In 2006, our city council approved the “Build It Green” program to encourage environmentally friendly, efficient building.
In reality, the city’s commitment to green building is laughable.
I own a 1950’s ranch style house surrounded by lovely Victorian and Craftsman homes. The neighborhood is considered a “Historic District,” and is subject to a set of building rules meant to preserve its historic beauty.
One rule is that we may not re-side our homes using material that “wasn’t available and used in the 1930’s” … which leaves wood, wood, and wood.
I found a very high quality synthetic siding material that is indistinguishable from wood, provides superior insulation, and most importantly to us, spares the trees.
The Planning Department ruled that we may not use this siding despite the facts that it looks exactly like wood, our house is not of the type that the Historic District guidelines were developed to apply to, and their ruling flies in the face of a purported commitment to green building.
I am beside myself as a property owner and as somebody who is legitimately concerned about our environment, and encourage like minded residents to join me in decrying this hypocrisy.
Posts: 2 | Location: Petaluma | Registered: 23 April 2008
Perhaps taking a very large sample of the siding and painting it prior to taking it to a real meeting would change the opinion of the planing department. Listening to something and ot having a peice of material in hand is two completely different situations. Green is one thing we are trying to aspire to. Not only the material involved but the money saved in heating and cooling, needless to say the longer lasting lifetime of the material that you are trying to present. A printout of the material specifications/manufacturing/etc along with a sample should sway people once they are presented with it. It hurts nothing to be prepaired and to once again ask...
quote:
I found a very high quality synthetic siding material that is indistinguishable from wood, provides superior insulation, and most importantly to us, spares the trees.
The Planning Department ruled that we may not use this siding despite the facts that it looks exactly like wood, our house is not of the type that the Historic District guidelines were developed to apply to, and their ruling flies in the face of a purported commitment to green building.
Posts: 19 | Location: Gardner, KS, soon Petaluma, CA. | Registered: 08 April 2008
good advice Gardner ... but we're not talking about reasonable people here in the Planning Dept ... believe me. Welcome to town nevertheless, it is a great place to live!
As for 2cents: thanks for the insight. Very enlightening.
Posts: 2 | Location: Petaluma | Registered: 23 April 2008
Don't be so sure about finding a "high quality" synthetic siding. Be more certain about finding a synthetic siding that markets itself as high quality. Composites don't insulate any better than wood, are created with hydrocarbons that deteriorate into toxins and in spite of what they claim, don't last as long as wood. How about traditional insulation and double pane windows, curtains, trees to improve your energy efficiency and "green" footprint, if that's your goal?
