Santa Monica Pursues Sustainable Development

The City of Santa Monica, California, has hired a team of local and international designers, researchers, and engineers to draft Sustainable Development Guidelines for new buildings. This effort grew out of Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Program and out of controversy over the redevelopment of the City’s 45-acre Civic Center. Public opposition to a ballot initiative concerning development plans for the Center evaporated when a commitment was made that the development comply with terms of the Sustainable City plan. At that point, rather than creating guidelines just for the civic center, “we decided instead to create blanket guidelines for the whole city,” reports Dean Kubani, Santa Monica’s environmental programs analyst.

Given the credentials of the consulting team hired by the City, the resulting guidelines are likely to be quite progressive and well grounded. The $150,000 contract was awarded to a team led by Project Manager Ian Theaker of Sheltair Scientific Limited of Vancouver, Canada. Also on the team are: