The Atlanta Botanical Garden has responded to the environmental news site which last week questioned whether the Piedmont Park, er, parking deck was as “green” as it’s been touted.
After the jump, the garden’s PR people point out what they say were factual errors in Grist’s article. They even invite the Seattle-based news service out for a tour.
Environmental news site Grist has an interesting post today questioning whether the controversial parking deck in Piedmont Park is as “green” — or LEED-certified — as its proponents have claimed.
But the pro-parking deck forces point to its green attributes, and even named it “SAGE”—for Safety Access Greenspace and Expansion. Per the Conservancy’s website, the garage was built to LEED standards, with shaded areas for cars to reduce heat island effect; increased access to the park for visitors; a “virtually invisible” structure within several years, when the potted trees finally blossom; special parking spots for hybrids and such; a top-level bike rack; and rainwater capture to irrigate the gardens.
Hm. Other than the last two ingredients, pretty much none of its touted green factors are particularly green, nor are they part of the LEED system. In fact, the U.S. Green Building Council has no record of the SAGE parking facility—it was neither registered (the first step toward certification) nor certified. And a parking garage isn’t eligible for LEED certification—a building, says Scot Horst, senior vice president of LEED, must have at least one resident to even be considered.
Foes of the parking deck weren’t mollified by the LEED claims—“Putting trees in pots on a concrete monstrosity didn’t transform the essential nature of the beast,” says [Friends of Piedmont Park board member Jack White]—but the even more troubling thing, at least to the folks who oversee LEED, is the misuse of their carefully crafted system. LEED has endured a lot of criticism in its 13-year history—for being too complex, not accounting for regional differences, costing too much to achieve, etc.—and has responded with a user-friendlier version, dubbed LEED 3.0, this year. But, says Horst, if a project isn’t officially certified, “you have no idea what [developers] mean” when they use the term. (The Piedmont conservancy did not return email requests for comment.)
