When the economy and local development projects like the Flats East Bank get back on track, ground-breaking green urbanism in Cleveland’s neighborhoods will also resume. Four Cleveland-area projects (and growing) are part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s pilot Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND).

A "Green Team" at Cleveland City Hall—including the city’s Building and Housing Department, Cleveland Traffic Engineer Robert Mavec, Cleveland Planning Director Bob Brown, LEED-ND project managers and others—has been working on ways to spread the impact of LEED-ND into existing urban neighborhoods.

The initial output of their yearlong planning sessions are Green Design Guidelines. If approved by city council, they would be applied to Cleveland’s LEED-ND pilot projects and areas surrounding them.

New developments in a green district would be required to adhere to the new design guidelines, which would be administered through the city’s existing design review process (raising the need for a staff person to oversee the points in the LEED rating system).

Examples of new policies that could arise from the guidelines are addressing stormwater and lighting in public areas in a more environmentally conscious way.

Read more and see the draft of the green design guidelines.