Neighborhood Achievement: SLU Soon to be Certified as Sustainable Neighborhood by LEED
The South Lake Union Urban Center is on track to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Neighborhood Development (ND) certification, a distinction that will mark SLU as a national leader in achieving a sustainable community that integrates principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building.
The certification is significant because it means the neighborhood as a whole has embraced these values and will take its  place leading the vanguard of U.S. neighborhoods committed to creating a healthy and sustainable future. LEED-ND certification is kind of like the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” when it comes to a community’s livability and commitment to green building practices.
Most U.S. Green Building Council LEED programs award certification to individual buildings. By contrast, the LEED-ND program was developed to address larger community-scale issues of sustainability. SLU was pre-approved to participate in the pilot program and is likely the only existing neighborhood seeking certification in the Pilot, according to Catherine Benotto, Principal with Weber Thompson. The city of Seattle hired the multi-disciplinary design firm to help with the documentation of the project. The documentation will be submitted to the Green Building Council in June.
“We are anticipating that SLU will be awarded silver and possibly gold certification,” said Benotto. “SLU scores very well because it is a very compact, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with diverse uses, has a strong transit system and bike routes, and both the City and area developers, such as Vulcan, are committed to green construction.”
The LEED Green Building Rating System™ allows applicants to earn credits for satisfying specified criteria. The certification is awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. Smart growth is a concept that addresses the growing concern that current development is dominated by “sprawl” and that this is no longer in the interest of cities, existing suburbs, small towns and wilderness areas. Smart growth means working within existing city infrastructure to improve quality-of-life.
Specifically, the pilot program for neighborhood development evaluates projects in four areas: - Smart location & linkage
- Neighborhood pattern & design
- Green construction & technology
- Innovation & design process
Benotto said the certification relies on specific measurements that drill down to see if the criteria and objectives have been met. A high score speaks volumes about a neighborhood’s vibrancy, compact development, walkability, stewardship of natural resources, housing diversity, and ability to maximize use of infrastructure in roads and transit, reduce driving and improve overall quality of life.
Katherine Cornwell, a Seattle city planner who is working on the project, said that the city stands to gain knowledge about how to keep improving the SLU neighborhood, and to translate these principles to other neighborhood development projects.
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