Legal Side of Green Development
George Mongell, MSPPM/JD 2004, an attorney at Covington and Burling, LLP, an international law firm based in Washington, D.C., developed and led a panel session titled the "Legal Side of Green Development" at the Urban Land Institute's Fall Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, October 26, 2007. The panel addressed how changes in public policy will likely impact Green Development in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. More than 6,500 people, including representatives from global corporations, real estate developers, investment firms, accounting and consulting firms, lawyers, philanthropists and students interested in urban real estate development attended the ULI Meeting. This year's meeting placed a particular emphasis on environmental sustainability and public policy, with both Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary-General and Queen Noor of Jordan presenting keynote addresses.
The panelists for this session included fellow alumni Sam Reiman, MSPPM 2004 and Forbes Fund Program Officer; Peter Morris, Principal, Davis Langdon; and Mary Luevano, Policy Director, Global Green USA. The panel discussed four interrelated topics: (i) how changes in public policy will likely impact real estate documents for Green Development projects; (ii) the role of nonprofit foundations in advancing and funding Green Development in the nonprofit sector and how changes in public policy will likely impact those efforts; (iii) the cost-benefit of Green Development versus traditional development and public and private incentives for going green; and (iv) the impact of public policy in advancing Green Development initiatives such as building high performance public schools in several states, including California and Louisiana.
Session participants took notice of the comprehensive and interdisciplinary focus of the session, the only one to highlight specific legislation that has been passed or is pending mandating Green Development. "Many of the people we met and much of the information we heard during other panel sessions made us aware that developers still view building green as an option," said Mongell. "Our panel showed how building green is becoming mandatory, and that developers, architects and funders of Green Development need to adapt to these changes quickly in order to make sure their projects are successful and in compliance with local, state and federal law."
Reiman, who presented on the role of foundations in funding Green Development, further noted that, "Much of the information presented about Green Development during the meeting had to do with how it will impact climate change. What we were telling people was that Green Development also translates into lower utility bills for affordable housing residents, or higher performing public schools. Green Development has many practical benefits that impact other critical social issues, not just the environment, and we wanted everyone in the room to get excited about going green."
Based on the success of the session, Mongell will be presenting additional Green Development workshops at similar meetings both nationally and internationally. "Our session was about Green Development, but it blended the fields of law, business and public policy seamlessly so that every participant walked away with valuable information about how Green Development impacts their work," said Mongell and Reiman. "It truly reflected the interdisciplinary nature of the graduate education we received from Carnegie Mellon University."
