by Jbs050909 b3 — May 13, 2009—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced that the second public comment period for its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Neighborhood Development opened May 1 and will close June 14, 2009. USGBC notes that the consensus-based process that drives the development of the LEED rating systems is key to ensuring LEED encourages the very best in building, design and development practices.
During the first public comment period that ended earlier in 2009, USGBC received more than 5,000 comments. Responses to each of those comments are posted on the LEED Rating System Draft Web page. In the second public comment period, only changes to the draft that were made after the first public comment period are open for comment.
The LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system integrates the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building into the first national rating system for neighborhood design. The program is the result of collaboration among USGBC, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council, with nearly 240 pilot projects participating since July 2007. Feedback gathered from those projects, as well as countless hours of USGBC volunteers’ time, have led to the current, more-sophisticated and market-responsive draft.
