Landscape Architect Articles

Colorado ASLA Chapter12-04-17 | Feature

Colorado ASLA Chapter

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (center), pictured at a "protected bike lane opening" did not support the Green Roof Initiative because of its mandate approach and lack of options. He said the initiative would "hinder efforts to pilot, promote, phase and incentivize green infrastructure" in Denver.

Green Roof Initiative
Denver residents approved the Denver Green Roof Initiative Ordinance (I-300) on the November 7 ballot with a 54% approval tally. The ballot measure, which barely had enough signatures to get on the ballot (made it by 45 signatures), was put forth by a group of environmental activists. The initiative requires new buildings over 25,000 sq. ft., constructed in the city after Jan. 1, 2018 to include a green roof or combination of green roof and solar energy collection. Roof replacement projects above the 25,000 sq. ft. would require at least 20% of the roof be covered by solar panels or green roof components (depending of roof configuration and other factors). Denver thus joins San Francisco, New York, Paris and London among the cities to mandate green roofs on large new buildings.

The building and real estate interests opposed the initiative, citing increased construction costs. The opponents had a 6-to-1 fundraising advantage over the backers of the initiative.

ASLA Colorado reported on its website it was not approached about the initiative until it was on the ballot, and did not take a position on the initiative.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock did not think the initiative was the right approach for sustainability objectives. In a letter to the Denver City Council he said: "By taking a mandate-only approach and eliminating the opportunity for options, the initiative would actually hinder efforts to pilot, promote, phase and incentivize green infrastructure, as is being done in many of our peer cities across the United States."

Sunset Review
Back on Oct. 14, 2016, the Colorado Dept. of Regulatory Agencies released its 2017 sunset review of the state licensure program for landscape architects. It recommended to the state legislature that the LA licensure program be continued until 2028.

As seen in LASN magazine, December 2017.