The following is the Owner Project Requirement I wrote for the design of the Ferguson Township Public Works Building. As you’ll see, it’s founded on our state’s and township’s policy commitments to supporting the health and well-being of the community understood as people and the land.
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The Board of Supervisors approved the LEED Gold design of a new Public Works Building as part of the 2017 budget. The original building was included in the budget for 2017, but with no environmental, green, or other performance requirements. Individual discussions with board members over the previous year led me to believe that a board majority or even the entire board supported green building practices. I believe the board recognizes good green buildings’ positive and interconnected long-term effects on human health and well-being, ecological integrity, and economic security. As a governmental body, it is our duty to make wise multigenerational decisions. I base my decisions, and the board has voted with me, on certain values backed by policy and law.
From the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions Resolution adopted on June 19th, the township has values of sustainability embedded in its guiding documents. First, Article 1, Section 27 of our Constitution guarantees a right to natural resources, concluding, “As trustees of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.” As a municipal government empowered through our Home Rule Charter, we are the most local stewards of this trust. A Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling has recently upheld a plain language reading of Article 1, Section 27 thereby granting it more power. Second, Ferguson Township adopted a Community and Environmental Bill of Rights (CEBR) in 2012. Among other things, it guarantees the right to “a sustainable energy future.” Third, our most recent Strategic Plan commits us to excellent services, fiscal responsibility, environmental stewardship, and renewable energy. The proposed building should enable us to achieve those goals with high-performance work environments, sound long-term energy conservation and onsite renewable energy, and exceptional attention to environmental impacts. Fourth, the Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors adopted a Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions Resolution on June 19th. The Resolution calls for us to make a plan for achieving net zero emissions no later than 2050, lead by example in a manner that is “transparent, fair, and economically responsible,” and to engage our governmental and non-governmental peers in the same. Finally, we are a Sustainable Pennsylvania Gold Certified community. The proposed LEED Gold Public Works building should help us pursue goals aligned with our guiding documents and build on our reputation.
The Ferguson Township Public Works Building should be a base from which the men and women of our Public Works Department carry out the best work they can, because it is outfitted with all necessary tools for their work and because it makes them healthy (see elsewhere). The building should exceed minimal health standards and be a vibrant place to work. It must help employees handle dangerous materials as law requires. But it should also have excellent indoor air quality because of a lack of toxic materials. Finally, it should have ample daylight. The building should make people feel fresh, alive, and want to smile. Imagine when we have public events and staff parties that people wouldn’t want to leave this building because it enables conviviality.
The building’s relationship to the “soils, waters, plants and animals, or collectively—the land” and the community, should generate health too. Plant life should be site- and region-specific to generate beauty, habitat, and handle site and rainwater practically and creatively. Rather than consign workers, other township employees, and our neighbors to another status quo industrial building, we should design and build a place where children would want to explore colors, smells, textures, and creatures. Parents should feel comfortable with them doing so (away from heavy equipment of course) because of creative low-impact high-ecosystem service development. It should use BMPs that mitigate rainwater so that chemical and thermal pollution are handled. That would relieve stresses on our aquifer and streams and possibly provide credits for our Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit. Specifically, Chesapeake Bay Pollutant Reduction Plan Minimum Control Measure. Sustainability-oriented thinking will also improve “upstream” and “downstream” effects on other parameters.
We should also approach materials that favor durability balanced by health, responsible production, consumption, and disposal, and minimal embodied energy in mind. Durability must guide material selection. However, sustainable and fair and just materials procurement should be carefully considered. We prefer products vetted by life cycle analysis programs and human rights certification systems. These include, but are not limited to Greenguard, the Forest Stewardship Council, and Fair Trade USA. We understand that some of these certification systems are young and some may use poorly-developed methodologies or methods for certification. Where possible, though, the underlying ethics favor such approaches.
Energy demand and supply should reduce energy loads from current use and help to mitigate climate change. This flows directly from the CEBR, the Ferguson Township Strategic Plan, and the Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions Resolution. The building should draw minimally from the grid through a combination of passive solar orientation, good daylighting, high-efficiency HVAC, lighting, appliances, and a tight envelope. The board has recently had an assessment of township property for solar photovoltaic development that could serve this and other projects with an integrated plan. Nonetheless, solar photovoltaic power is a smart choice as stewards for at least three reasons. First, national price parity with fossil fuels for solar is nearing, which makes our design and build time optimal. Second, should a price on carbon arrive in Pennsylvania through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or some kind of carbon tax or fee and dividend, the reduced load and solar generation would be avoiding the additional cost of both power generation and emissions from the 150,000+ kWh/year. Third, and finally, solar PV clearly helps us achieve net zero carbon emissions, thereby reducing overall climate-related risks and meeting goals that we have for local and global health for generations to come.
Peter Walks for Democracy 