Boca applies for certification as ‘green’ friendly community

Published June 16th, 2008

By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR

The city of Boca Raton wants to get certification as an environmentally friendly community.

Assistant City Manager Mike Woika outlined the application process to the City Council at a workshop meeting last week.

“Boca Raton is a leader in sustainability,” he said, pointing out a term that’s become synonymous with “green” friendly.

He said Boca Raton has taken a lead in processing wastewater into reclaimed water.  The city, he said, also practices “environmentally sensitive land acquisition, recycling and energy reduction.”

Woika told council members he is filling out the application to have Boca certified by the Florida Green Building Coalition, which has established Green Local Government Designation Standards.

Ironically, to go “green,” Boca is applying for a “silver” designation.  Other, more stringent regulations are gold and platinum.

What the city will get from the designation, he said, “is the recognition that it has done things that are environmentally friendly.”

“We will go through a list of standards and see how we stack up,” he told the Boca Raton News after the meeting.  “We want to see what others have done.”

He said it will take some 60 to 90 days to file the application. As part of the process, the city will be reviewed in 221 “credit” areas, with varying possible point totals in the areas of city administration, agriculture, building and development, economic development, emergency management and public safety, housing and human services, resource management, environmental protection, public works and engineering.

The application process also involves an in-house assessment, review and evaluation. The Florida Green Building Coalition assigns a project evaluator to meet with the city and verify the application forms.

To earn a “silver designation,” the city has to receive 20 to 40 percent of maximum applicable points.  Gold certification requires 40 to 60 percent of applicable points and platinum status requires a tally of 61 percent or higher.  Recertification is required every five years.

Woika said he feels the city can get the silver designation “without too much work.”