Howard County’s First Green Neighborhood – Locust Chapel!

I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to act as the Project LEED AP for Site Development for Howard County’s first ‘Green Neighborhood” project, a residential subdivision known as “Locust Chapel.” Locust Chapel is located in Ellicott City, Maryland, at the intersection of Ilchester and Beechwood Roads, and the project is being developed by Ellicott City Land Holding, Inc.. This project has been a lot of fun, and will feature some outstanding green amenities. I’m also chronicling the site development work over at http://www.locustchapel.com, and I invite you to take a look if you get a chance.

Howard County’s Green Neighborhood program is an exciting initiative designed to reward builders and developers for designing and building a site to green standards. It is a County- developed certification program that consists of two components – a site development portion, and a homes portion. At this time, the project has attained its initial designation as a Green Neighborhood for Site Development.

In terms of site development, we are implementing some great green technologies, including:

1. Site design around the natural grade of the site to reduce the amount of disturbance to natural land areas and grading;
2. Infrastructure materials sourced from recycled materials located within 200 miles of site to reduce the amount of transit needed to bring materials to site;
3. A construction waste management plan to reduce the amount of trash on-site and recycle materials that can be recycled (including cans and also oil);
4. Reusing any trees that need to be cleared as mulch to line a natural surface trail that will link the community. Benches and educational kiosks will be located along the trail system;
5. 36 homes will have rain barrels sized to treat a 1 inch rain event. Water collected by the barrels can be re-used for gardens and lawn and will help reduce stormwater runoff from the roof of the residence;
6. A community pavilion featuring a green roof and solar panels

This is a just a sampling of the many features of Locust Chapel. Check out http://www.locustchapel.com for more information!

Feel free to contact me with any questions about Howard County’s Green Neighborhood program or about Locust Chapel, specifically. I’m happy to share my experiences with you.

Welcome!

Welcome to the website of The Law Offices of Megan L. Reuwer, P.A.!