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Letter to the editor

Many shades of green abound in North Pinellas

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 2, 2007

The "green" movement is showing up in north Pinellas County in a big way. Take, for example, the recent announcement that the developers restoring the 110-year-old Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa to its former grandeur intend to spend the extra time and money to make it a "green" building.

At a news conference Nov. 19 featuring Gov. Charlie Crist, Legg Mason Real Estate Investors of Los Angeles said that the firm will seek a special designation, called LEED certification, awarded for projects that meet a rigorous set of environmental standards. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

"This resort will be reborn as a modern, energy-efficient, LEED-certified, green building," said Joe Penner, managing director for Legg Mason.

Legg Mason bought the historic Belleview Biltmore property in June for more than $30-million and expects to invest more than $100-million in the renovations. Legg Mason has said the enormous wood structure, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will be renovated in a way that preserves its historic roots - no easy task for a building that size. The announcement that Legg Mason also intends to satisfy an exacting list of environmental standards to get green certification is just another indication of the firm's ambitious, spare-no-expense approach to the project.

Pinellas County government is already winning awards for its green efforts, and Dunedin also has ambitions when it comes to going green. The city has built a certified green building, the new Dunedin Community Center, and now has hired a "sustainability coordinator" to help the city change its approaches on everything from recycling to how it powers city vehicles. Thanks to the efforts of sustainability coordinator Valerie Lane, Dunedin employees are asked to turn off lights and unplug electronic equipment and consider riding their bikes to work. She's also seeking certification as a green city government through a laborious documentation process and is planning to work with local schools.

Largo city government has not plunged into the green movement with as much fervor as Dunedin, but the city's recycling coordinator recently visited the statewide Efest at a green master-planned community in Sarasota, where a number of speakers educated attendees on the trend toward green living. Another city employee attended a conference in Baltimore that focused on protecting and increasing the tree cover in neighborhoods.

Daily, our understanding of the destructive impact of the human footprint on the Earth increases. All individuals, businesses and governments should be finding ways to "go green."

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[Last modified December 1, 2007, 21:29:54]