King County helps commercial building projects 'go green' with grants to owners

Applications now available for 2007 grants

Three new buildings – one in rural south King County, one on an agricultural site near Woodinville and another at Bellevue's Mercer Slough – have received grants from King County for their low-impact, sustainable designs.

In an effort to encourage higher performance green commercial buildings that conserve energy and minimize waste, King County's GreenTools Program has awarded its first round of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Grants.

Under the new program, commercial building owners and developers across King County (excluding Seattle) were eligible to receive up to $25,000 in funds to help encourage higher performance green buildings.

Recipients are also eligible to receive free technical assistance through the GreenTools Program, which is administered through the county's Solid Waste Division (SWD).

"Green buildings can have lower energy and water consumption rates, and offer occupants excellent comfort and functionality," said Katie Spataro, GreenTools program manager. "These new incentives provide terrific opportunities to stimulate and support green building throughout King County."

The grant provides funding of $15,000 to $25,000, depending on the LEED certification level that the project achieves. The funds are intended to help offset the up-front costs of green buildings, such as added early design or modeling costs, plus LEED registration and certification fees.

Green Building grant recipients for the first round of awards are:

Jack Hunter O'Dell Education Center
Owner: Institute for Community Leadership
Location: 24833 180th Ave. SE, Kent
Architect: Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects  
Grant Award: $25,000
LEED certification goal: Platinum

The Institute for Community Leadership provides training for traditionally disenfranchised young people in South Seattle and South King County in overcoming hurdles to academic excellence and meaningful civic engagement. The Institute's new Jack Hunter O'Dell Environmental Education Center is a multi-service facility including a 4,400-square-foot learning center and workshop studio on a 17-acre campus near Kent. The buildings are designed to welcome the natural environment indoors with sliding doors and views to the surrounding meadow and forest. The green design goals for the project highlight durability, minimized energy use, zero emissions, and protection of the site's natural habitat. The O'Dell Education Center will showcase renewable energy systems (geothermal and solar), native materials, rainwater catchment, and low impact development practices while providing a regional model for design that demonstrations appropriate technology and rural functionality.

21 Acres Agricultural Center
Owner: 21 Acres
Location: 13701 NE 171st St., Woodinville
Architect: Evitavonni Architecture
Grant Award: $25,000
LEED certification goal: Platinum

Located on a 21-acre parcel near the Woodinville town center, the 21 Acres Agricultural Center is a 17,000-square-foot facility housing a year-round farmers market, agriculture learning center and community kitchen. The site includes community gardens and farmland demonstrating organic agricultural production. The project features extensive use of solar energy both for producing electricity and heating water. Earth berms surrounding the buildings will provide natural cooling for cellars and storage areas of farm products, reducing the project's overall energy consumption. As part of its low-impact development strategy, the center will be capped by a vegetated green roof, while rainwater will be captured in large cisterns for on-site irrigation use.

Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center
Owner: City of Bellevue- Parks & Community Services 
Location: 118th Avenue Southeast, Bellevue
Architect: Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects  
Grant Award: $15,000
LEED certification goal: Silver

The new Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center, developed in partnership with the Pacific Science Center, Puget Sound Energy, and the City of Bellevue Parks and Community Services Department, will be a premier regional facility for freshwater wetland ecology, water quality, and environmental sustainability. The center will be located in the Mercer Slough Nature Park, a 320-acre freshwater wetland featuring one of the most diverse ecosystems in the region. A series of small buildings totaling about 12,000-square feet will house a visitor's center, classrooms and labs for research and monitoring to increase understanding of wetland ecology. The project will be a demonstration of low-impact development that seeks to reduce runoff and naturally manage stormwater onsite. The project includes a vegetated green roof, rain gardens and elevated boardwalks and trails extending into the surrounding slough.

The LEED rating system is a national standard for developing high-performance, healthy buildings that minimize their impact on the environment. The system assigns credits for meeting a variety of criteria, such as preserving habitat, increasing energy efficiency, reducing potable water use and using recycled-content building materials. Spataro said 36 of the 58 LEED-certified buildings in Washington are located within Seattle and King County.

King County is now accepting applications for a second round of green building grants for projects seeking LEED certification. Private, nonprofit, and public projects in King County outside the City of Seattle are eligible to apply.

Grant applications and further information on green building incentives in King County available at www.greentools.us, or by contacting Spataro at 206-263-6037 or katie.spataro@kingcounty.gov.
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Editor's note: Illustrations of the first-round winning designs are available by contacting Katie Spataro.