March 14, 2007
King County, Seattle offering new incentives for green-building residential projects
Single-family residential developers have a new
way to "go green," thanks to a new incentive program from King County
and the City of Seattle.
The King County/Seattle
Built Green™ Incentive provides funding for single-family residential,
town home and community development projects to help offset the cost of
certifying and designing innovative projects that meet green-building
standards.
The program, which can provide $2,500 to
$15,000 in financial incentives depending on the project and level of
environmentally sustainable design and building elements employed, was
announced at the fifth-annual Built Green Conference, Tuesday in
Everett.
Incentives for the development industry to
reduce their impact on the environment and conserve valuable natural
resources have become increasingly important as local governments draw
the connection between water conservation and quality, stormwater
runoff and residential development, said Katie Spataro, project manager
for King County's "Green Tools” program.
The new
grants will be competitively awarded and are funded through the King
County Department of Natural Resources and Parks' Water and Land
Resources Division and Seattle Public Utilities.
Built Green is a residential building program that provides a rating
system for single- and multi-family housing projects, remodels and
community developments. The program certifies projects at the one-
through five- star level based on the number of points a project earns
in categories that highlight energy and water conservation, healthy
materials, and minimized impacts to the property.
Spataro said King County helped develop the program in partnership with
the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, and
relies on Built Green as an industry benchmark for qualifying green
residential development.
The King County/Seattle
Built Green Incentive was established to encourage developers,
builders, and residents building new homes to use green building
standards while attempting to address barriers, such as higher upfront
costs for projects. Grant award projects will serve as demonstrations
of high performance, replicable, green housing for the region.
Built Green incentive applications and instructions will be available online by March 19 at www.builtgreen.net,
and must be submitted by May 4. More information is available by
contacting Spataro, King County Solid Waste Division, at 206-263-6037,
or Katie.Spataro@metrokc.gov.