Congratulations to our Regal Award Winning Clients!

LandmarkJCM congratulates all of the 2010 Regal Awards winners at the Home Builders Association of Delaware's 19th Annual Regal Awards ceremony on May 6, 2011 at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino!

LandmarkJCM's NGBS Accredited Verifiers are ecstatic to have worked with these builders on their green-built home projects!

Congratulations on your Regal Awards:

Benchmark Builders
Building A Brighter Future, LLC
Echelon Custom Homes
J.S. Hovnanian & Sons *
Insight Homes
LC Homes
Schell Brothers *
Zero Energy

* Congratulations to staffing award winners

LandmarkJCM was happy to win a Regal Award for the Best Associate Logo!

For a listing of all of the winners - including our clients and those we'd like to work with - and their spectacular projects and efforts that won Regal Awards, click: complete listing.

Delaware's Kevin Kelly Elected to NAHB

Kevin Kelly, President of Leon N. Weiner & Associates, was elected last week as Third Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Association of Home Builders. In this position, Kevin will serve on a multi-year leadship ladder, becoming the Chairman of NAHB's Board of Directors in 2014.

This is a huge accomplishment for Kevin, his firm, and Delaware. NAHB, with nearly 200,000 members, is the voice of housing for our nation.

We at LandmarkJCM are pleased to congratulate our client Kevin on this much deserved honor. We wish him the best of luck!

Congratulations to our Friends and Colleagues

The Homebuilder's Association of Delaware (HBADE) celebrated a Leadership and Legacy Ball on Saturday night.

Mark Gandy of Bath, Kitchen and Tile was honored as Associate of the Year.

Shari Hendley of J.S. Hovnanian was given the President's Distinguished Service Award.

Bob Thornton of Silverstock Builders was honored as the Builder of the Year.

Congratulations to them and to all of the Executive Committee Members and Board Members who were sworn in (see list here).

New Ocean Policy Announced (Includes Coasts)

The final recommendations from the Ocean Policy Task Force are out and adopted through Executive Order.

From the press release (emphasis added):

Establishes a new regional approach to how we use and protect the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes to decrease user conflicts, improve planning and regulatory efficiencies and decrease costs and delays, and preserve critical ecosystem services.
Creates a comprehensive alternative to sector-by-sector and statute-by-statute decision-making.
Establishes regional planning bodies, bringing Federal, state, and tribal partners together in an unprecedented manner to jointly plan for the future of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes.
Ensures science-based information is at the heart of decision-making.
Emphasizes stakeholder and public participation.

Find more information here:

http://nahbenews.com/nahbehs/issues/2010-08-06/2.html

Green for Green, More Press

The Nations Building News features an article about the Delaware Green for Green Program. Howard Fortunato, Green Building Professional with LandmarkJCM and President of the Green Building Council is quoted.

This is a great program for Delaware and will help stimulate new home sales in the absence of the Federal Tax Credit.

See the article here: http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2010-07-12/Green+Building/index.html

Smart Growth Clashes with Storm Water Regulations

Everyone says it is a good idea, encourage development where there are opportunities for re-development or where there are already utilities and infrastructure.  Stop sprawl by creating urban centers where people can live, work and play.

All of this means higher density development but concentrated in a smaller area allowing the preservation of natural resources.

Many consumers are now deciding that this is how they would like to live.  Governments, Environmentalists and others are applauding the idea.  So what's the problem?

New, more stringent storm water regulations being implemented by Federal and State governments make smart growth nearly impossible.  These rules want to encourage infiltration, reduce impervious surfaces and make storm water BMPs larger.  All of these things potentially conflict with "Smart Growth".

NAHB has published an article about this here: http://nahbenews.com/nahbehs/issues/2010-07-02/4.html

For more information on Smart Growth and Storm Water Rule Changes, contact Joe Charma or Keith Rudy at LandmarkJCM.

Federal Government Refuses to Pay Storm Water Fee

From the NAHB Environmental Issues Committee Newsletter:

http://nahbenews.com/nahbehs/issues/2010-07-02/3.html


The Federal Government (EPA) has mandated that the District of Columbia, reduce the amount of storm water run-off.  In response, DC has mandated a storm water fee to be paid by all property owners.  The problem:  The Federal Government owns 20% of the land area of DC and refuses to pay the fee.

Jim McCulley of LandmarkJCM serves on the NAHB Environmental Issues Committee which meets again in September in New York City. 

Marketing Green Homes

Nations Building News has a great article on marketing of green homes.

Here is a excerpt:


Included in the mix of possible customers are the true environmentalist, who is sophisticated and will give some thought to the products going into the home and wants to know more about the philosophy and operations of the company; the concerned mother who is worried about poisons in the home; the socially conscious hipster who wants to be seen doing the right thing; the patriot who cares about the bearing on the national interest of such global issues as energy consumption; the self-sufficient survivalist family that home-schools its children; and the technology geek, he said.

View the article here.

For more information on building green, contact Howard Fortunato at LandmarkJCM.

Announcement of Green for Green

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) today congratulated the Home Builders Association of Delaware and state officials on the creation of a program that offers cash incentives for building homes certified by the NAHB Research Center to the National Green Building Standard.

“This is significant news for home buyers in the First State,” said NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a home builder and developer in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “These incentives help bring green homes down to a more competitive price point, and that’s especially important for today’s consumer.”

Delaware Green for Green is a partnership between home builders and the state Department of Natural Resources of Environmental Control. The rebates range from $3,000 for homes built to the Silver level of the standard to $5,000 for Gold and $6,000 for the Emerald level.

The incentives are structured to reflect the progressively more strict requirements of the standard: For example, homes built to the Emerald level are built to be 60 percent more energy efficient than homes built to prevailing building codes.

All homes must be independently verified and then certified by the NAHB Research Center. Additional information and participation requirements are at www.degreen4green.com.

“In partnership with our state’s leaders, Delaware builders continue to lead the nation in using green building technology and building energy-efficient homes,” said HBA president Mark Grahne of Atlantic Homes. “Our members have built more green homes per capita than any other state. Delaware is a small state but we have a big agenda: We want to spur demand for energy-efficient homes, thereby increasing jobs while reducing our carbon footprint. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

NAHB Research Center President Mike Luzier said the Delaware program is another indication of the strength of the National Green Building Standard, the first residential green building rating system to be certified by the American National Standards Institute.

“While Delaware Green for Green applies to new home construction, the standard can also be used to score, verify and certify remodeling projects and residential developments. Because of its flexibility, ease of use, and the strength of the third-party certification, the National Green Building Standard makes sustainable construction accessible to the mainstream home buyer,” Luzier pointed out.

In addition to energy efficiency, the standard scores and rates new homes for resource and water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and lot and site development. A homeowner’s manual is also mandatory under the standard to help ensure the home is maintained and operated to best reap the advantages of the home’s green features.

“I’m very encouraged that other states are looking to this new Delaware program as an excellent example of an incentive program with clear environmental and economic outcomes,” Jones said.

“This is also a case study for what makes a successful public-private partnership: In this case, the state’s home builders, environmental officials, and the third-party NAHB Research Center. Delaware Green for Green is poised to be a home run,” Jones said.

For more information on the program and for home verification, contact Howard Fortunato at LandmarkJCM

An Update on Chesapeake Bay Regulatory Activities

An Update on Chesapeake Bay Regulatory Activities

By Glynn Rountree, NAHB

Staff of the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office have their noses to the grindstone as they feverishly work to complete the computer modeling and the analysis of the modeling results necessary for the proposal of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL this fall.

Last year, the EPA expected that the TMDL would be proposed in May, but that proposal date has now been pushed back until sometime in the fall because of a number of issues cropping up, including working out the kinks in the latest updates to the modeling software. Nevertheless, the EPA is committed to finalizing the Bay TMDL by the end of this year with an expectation that new restrictions on nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment discharges will be reflected in all NPDES permits in the bay watershed in 2011.

While the EPA is concentrating on putting together the TMDL, the states in the bay watershed are busily putting together their Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs), which will contain the details of the actions that each state will take to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loadings during the period of 2011 through 2017, which runs to the midpoint of the bay restoration program.

By 2017, each state is expected to have achieved 60% of the pollutant reductions necessary to meet their state TMDL water quality goals, and to have completed an outline of how the state will achieve the remaining pollutant reductions by the end of 2025.

Because of the severity of the pollutant reductions needed and the lack of state experience in putting together WIPs, the EPA is not expecting the states to finalize their WIPs until sometime in 2011, after the TMDL has been finalized. In addition, each state must publish its two-year milestones for the 2012-2014 period by January 2012. The two-year milestones consist of short-term actions and goals that the state will use to comply with the new requirements.

Because of the many challenges that the EPA and the states face to complete the TMDL by the end of 2010, only a very short public comment period might be provided for the proposed rule, perhaps as little as 30 days. NAHB has used several forums to voice its opposition to a shortened comment period for the proposed rule, even though the EPA has not sought public comment on the matter.

On May 6, the EPA met with representatives of the “development community” at the NAHB offices in Washington, D.C. Attending the meeting were NAHB staff members, developers, builders and representatives from other trade associations involved in development activities.

Prior to the meeting, the EPA aired a three-hour on Chesapeake Bay issues of interest to the development community. The intent of the morning webinar and the afternoon meeting was two-fold:

• For EPA to provide the latest thoughts on potential new Chesapeake Bay TMDL requirements for development and redevelopment
  
  
• For NAHB to talk to EPA about its concerns, comments and suggestions concerning the potential new Bay requirements. At EPA’s request, other development organizations were invited to listen to the webinar and discussion and participate if they wish. NAHB also provided a conference call number for its members to listen in to the afternoon meeting.

The EPA made plain that the TMDL will be very challenging and that all stakeholders should be working with their particular state to provide their input to the state as it develops its plans for meeting the TMDL requirements.

During the meeting, both NAHB and the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office expressed their desire to establish a long-term relationship to continue the discussion of new requirements affecting development and redevelopment. It was also mentioned that other federal agencies that lend money to developers, and those that have an interest in affordable housing, have been missing — but should be a part of — these storm water discussions about new requirements on development.

For more information, contact Jim McCulley at LandmarkJCM

Kevin Kelly Honored by NAHB for Commitment to Affordable Workforce Housing

Kevin was recently honored by NAHB as the 2010 Daniel M. Grady Memorial Award, which honors and recognizes work and advocacy for the casue of affordable and workforce housing.

The complete story by RealEsate Rama, can be viewed here:

http://www.realestaterama.com/2010/05/05/nahb-honors-delaware-builder-for-committment-to-affordable-and-workforce-housing-ID07086.html

LandmarkJCM commends and applauds Kevin as he continues this cause at his firm Leon N. Weiner & Associates, and our congratulations on achieving this prestigious recognition.

Jim McCulley Recognized by NAHB at IBS in January

Jim McCulley was recognized last month as a finalist for Associate of the Year for the National Association of Home Builders. This is huge feat considering NAHB has several hundred thousand members across the country! Read about it at the Home Builder's link below:

http://www.hbade.org/blog/category-9.html

Congrats Jim, we are all very proud!

Jim Re-Appointed to NAHB Committee

Jim McCulley was re-appointed to the National Association of Homebuilders, Environmental Issues Commitee for 2010.

The committee and subcommittees will meet in Washington, DC in April, New York City in September and Orlando, FL in January of 2011.

Jim was proud to serve on this committee in 2009 and honored to be re-appointed for another year.  The committee is currently dealing with several issues at the national level, including:

• Storm Water ELGs
• Chesapeake Bay
• Energy Efficiency
• Climate Change
• Wetlands

For more information, contact Jim at (302) 323-9377 or jim@jcmenv.com

International Builders Show

Jim is back from the International Builders Show (IBS) where he got a lot of good information related to the economy, environmental issues and energy efficiency.

Jim serves on the Environmental Issues Committee at the National Association of Homebuilders and had his regular committee meeting in association with the IBS Convention.  Jim also serves on the NAHB Board of Directors which also met in conjunction with IBS.

For more information, contact Jim at 302-323-9377 or jim@jcmenv.com

Associate of the Year Nominee at the National Level

Jim McCulley, Principal at Landmark/JCM has been nominated for the Associate of the Year at the National Level for the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB).

The award will be presented at the International Builder's Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday January 20th.

There are twenty nominees from all over the United States.

Congratulations Jim!

Jim, Clients On the HBADE Board of Directors

At Monday's HBA/DE inaugural luncheon, Jim McCulley was again sworn in as a Board member. What's different this time is that Jim is an Officer and Member of the Executive Commitee! This can only help strengthen the Home Builders, as Jim's participation and involvement will continue on this new level. Besides being a long serving Board member and earlier winner of the Associate of the Year and the President's Award, Jim is the authority on responsible environmental issues for HBA/DE and the Board. He also represents Landmark/JCM and Delaware as a member of the NAHB Board of Directors and their Environmental Committee as well. That's Jim on the far end (photo by Jay Greene).

Also we're pleased to congratulate Fred Fortunato of Benchmark Builders (first on nearest end), Scott Bradley of Bestfield Homes (mr. beard) and Kevin Whittaker (second from left) of Whittaker Homes. All are clients of ours, for inauguration onto the Board of Directors. Fred becomes the Senior Vice President, Scott is our Vice President representing Kent County and Kevin VP for New Castle County. Not shown but also sworn onto the Board are clients: Steve Bomberger, Immediate Past President; Don Yoos of J.S. Hovnanian and Sons, and Bob Thornton of Silverstock Builders. The oath of office was administered by our client Kevin Kelly of Leon Weiner & Assoc.

Way to go guys!

Howard is a Big Winner

Howard Fortunato, manager of the Green Systems Division at Landmark/JCM http://www.landmarkjcm.com/ was presented with the Associate of the Year award from the Homebuilder's Association of Delaware (HBADE).

Here is a link to the Delaware State News Article: LINK

Howard has been the President of the HBADE Green Building Council for two years and has been instrumental in advancing green residential construction in Delaware.  Howard assisted Silverstock Builders in building the first Gold Certified Home under the NAHB Green Building Guidelines in the Nation and has assisted many builders in building green homes in the State.

Congratulations Howard!

You can reach Howard at howard@jcmenv.com

You Wanted Change...You Are Getting It!

Jim presented a summary of the new environmental initiatives at the Federal level that are coming out of the Obama Administration at a Homebuilders Association of Delaware (HBADE) breakfast this morning.

These new initiatives cover everything from storm water, wetlands, nutrients and climate change.

HBADE will be sponsoring additional seminars in Kent County and Sussex County in the coming weeks.

For more information, contact Jim at jim@jcmenv.com

Chicago NAHB Meetings

Jim is back from Chicago where he attended the 2009 Fall Board Meetings for the National Association of Homebuilders. Jim serves on the Environmental Issues Committee, the Education Subcommittee, the Post Construction Storm Water Management Task Force and the NAHB Board of Directors.

Some significant upcoming issues were discussed at these meetings as well as a very in depth housing economics update. Please contact Jim for more information at jim@jcmenv.com

A list of topics discussed includes:

• Post construction SWM facility maintenance


• Clean Water Act Enforcement


• Effluent Limitation Guidelines (due in December)


• Smarter Growth Options


• Climate Change Legislation


• Great Lakes Restoration Plan


• Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Legislation


• Chesapeake Bay TMDL and Legislation

JCM Presents Green Building to Eastern Shore (MD) BIA

Wednesday night Jim McCulley, Joe Gordon and I were assisted by Bob Thornton (Silverstock Builders) in a presentation to the Eastern Shore Building Industry Association at their dinner meeting. We were their guest speakers to introduce green and the NAHB green building program to their members (NAHB had given them our name as a speaker). And what an introduction to green it turned out to be!

The 40 or so members at the meeting were all very passionate about their feelings and questions and this provided for lively discussion and interaction. Heretofore they mostly had not heard any of this firsthand. (In effect we were first responders, much like the meeting was in a restaurant previously a firehouse for first responders.) We first explained what green is and is not, then Bob Thornton described his positive experiences with the benefits he has seen by building green and having built the first NAHB Gold Certified home in the Nation since the program began. Then we provided a surface explanation about how a builder builds green and gets their homes certified by the NAHB Research Center. Finally we concluded the presentation with details as to how their Association can become affiliated with NAHB Green, and the benefits of forming a Green Building Council.

A great deal of the comments and questions were related to identifying how a builder figures out the cost to build green, and how to translate the benefits of green building to prospective new buyers. The session will help us refine future presentations to more clearly address these questions. While we hope we will soon hear from some of the attendees as they consider implementing green building, we are equally excited they may use our help to initiate the NAHB Affiliation and Green Building Council route, same as we did 18 months ago in Delaware.