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Indian Shores council creates new board of adjustment
By BOB MACPHERSON
Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007 |
INDIAN SHORES – The Town Council established a new board of adjustment Tuesday, Dec. 11.
The new board’s work will be confined to hearing appeals under the Standard Unsafe Building Abatement Code. The board will be made up of five regular members and two alternate members who are not employees of the town. The board members will be appointed by the Town Council.
The five regular members of the board will include an engineer, an architect and three members at large from the construction industry. The alternate members may be an engineer, architect or a member of the construction industry.
Indian Shores Building Official Larry Nayman will be an ex officio member. The board will convene within 60 days after a notice of appeal has been filed with the building official.
Another new measure passed by the council is a commitment for better environmental stewardship. This means giving serious thought to the impact on the environment when making policy decisions. To that end the council passed a resolution endorsing the concept of a Green Local Government, a designation for local governments that exhibit outstanding environmental stewardship.
The Florida Green Building Coalition has developed what’s called the green local government standard. The standard is a comprehensive list of criteria directed toward improving a local government’s environmental performance in a number of areas including energy, water, air, land, and waste. Local governments that incorporate sufficient criteria that meet or exceed designated thresholds are ”certified” or “registered” as a green local government.
Here’s how it works. Each criterion is assigned a point value. A minimum total point value is established. Local governments that meet or exceed the total point value are “certified” or “registered” as a green local government.
The Florida Green Local Government standard was created by the Florida Solar Energy Center under a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Florida Energy Office
Existing programs that local government can participate in include statewide programs such as Waterfronts Florida, Florida Main Street Designation, and national programs such as Tree City USA from the National Arbor Day Foundation. Examples of criteria that are not defined by an existing program include developing local government energy, water and other forms of conservation, and utilizing green fleet management.
Mayor Jim Lawrence said that passing the ordinance is just the beginning of the town’s commitment to a Green Local Government.
“This is a first phase,” he said. “Things we can do are such things as recycling, bringing green standards into the building code. We have to see if it’s worth the time and money. Tonight’s effort is just to get started.”
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Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007
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