AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
Ladder fuels are combustible
vegetation that lead a fire to a structure.
“What you surround the house with—is
like setting a campfire around the structure.”
“Developers are being proactive.
They have to ensure their developments
are insurable,” Long said.
“This is not just in western states;
it’s a national issue.”
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
UDA creates resilient design that
helps make properties insurable, while mitigating the costs of insurance in
high-risk areas.
After UDA’s work, Paradise adopted its
own wildfire ordinance to require that people maintain their lots to reduce
combustible material.
“Paradise has very strong code
enforcement now.” Long said.
“There is no such thing as a fireproof
home,” Long said. “You can harden by having a fire-resistant roof, closing up
vents to keep embers out and using windows that don’t melt and fall out.
Fireproofing the lot means nothing
combustible within five feet of the structure. Set aside the [aesthetics] of
plants and mulch around the foundation, and don’t build wood fences up to the
side of a home.”
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
“They had to get outside funding to
backfill their tax roll to 2055.
They had naturally occurring
affordable housing in a three-county region—but much of that will be lost
because of the high cost of rebuilding.”
Long said building back affordably is
a higher priority for disaster survivors than building back to be fire
resistant.
He said many cities push back on
building codes that require more than the International Wildland-Urban
Interface (WUI) Code, which sets minimum regulations for safeguarding life and
property from the intrusion of wildfires.
FABULOUS HISTORIC PRESERVATION OF A 1950S LEGEND
The retro palace has been lovingly
preserved and restored to its finest state since opening in 1956 in the heart
of Fort Lauderdale.
Real fire dancers, athletic performers
and live musicians entertain a packed house daily at Mai-Kai Restaurant and
Polynesian Show in Fort Lauderdale.
The retro gem has multiple bars, a
grotto garden and hundreds of South Seas artifacts.
Mai-Kai delivers on a special night out with fun for all Vegas caliber performances, food and drink.
It was restored by same hospitality team that preserved and enlivened the world famous Ball and Chain bar in the heart of Miami’s Calle Ocho.
The Mai Kai is listed on The National Register
of Historic Places.
Closed by water damage, the new team did a multimillion dollar restoration.
Part of the upgrades include a huge
ADA accessible restroom with changing station.
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
UDA worked to rebuild Paradise,
Calif., where a 2018 fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures, including over
14,000 homes, and killed 85 people.
Long noted that more than six years
after the fire, Paradise is only about 25 percent built back.
Businesses have been slow to come
back, because there’s not enough population to support them.
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
“Even before the fires, a shortage of affordable housing in Los Angeles created a pall on overall economic growth …
Renters in Los Angeles County need to
earn $48.04 per hour—nearly triple the minimum wage—to afford the average
monthly asking rent of about $2,500, according to the California Housing
Partnership.
That average is about 45 percent
higher than national rents …” stated the report by Costar.
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
The report notes that The American
Property Casualty Insurance Association has lobbied Congress to pass more laws
to address wildfire risks—such as the Fix Our Forests Act that seeks to
increase the pace and scale of forest management and establishes a program to
better coordinate federal agencies to reduce wildfire damage to properties.
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
When communities rebuild after
wildfires and other disasters, the president elect of the American Institute of
Architects and a leading Disability/Aging in Place/Environment advocate, Illya
Azaroff, champions the benefits of Universal Design.
Residential and commercial space that
is designed to accommodate all ages and abilities adds flexibility, durability
and cost efficiency—similar to green building.
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
Planners, architects, builders,
developers, REALTORS® and even insurance companies are rallying to get a handle
on resilient design.
From protecting individual buildings
to entire communities, the professions that shape our built environment and way
of life are searching for best practices that will prepare us for and protect
us from extreme-weather impacts.
AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN
Somewhere in the mid-20th century,
conventional building was reflected in suburban sprawl building patterns and
mass production with materials sourced from far away.
When LEED was introduced in 2000 by
the U.S. Green Building Council, sustainable building and the long-term
financial rewards of investing in sustainable building became part of our
vocabulary.
HOW TO DETECT ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES IN ANY PROPERTY
My five minute video is online, unlocking
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Viewers learn practical tips for recognizing
modifications and opportunities that make a property accessible for people with
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I spoke at the Florida REALTORS
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Florida has more REALTORS than any other state
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For two decades, I have written cover stories
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the National Association of Realtors.
Many of my stories have featured
groundbreaking Universal Design and wheelchair access insights.
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CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
Ghenis said more than 1,000 new
apartments with proximity to regional transit and myriad daily services would
be ideal for people with disabilities.
Opposition to density means fewer
units are being built, which drives up the cost of housing due to not enough
supply to meet demand.
It limits housing for people with
disabilities and senior citizens who could meet their daily needs via walking,
rolling or transit.
Municipalities and states need to encourage Universal Design in new
development, Ghenis said.
“Basic access could be codified.
Not everyone wants to take a sponge
bath because they can’t access their tub.”
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
He says public/private partnerships
also must create accessible, affordable and attainable housing.
When Ghenis was the chair of the city
of Berkeley’s Commission on Disability, he saw how opposition to density
reduced the opportunity for affordable/accessible housing at a pair of sites by
BART and Caltrain transit stations located near vital services.
One was adjacent to the Ed Roberts
Campus, a Universal Design award-winning complex for independent living and
other disability-positive nonprofits.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICE
“In California, where the housing
crunch is awful, we do not have good accessible welcoming apartments and condos
that seniors would want to downsize into or the kinds of apartments that people
with disabilities can move into and automatically have a roll-in shower,”
Ghenis observed, noting that the lack of accessible, aging-in-place housing is
failing to put family-sized houses back on the market because seniors have a
lack of accessible, small units to move to.
“I hope to address climate resilience
and disability through land use and the built environment.
We have to be recognizing that we need
to build up accessible housing in places that are hospitable to people with
disabilities and have a certain amount of built-in climate resilience.”
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
“There’s a huge benefit to developers
to ensure that new apartment buildings have units with accessibility features.
Building can be done in a way that
convenient features can easily become accessibility features.
A walk-in shower can be converted to
an ideal roll-in shower.
Modified sinks can work well for
wheelchair users and all residents,” said Ghenis, who publishes deep dive
articles in accessibility and the environment.
“I think there is a market-based
argument to developers having more accessible features — such as Universal
Design throughout apartments,” he said, noting the huge demand for barrier-free
and age-friendly units as the U.S. Census forecasts that by 2034 there will be
more people 65 years and older than under the age of 18 for the first time in
history.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
“Universal Design is a part of
sustainability. Accessibility must be a part of all design projects, so people
with disabilities can have quality of life and [the built environment] allows
aging in place.
No one person or building is static.
Architects are positioned as collaborators who can create buildings that can
change use and function while accommodating all abilities.
It’s a part of sustainable, healthy
building.”
Universal Design creates flexibility.
A dwelling unity can grow with the
occupants and support aging in place.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICE
That definition comes from the
concept’s creator, the late architect, planner and leader Ron Mace, who used a
wheelchair for mobility.
Universal Design can be used by all
people without the need for specialized adaptation.
While communities build back from
devastating wildfires, floods and hurricanes, many leading planners and
architects suggest that the flexibility, durability and sustainability of
Universal Design is the best approach for new commercial and residential buildings.
ILLUMINATED CROSSWALK STRIPS IN DOWNTOWN MEDELLIN
Crosswalk edges light up neon green to
tell pedestrians it is time to cross safely.
Most of these are in La Candelaria
Medellin Colombia — the congested and chaotic centro.
Alternately, the edge of crosswalks in
the urban core light up neon bright red — to signal pedestrians that it is not
safe to cross.
The red-green “walk” system helps
combat the ambient noise confusion created by motorcycles, cars and booming
music.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICE
For a total buyout, the total expense
would have been $500,000. Since the program was launched, Mecklenburg has
purchased about 500 properties in the flood plain, removed them and mitigated
more than $50 million in future hazard losses.
Additionally, the buyout program has
created 185 acres of undeveloped public space, enhancing community resilience
and reducing flood risk.
Mecklenburg is working to prevent
people from suffering great damage from a disaster.
“Never let a good crisis go to waste
is attributed to Winston Churchill,” Beller said.
“We never want a disaster to go to
waste, so we are working to prevent people from suffering great damage when a
disaster hits.
After Helene, the program made buyout
offers on 27 damaged homes and 15 in the flooded area are interested in being
elevated.”
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
It also is paid for by the county’s
stormwater utility funds billed to residential and commercial properties.
“Once we purchase the properties, we
maintain them — keeping the grass mowed and planting some trees.
Some become park greenways or
community gardens, a lot are one-offs,” said Jonathan Beller, who runs the
program.
The county also funds elevating houses
out of the flood plain.
Homeowners must get three bids for
soil testing, engineering, mechanical/electrical/plumbing and the actual
lifting of the home.
The county reimburses 75 percent of
the cost.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
In North Carolina, which experienced
massive flood damage from Hurricane Helene, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area has
a Floodplain Buyout Program.
The buyouts are voluntary, no owners
of homes or businesses are forced to sell.
Mecklenburg County states that “buying
and removing buildings in the floodplain is one of the most cost-effective ways
to reduce long-term flood damage and create many other community benefits.”
“Local floodplains are meant to flood
during heavy rains. It’s mother nature’s way of slowing down water to reduce
damage caused by raging rivers.
Floodplains also filter stormwater pollutants by temporarily storing floodwater.
However, many communities
including Charlotte-Mecklenburg, have developed within the floodplain, putting
homes, businesses and other property in areas meant to flood,” explains the
program’s website.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
More than 90 percent of the town is
built on already impacted pasture, farm and rock-mined land.
Water conservation is woven into its
green infrastructure, from landscaping with native, low-impact plants to
construction of a weir [small dam] system to rehydrate surrounding wetlands.
“Sustainability has been a passion for
me since college and developing Babcock Ranch has become a lifelong project
that illustrates to the world that building with, not against, nature is
possible, scalable, and financially accessible to all. I wanted to create a new
city that works in harmony with nature.
Babcock Ranch serves as an inspiration
for communities around the world seeking to leave a positive impact on the
planet,” Said Syd Kitson, former NFL player and leader of Florida real estate
development firm Kitson & Partners.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
He noted that Babcock residents can
easily walk or bike to parks and shopping and dining destinations.
More than 50 percent of the
development, which is still being built out, is dedicated to greenways, parks
and lakes.
“While Babcock Ranch is designed
uniquely to its location and ecosystem, we’re seeing consumers, counties and
builders alike begin to take the progressive steps to adopting a new standard
for climate resilience to meet their needs across the globe,” Syd Kitson,
former NFL player and leader of Florida real estate development firm Kitson
& Partners, said of Babcock’s exportable resilience model.
“From building codes to technology and
other innovative adaptations.
Babcock Ranch might have been an early
adopter, but the tides are changing, and builders/developers are reacting
differently today than they did 10 years ago.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
Babcock also proves that resilient design can be attainable for many people.
The median listing price for a
resilient Babcock Ranch home is $415,000, while a conventional built home in
nearby Fort Myers is listing for a median of $380,000.
“There was little evidence that
Babcock had just spent eight hours under a hurricane.
Some newer trees had fallen over, some
signs were damaged, and a few roof tiles had been dislodged, but the town was
not flooded, native vegetation remained intact, and the electricity and water
never went out,” McGown’s NAR report stated.
She encouraged communities to
incorporate green building standards and to search for ways of funding part of
that cost.
IN FRONT OF THE NATION’S TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY THOUGHT LEADERS AT THE 2025 JOINT ITE INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL MEETING
I was gratified to speak to the transportation, transit and mobility industry’s leaders – from the private, public, nonprofit and academic sectors – at the ITE International meeting this week in Orlando.
I spoke on: Creating Accessible, Healthy, and Smart Multimodal Communities Through Transportation.
I underscored design fails that make sidewalks, curbramps and crosswalks dangerous or impossible to use by people who use assistive mobility devices.
At the end of my presentation to a full ballroom, I implored those in attendance to get at the root of disability inclusion.
I challenged the nation’s leading mobility
designers, builders and regulators to aggressively recruit, hire and retain
people with various disabilities.
Without those personal insights, the most brilliant engineers and planners in the world are doomed to creating barriers that strip people with disabilities of independence, dignity and safety.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
On-site water and wastewater utility
facilities are elevated above the 100-year flood plain and underground fiber
optic lines provide data connectivity during extreme weather events.
Heather McGowan, manager of
Association Archives for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), wrote
about Babcock’s nature-based resilience in the report “A Case Study on Building
Communities with Sustainability and Resiliency at the Forefront.”
Babcock Ranch was successful because
it was designed and developed to work with the environment.
“Babcock Ranch was successful because
they designed and developed to work with the environment.
They worked with canals, lakes and
marshlands to absorb water when it could flood,” she said.
“It’s cool that they never brought in
artificial fill.
That was environmentally sensitive and
sustainable.”
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
Focusing on both resilience and
sustainability, all homes in Babcock Ranch are built to minimum of Bronze level
Certification by the Florida Green Building Coalition’s Green Home standards,
meaning homes are not only more energy efficient, they are also designed to
withstand 160-mph wind loads,” said Kitson.
Many things contributed to Babcock Ranch’s resilience.
When Kitson negotiated for the massive site, it planned to
sell 74,000 of its 91,000 acres to the state of Florida.
The sale created the largest conservation buy in state history.
Stone quarries were tailored to blend with
natural water features to create extensive water retaining ponds to handle
storm surge.
It is located 30 miles inland from the
Gulf of Mexico and natural fill built it up to 30 feet above sea level to
reduce the risk of flooding.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm with
wind gusts up to 150 mph, made a direct hit on Babcock’s 5,000 residents in
September 2022.
It was the supreme test of a
27-square-mile community with a huge nature preserve, nature-based stormwater
controls, buried electrical lines and solar electricity.
By the time Ian left Southwest
Florida, 149 lives were lost and $112 billion in property damage was done.
Babcock Ranch, surrounded by disaster,
was virtually unscathed.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
They accelerated during the COVID-19
pandemic and show continuing signs of growth and demand.
Resilient buildings are more valuable
buildings.
“This will be a big driver of real
estate. Resilient buildings are more valuable buildings,” Augie Williams-Eynon,
a manager with Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Randall Lewis Center for
Sustainability in Real Estate, said.
“Resilient homes make securing
financing easier; they attract a high-quality tenant and when a disaster
strikes, they reduce losses.”
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
“They are building a structure that’s
well connected and fastened from room to floors to foundation.
They are designing roof and exterior
walls to survive impact and not be ripped off in high winds,” he said.
They are building for floodproofing
with elevated mechanicals. Single-family, build-to-rent developments have
underground utility lines, which keep a property up and running after a severe
storm.
CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
“The challenge for large portfolio
owners — acquiring or building then managing tens of thousands of homes — is
that each house faces a different risk profile.
They are not just looking at operating
efficiencies through low-energy appliances, LED lights and better
windows/insulation (for lower heating/cooling costs) — they are making sure
these homes are built and [located] in places with reduction of risk to disaster,”
Williams-Eynon said.
