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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
June 21, 2007
Group strives to ID greener developments
Katherine Conrad
While there is little love lost between environmental
groups and developers,
grudging respect appears possible.
Provided, of course, that the development is deemed "good for the greenbelt."
In a two-year partnership believed to be the first in the country, San Francisco-based
Greenbelt Alliance and housing developer AF Evans, headquartered in Oakland,
have teamed up to identify green Bay Area residential projects that are built
in downtown cores, close to transit, shopping and jobs.
"We want to let people know that where we choose to live matters," said Elizabeth Stampe, communications director for Greenbelt
Alliance. "There's
lot of focus on whether you have a recycled countertop or compact fluorescent
light bulbs. But we don't want the other point to be lost: that if you drive
everyday it obliterates anything else you do with the rest of your life."
The Bay Area is expected to grow by 1 million people in the next 13 years, and
Greenbelt Alliance believes enough housing can be built in the urban cores so
the surrounding hills and Central Valley farmlands can be preserved.
The partnership has been in the works since last winter when Jack Robertson,
president of AF Evans, approached Tom Steinbach, head of Greenbelt
Alliance.
"We've been doing a lot of projects that feed a big increasing need for
urban in-town living, especially for people who are sick of their commutes and
sick of filling up their gas tank twice a week," Robertson said.
While he wasn't greeted with open arms, Robertson wasn't shown the door either.
It helped, he said, that he was familiar with the almost 50-year-old environmental
group and knew some of the players because of Greenbelt's program that endorses
projects that meet environmentally friendly standards. But it took some work
to convince Greenbelt that he was on to something.
"They wanted to retain an arm's length association," recalled Robertson. "They
didn't want to look like they were being bought. It's a big issue trying to conceptually
get their arms around the notion of having an alliance with a development group."
Stampe agreed. "Partnering with a developer is definitely a big step for
an environmental organization, but this is not a blanket endorsement of everything
AF Evans does."
While no money changed hands, AF Evans will buy a $50 Greenbelt Alliance membership
for each home buyer and apartment renter of the projects that meet the Good for
the Greenbelt guidelines. With the number of units proposed by AF Evans - including
two projects in the South Bay - that could add up to as much as $100,000, Robertson
said
.
"It's a bold step on both their parts to meet in the middle in creating
projects," noted David Goldberg, communications director for Smart Growth
America, a Washington, D.C.-based organization of about 100 environmental groups
across the country. "If it works, it could be a powerful model for other
places. But it takes a lot of trust on both sides. It sure beats taking the project
straight to court."
The partnership is also a marketing tactic. For Greenbelt Alliance, it shows
that the group doesn't just say "no to bad development such as sprawling
subdivisions that pave over farmland," according to Stampe. And AF Evans
gets something, too: Greenbelt's stamp of approval to help sell and rent homes.
"According to our buyer and renter profile, a lot of people have a positive
association in their mind when they think about this relationship," Robertson
said. "If we were in Reno or the Central Valley, we would not bother with
this type of relationship. In the Bay Area, it resonates."
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