Recycled Excuses

The goal stalled until a year ago, when Dennis Murphey took over as the city's new chief of environmental quality. By late summer, Murphey was meeting with the Capital Improvement Management Office to figure out whether current projects could meet that standard.

This past October, the city cited nine projects that had been designed to, or might have complied with, Silver standards. By last week, a third of those projects — two fire stations and the new Shoal Creek Patrol Station — were no longer on the list.

The most touted project — the Bartle Hall ballroom expansion — may not meet the Silver standard, either, says Phaedra Svec, a BNIM architect who has consulted on that project. She stresses that there's a big learning curve when it comes to meeting LEED standards. But, she says, "Once you have more knowledge how to do it, it's really not that difficult."

The U.S. Green Building Council reports that 48 other cities have adopted green building mandates. So what does Kansas City have to do to catch up?

Pay an outside firm to study the problem and recommend a solution, of course.

The city began soliciting proposals from local firms in early 2006. Ink finally dried on a "LEED Services" contract with BNIM this month. Price tag: $150,995.

Meanwhile, back in Olathe, Angrisano says Johnson County is planning a green roof on the new County Communications Center, an environmental approach to a 416-bed jail expansion in Gardner, and eco-minded renovations in four existing buildings.

"The techniques are not exotic," he says. "Anybody can and should do this."