Maryland's green building group goes suburban

Why move from the city?  And what signal does that send to Baltimore's fledgling green building initiative?

"We wanted a space that was larger where we could do events, including educational programs," Stuart Kaplow, chair of the Maryland chapter and a local real estate attorney, explained in an email.

They also wanted to be in a LEED-certified building.  While there are 500 of them in the state, Kaplow said, there are very few with offices for rent in the Baltimore area.  So when the Maryland chapter's leadership learned that Merritt Properties was aiming for platinum LEED certification on an overhaul of one of its old 1970s era office buildings in Hunt Valley, they jumped at it.

But it is a redevelopment.  And it's accessible by transit, three-tenths of a mile from a light-rail stop (though the streetscape might be more pedestrian friendly).   Mary Pulcinella, the green building chapter's programs director, said she hoped to commute there from her Hampden home by light rail and possible bike.  That certainly helps - I've seen too many LEED certified buildings in the boonies that are unreachable on foot or by bus or rail.

With its move, Kaplow said the green building chapter's 22-member board intended no slight to Baltimore city, which last year adopted a mandatory green-building law, though has yet to publish the standards needed to carry out the law.  But board members did discuss making their move a statement about their interest in Baltimore County, which offers property tax incentives for green commercial buildings.

Kaplow called Baltimore County "a place that is not always friendly to green," noting that the County Council shelved a vote Monday night that would have allowed construction of wind turbines there. "We would like to work with folks in the county," he added.

Maybe they can work with Baltimore County and others on reducing the storm-water pollution from "green" buildings.  I asked Josh Asbury, Merritt's project manager, what the company had done to curb runoff from its parking lot, and he said they'd just given it a new coat of asphalt.  Is this what county officials meant when they complained last winter that the state's new storm-water pollution control regulations needed to be made more flexible to allow redevelopment?

(Photos courtesy Baltlimore County)