[OKC] For immediate release: Oklahoma City chosen as a Sustainable Sites Pilot Project!

[Sharon Astrin]

CENTRAL OKLAHOMA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY’S HOPE CROSSING TO TEST SUSTAINABLE
LANDSCAPE RATING SYSTEM

OKLAHOMA CITY (MAY 25, 2010)  — The Sustainable SITES Initiative™ (SITES™)
announced the selection of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity’s Hope
Crossing as one of the first landscapes to participate in a new program
testing the nation’s first rating system for green landscape design,
construction and maintenance. The largest green neighborhood in Habitat
history, Hope Crossing will have 217 homes upon completion, all of which
will be built to Silver and Gold LEED® standards.

As only one of a select few SITES projects around the world, Hope Crossing
will join The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History &
Culture, New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward Sustainable Infrastructure Project
and the Indianapolis Super Bowl Village along with more than 150 others that
include educational centers, transportation corridors, industrial complexes
and private residences in employing cutting-edge guidelines and performance
benchmarks outlined in the SITES Rating System for sustainable landscapes
with and without buildings.

The effort to include Hope Crossing as a SITES project was led by Oklahoma
land use planner and designer Randy Marks, MALD, LEED® AP, who owns
Land+Form. Joining Marks on the project is Allen Brown, AIA, LEED® AP,
Principal with Frankfurt Short Bruza Architects & Engineers (FSB), G’Anne
Derrick, a Hope Crossing resident, Pam Felactu, Development Director for
Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity and Connie Scothorn, RLA, ASLA of CLS
and Associates Landscape Architects, who designed Hope Crossing’s existing
park areas.

“When I first visited Hope Crossing, I realized that it would be a good
candidate for the SITES pilot program,” said Marks. "I recruited a talented
project team and now we are moving ahead with plans for creating a
beautiful, environmentally sound landscape. A major component in our project
is community education. We are pursuing funding and sponsorships to enable
complete implementation, and are thrilled to be partnering with Habitat."

Like the other pilot projects, the SITES will test the point system for
achieving different levels of site sustainability on a 250-point scale and
the performance benchmarks associated with specific credits within the
Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009. Specific plans for Hope Crossing
include designing a variety of home landscapes that can be sustainably
maintained, rehabilitating a degraded stream, installing systems that cut
costs by retaining and using rainwater, and much more.

The organizers are hoping to raise the funding necessary to convert each of
the homes at Hope Crossing to a sustainable landscape, if homeowners choose
to do so. Additionally, as with most Habitat for Humanity projects, the Hope
Crossing SITES program will provide an opportunity for homeowners and
community volunteers to learn about sustainable landscaping while
implementing the project.

“Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity has always made an effort to build
homes that are environmentally responsible. In fact, all of our new homes
are built to Silver or Gold LEED® standards, which not only help the
environment, but also cut the homeowner’s utility bills by one-third,” said
Ann Felton, chairman and CEO of Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity. “Now,
with this project, we will be able to extend our efforts to the outside of
the home, while creating beautiful, low-maintenance landscapes.”

“As a company that is leading the way in environmentally-friendly
architecture, we are proud to be part of this project that takes
sustainability to a more personal, community level,” Brown said. FSB is a
nationally recognized architectural-engineering-planning firm in business 65
years.

SITES will use feedback from this and the other selected projects during the
pilot phase, which runs through June 2012, to revise the final rating system
and reference guide by early 2013. The U.S. Green Building Council, a
stakeholder in the Sustainable SITES Initiative, anticipates incorporating
the guidelines and performance benchmarks into future iterations of its
LEED® Green Building Rating System™.  More information is available at
www.sustainablesites.org

Sponsorships are available for the Hope Crossing SITES project. To learn
more about sponsorships or donate to the SITES project at Hope Crossing,
please contact Pam Felactu at (405) 232-4868 or email her at
pam.felactu at centraloklahomahabitat.org.

# # #

About the Sustainable SITES Initiative
The Sustainable SITES Initiative (SITES) is an interdisciplinary partnership
led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States
Botanic Garden to transform land development and management practices with
the nation's first voluntary rating system for sustainable landscapes, with
or without buildings.  As these guidelines become the accepted practices by
professionals and nonprofessionals alike, they will transform the ways we
design and build on the land, creating landscapes that nourish life for
generations to come. For more information, visit www.sustainablesites.org
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