Tucson is generally thought of as a pretty evironmentally conscious city in many respects. Reclaimed water is widely used for landscaping, xeriscaping has been embraced & adopted by most people...without any regulation or mandate forcing people to do so.
Where we are behind the curve (so far) is in our commercial sector - LEED Certified buildings are few and far between, even in the government and public sector. Private is probably going to take the lead with LEED in Southern AZ. That being said, Tucson's Reid Park Zoo boasts southern Arizona's first LEED Platinum Certified building - congratulations!
Reid Park Zoo, located just east of Country Club Boulevard and south of the Colonia Solana neighborhood, is growing and evolving very nicely, and is a great asset to the community. Their educational programs are fun & informative no matter the age of the participant.
To learn more about what Tucson's Zoo has to offer, please visit their website: Tucson Zoo
Specializing in Buyer & Seller Representation in the Tucson, Arizona real estate market.
All original material written by Kent Simpson unless attributed to source.©2011, 2010, 2009,2008,2007
"Never forget - Real Estate Is About People"
Oooooo! Love the eye candy! What an interesting place to visit. Thank you for sharing. :-)
Do you know if they went to considerable expense to meet the standards? I'm wondering how much of an argument boards and other governing bodies have to go through... because I'd love to see such standards being met without an argument to cost.
Thanks for the cool comment, C! At first I thought I posted my photos from the lake! LOL
Chuck - to fulfill the requirements get Platinum certification, costs are somewhere in the neighborhood of 14% higher than standard construction costs (although I could be off a bit). Platinum is pricey, but to just get the level of LEED Certified, costs are minimally more than standard--on the scale of 1-3% higher, which makes it very affordable to start constructing buildings to a higher performance standard in the private sector.