Petaluma Ecumenical Properties (PEP) Housing of Petaluma & Casa Grande Senior Housing, a 58-unit, five-building, 36,386-square-foot affordable housing apartment complex for low-income seniors, won the 2009 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award. The annual Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award Program is administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency, in partnership with the Department of Food and Agriculture, Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, California Integrated Waste Management Board, and the State and Consumer Services Agency. The Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award Program is California’s highest environmental honor. Casa Grande Senior Apartments won the award in the category of Sustainable Communities.
Casa Grande Senior Apartments is the first green-rated, multi-family project to be built in Sonoma County. The project received double the green points needed to earn a Petaluma Build It Green certificate. The project passed the Build It Green rating checklist with 103 green points, surpassing the 50 points needed to become Green Point Rated. The Green Point rating acknowledges a wide spectrum of green features, most notably the solar photovoltaic system that augments the community’s site electrical power, the metal stud construction to conserve natural resources, and concrete pedestrian pathways which prevents run-off flooding and returns rainwater to the water table.
“This honor recognizes PEP Housing’s commitment to developing socially responsible and environmentally friendly practices that promote environmental protection and economic growth,” said Mary Stompe, Executive Director. “PEP Housing has an obligation to our community to protect our natural resources and environment for generations to come.”
PEP Housing took steps in creating a development that minimizes its effects on the environment that included selecting products that are energy efficient and will withstand normal wear and tear, such as low VOC paint, formaldehyde-free wood, recycled carpet and water-based glues. Archumana served as architects for the project.
Other features which were integrate into their community include a pesticide-free garden with wheelchair accessible boxes, landscaping with native plants, drought-resistant trees and shrubs, and use of landscape drainage to minimize surface run-off water. During construction, more than 75 percent of waste was recycled.
