Cooper Crest Development
* April 2005 *
New Building Standards on Cooper Point
by Carol Burns, from the C.P.A. April 2005 newsletter
New building standards will be on display for six weeks in March and
April at the Cooper Crest Development on Cooper Point. Because Cooper Crest
is in the Green Cove Creek Drainage Basin, developments must meet low impact
standards designed to reduce the amount of storm water drainage into Green
Cove Creek. Reduction of impervious surfaces and retention of trees are the
key requirements.
Three homes will be featured which also meet Built Green™ standards. This
is a licensed certification program that certifies buildings as "green"
based on a point system. Participating builders are required to meet an
energy efficiency threshold and then must earn a minimum number of points
from categories covering additional energy efficiency, health and safety,
materials selection, and resource conservation.
There are three levels of certification. One of the three finished homes
has been built to level three standards, which until recently was the
highest. (A level four standard is being developed in the Seattle area.) A
second home is being left unfinished so that people can see inside the
walls. A third home displays the lower “level one” certification, which
differs very little from current City of Olympia standards.
Homes may be visited between 10 AM and 6 PM every Saturday and Sunday
through May 1. Because the low impact standard limits space for parking,
visitors are asked to park at Marshall Middle School and take shuttle buses
into Cooper Crest. Or, it is a manageable walk of several hundred yards from
the school to the development.
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