who use the California Green Building Standards Code.
“It doesn’t override our existing code, but if you decide to follow that code now,” Barrett explained, for example, by decreasing landscaping by 50 percent to save water or installing home solar panels or adding insulation. “If you do it now before it’s mandatory, then you get some kind of benefit.”
Incentives include streamlining the permit process, rebating fees and relaxing of administrative criteria for height, lot coverage and setbacks.
“But you’re not going to get your fees rebated until you demonstrate that you’ve done the work,” Barrett clarified.
All of these measures are intended to get the town thinking about green building standards. They will also apply to the upcoming courthouse, currently in its design stages, and other municipal projects next year.
Green building is most successful, cost effective and efficient when taken at the outset of the design process, rather than tacking it on later.
There are some exceptions, such as when upgrading home insulation or retrofitting with solar screen panels. In addition, recessed lighting can be exchanged for non-recessed lighting, and double-door snow porches can replace single ones.
“If all of our homes had double door snow porches on them, that double door acts as a conduit not to let cold air into the house,” Barrett noted.
Another simple home upgrade is the installation of light shelves, where a shelf is placed at an angle on a window and reflects sunlight into the home for warmth that would not otherwise be there.
Lastly, green building practices ideally include greater attention to recycling.
“Let’s say you’re going to do a remodel and replace all your windows and doors,” Barrett imagined. “What happens to them? The Green Code says you recycle them.” He suggested that an organization like Habitat for Humanity could come into town, pick up recyclable materials, and use them. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 March 2009 )
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