Florida Green Building Coalition Announces Roy Bonnell as Executive Director

On July 8, 2003 the Florida Green Building Coalition, Inc. took a major step forward in its development when it signed a contract with Roy Bonnell to serve as the organization’s first Executive Director. The FGBC Board of Directors chose Roy from a group of highly qualified applicants during its June 2003 Board Meeting.

According to Rob Andrys, FGBC President,“Because of the rapid spread of green building concepts and practices here in Florida and across the nation, FGBC has now grown to the point where we need a person on staff to handle the coordination of the many projects and programs that are currently in place or being developed.” Karen Childress, FGBC Vice President, added that, “We wanted a person who not only had strong management, marketing, fund-raising, and organizational skills, but also one who has strong communication skills and is a creative thinker. Roy brings all of these skills to the position.”

Roy has over 30 years of program and project management experience. Most recently he served for three years as the Project Manager for the Florida Gulf Coast University’s Green Building Project, which is building a Green Building Learning Center on the FGCU campus. He was also a founding member of FGBC, served on the Board of Directors and until May of this year served as the organization’s Treasurer. While at FGCU he was personally responsible for raising over $1,000,000 for the University.

As Executive Director, Roy will be responsible for overseeing memberships, fund raising and grant writing. He will be serving as a liaison with local governments to create incentives for green building certification compliance. He will also be promoting the mission, goals, and programs of FGBC, as well as representing the interests of the organization to industry, government agencies, and national/international groups.

Because of his background in green building, his dedicated service to FGBC in the past, and his passion for the promotion of green concepts, Roy was selected as the best person to lead this organization.

FGBC to participate in national coalition of green homebuilding programs.

The FGBC board approved participation in a new National Coalition of Green Home Programs. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) helped form the group so that the local stakeholders could work with USGBC towards common goals regarding green home programs for the nation. FGBC homes standard working committee chairman, Eric Martin of the Florida Solar Energy Center, will attend an upcoming meeting in Oregon. Eric has also agreed to serve on a steering committee for the new coalition. USGBC is serving the role of secretariat.

Specifically, FGBC agreed to sign the following mission statement.

National Coalition of Green Homebuilding Programs
Mission Statement
July 1, 2003

We, the undersigned parties, hereby announce the formation of and our membership in a National Coalition of Green Homebuilding Programs, whose mission is to promote the design, construction, and operation of high-performance, resource-efficient homes through the support, enhancement, and development of market-based initiatives at the national, state, and local levels.

Voting membership in the coalition is open to organizations that develop and/or administer green homebuilding programs. Advisory (non-voting) membership is open to other stakeholders active in the residential green building industry, including homebuilders; design professionals and allied occupations; national, regional, state, and local organizations; utilities; universities and educators; and banking, insurance, real estate, and code institutions.

The coalition will be led by a steering group elected from among its members. How the coalition will function and its programs or products will be determined by the coalition members. The administrative needs of the coalition will be fulfilled by a secretariat whose principal role will be to convene the coalition and coordinate the work of volunteers drawn from the coalition’s membership.

We are forming this coalition because we recognize that the strength and synergy of a diverse coalition will be much more effective than the disconnected efforts of the individual parties and organizations in transforming the homebuilding industry to more sustainable practices.

FGBC presents first green development certification plaque to the CEO and chairman of The Bonita Bay Group

After being introduced by The Bonita Bay Group chairman David Lucas as having traveled from the space coast of Florida, Florida Solar Energy Center Buildings Research Director Rob Vieira indicated that "the green development designation was a small step for The Bonita Bay Group but a large leap for Florida home buyers." Vieira went on to explain the benefits to home buyers of having a designation that was verified by an independent organization. The Bonita Bay Group' Verandah project was the first in the state to receive the designation from the Florida Green Building Coalition. The development is adjacent to the Orange River in Ft. Myers.

Press releases
Project Summary

Sponsor Opportunities for a Green Aurora

In celebration of the emerging green building marketplace, we kindly seek your sponsorship for the 2004 Green Aurora Awards, recognizing Florida’s greenest homes and residential developments. These awards serve a two-fold purpose of honoring industry leaders while fostering market growth through increased awareness of green building principles. We are requesting this worthy sponsorship opportunity be considered in your annual budgetary meetings early this year as the sponsorships will be reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis, with an absolute deadline of October 31, 2003, or order to meet the final print deadline for entries in November, 2003.

The AURORA Awards program is affiliated with the Florida Home Builders Association and the Southeast Building Conference – one of two regional trade shows recognized by and affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders. It offers AURORA Award winners’ premier media recognition, acknowledgement of success among peers, improved market perception, and increased sales potentially through recognition to outstanding builders, planners, architects, developers, designers, interior merchandisers and other housing-related professionals. Full sponsor letter (pdf).

On-line press releases describe FGBC activities

Press releases have been developed to help members spread the news about the Florida Green Building Coalition activities. The releases were developed in conjunction with Gravina, Smith & Matte while announcing the green development certification for The Bonita Bay Group's Verandah development in Ft. Myers, at no cost to FGBC.

2003 Annual meeting held in Palmetto at Kendrick Auditorium

The annual meeting, held March 11 and 12 in Palmetto offered updates on all the standards and case studies.

Jean Meadows, serving as the annual meeting host and chair, released the agenda for this year's meeting. The meeting featured a tour of a new green office building adjacent to the Kendrick Auditorium. March 12 featured tours in Manatee county or attending a course on designating green homes. Full agenda.

Alachua County Housing Authority receives green certification for rural home

Brad Guy, one of the original FGBC organizing committee members and current FGBC nominating committee chair, served as one of the green champions and FGBC green certifier for the new Alachua County Housing Authority green home. It was constructed as an example of how to apply green to low-cost grant housing. Brad, from the University of Florida's School of building Construction, and David Duperault, Grants Coordinator for the Alachua County Housing Authority answered some questions about the home.

Q. What is unique about the funding and the building team?
Thanks to the State Housing Initiative Program (SHIP) for seeing the value in the original proposal and coming through with the funding. We also got a small grant from The Home Depot Environmental Program. The project was also benefited by the involvement of the Dignity Project as our contract labor. The Dignity Project is a not-for-profit organization in Gainesville that trains at-risk youth in the building construction and automotive repair professions. We were able to get the house built for lower labor costs, while helping to provide much-needed job skills to some otherwise under served members of our community.

Q. What was the basis for the design?
The design was based upon simple east-west form, nestled in existing trees, floor plan concentrated plumbing and mechanical in a zone in the middle of the house, deep porches at east and west end. Bedrooms lined up with a hallway to the back porch to allow expansion of bedrooms by enclosing back porch. Kitchen is nice layout with a squared-off bay-window type niche for maximum view and ventilation at the sink. Lots of green materials including reuse of salvaged western red cedar for a large proportion of the wood framing.

Q. What was the most difficult decision in terms of the site, the design, the construction?
Most difficult in terms of design was trying to plan around reuse of reclaimed manufactured trusses and also trying to use of SIPs and having to scrap these goals and starting parameters to go for a convential wood-framed building and all new trusses. It still turned out great, but we hoped to save some more on materials by use of trusses that would have been free to the ACHA.

Q. What are you most proud of?
It is a darn cute little house with some nice views, porches and very good daylighting, and lots of green materials.

Bonita Bay and WCI make the decision to certify new developments green

The Bonita Bay Group and WCI Communities, Inc. have been the first developers to indicate their intention to certify certain developments green by sending their presubmittal agreements and deposits to FGBC.

Kitty Green, Vice President of the new Lee County community Verandah, explains The Bonita Bay Group dedication to green development, "The Bonita Bay Group was founded on the principle of environmentally sensitive development. We are developing Verandah with that same respect for the land, and achieving the new FGBC designation seemed a great way to document our practices."

Karen Childress, Manager of Environmental Stewardship for WCI Communities, Inc., is excited about the new Venetian Golf and River Club in Venice, situated adjacent to the designated wild and scenic Myaka River. "This community is an excellent example of striving to maintain environmental integrity with a location of unique natural resources." WCI's Pelican Sound, began in the 90s, demonstrates, "The company has a history of making efforts to preserve important natural attributes, such as this site along the Estero River." Childress, who is also an elected board member of FGBC, describes a third project, "Sun City Center, Ft. Myers, delivers education and outreach to involve residents in environmental stewardship decisions." The mix of projects being submitted shows some of the versatility of the standard.

A summary of projects in the process (deposits received)will be maintained on-line by FGBC.

The FGBC green development standard was passed by the board in September, 2002. The standard provides FGBC "third-party" verification of doing an exceptional job with the designing, planning and operation of developing land. Categories include natural resource protection, circulation, utilities, covenant and deed restrictions, amenities, and education.

Certifying agents now listed on-line

Who can certify a home as an FGBC green home? A certifying agent.
A list of certifying agents is now being maintained on-line.

Membership in FGBC is open to anyone, and FGBC has several levels of membership available. Please consider joining if you have not yet done so.