King County honors 'green building' achievements

Employees recognized for sustainable designs, recycling, conserving resources

Nearly two dozen King County employees whose exceptional efforts have helped King County become a nationally recognized leader in green, sustainable building were honored for their work Feb. 15 at the first-annual Green Building Summit in Tukwila.

The "Excellence in Building Green Awards" honor employees who contributed to protecting King County's natural resources by actively applying green-building techniques into their projects, including using recycled materials, salvaging old construction materials for future uses and designing projects with minimal impacts to the environment.

"These are the public servants who are bringing us new ways of achieving excellence and helping us work smarter in county government," said King County Executive Ron Sims, a longtime advocate of the "building green" philosophy. "Their ideas and work give the citizens of our county the double benefit of a healthier environment and the efficient, cost-effective services that we deliver every day."

The Green Building Summit featured David Eisenberg, a founder of the Development Center for Appropriate Technology and a former board member of the U.S. Green Building Council. Eisenberg was the keynote speaker for the inaugural Green Building Summit.

"The winners of these awards have exceeded King County's already high expectations for delivering products and services in a manner that is both environmentally friendly and financially responsible," said Pam Bissonnette, Director of the King County Natural Resources and Parks, and the awards presenter.

The Excellence in Building Green Award winners for 2005 are:

Cynthia Moffitt, King County Department of Development and Environmental Services -- For raising awareness about sustainable development practices and instituting successful programs to further King County's mission to support green building.

Butch Lovelace, King County Parks Division -- For his work to ensure Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for the Marymoor Maintenance Facility Project.

Bob Burns, Deputy Director, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks -- For sponsoring the county-wide "green building team" and leading "Urban Green," a non-profit organization that provides education and outreach on green building.

Harbor Island Deconstruction Project Team -- Francis Gaspay, Katie Spataro, Kinley Deller and Mike Long, for their work in to ensure that two wooden warehouse buildings of historical significance were deconstructed and the materials salvaged. More than 90 percent of the wood from the buildings was recycled or reused. The buildings had been slated for demolition because of safety concerns.

Lakewood Family Center Team -- Kevin Brown, Kurt Triplett, Jessie Israel, TJ Davis, Katie Spataro, DeSean Quinn and Sarah Jepson, for bringing cutting edge ideas in green design to the construction of a community center in King County's Lakewood Park. The team encouraged their non-profit partners, the Technology Access Foundation, to incorporate green building practices and conservation education into the project.

Henderson/M.L. King CSO Project Team -- Rick Andrews, Tim Goon, Alton Gaskill, Kathy Mathena and Christie True, for their work on this Wastewater Treatment Division project that will help eliminate overflows from sewers to Lake Washington during extreme storms. The project was designed before the LEED program was implemented in King County, but many components of the work contain green building elements.

DDES Sustainably Landscaped Gardens Team -- Karen May, Cynthia Moffitt and Doug Rice, for excellence in planning, designing and installing three sustainably landscaped gardens. The gardens serve as examples of affordable, sustainable and attractive landscaping that is in harmony with the local climate. Native and climate-adapted plans that require minimal additional watering were used in the gardens.

The winners' awards were made of recycled glass and were designed and created by Bedrock Industries, a King County Link-Up partner that produces a number of home and garden products using recycled glass.

More information on building green in King County is available at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/topics/sustainable-building/ on the Internet.