The Home Depot Foundation and Emory University Major Funders of Event
As part of Mayor Franklin’s “Greener Atlanta” initiative, on Friday, May 25, 2007, the City focused its eighth Developer’s Day, designed to educate Atlanta’s development community on business processes and policies, on environmental sustainability and “green” development. Through this larger initiative and events such as this, Atlanta is in the process of transforming its built environment to improve the quality of life for its residents for the long term.
“We were thrilled to be working with two of the city’s leaders in environmentally responsible building for this event,” said Mayor Shirley Franklin. “Our hope is for the rest of the City to follow the lead of The Home Depot Foundation and Emory University to help transform Atlanta into a hotbed of ‘green’ development.”
The City recently announced it reduced its time-to-permit rate by more than 50 percent. And this year’s Developer’s Day marks the next step in improving development in Atlanta with a new focus on sustainable design.
“By working with the development community and making positive changes with our staff and our processes, we have significantly reduced the time it takes to permit in the City, and we’re very proud of this accomplishment,” said Steve Cover, Commissioner of Planning and Community Development for the City of Atlanta. “This particular Developer’s Day gave the City an opportunity to not only provide new information, but interact and work with the development community to improve our efficiency as a public agency, our service to our customers and the City’s living environment.”
To forge this path, top developers, urban planners, builders, architects, engineers, non-profit and government leaders, among others, were on hand at Developer’s Day and learned cost-effective strategies to “green” existing projects and were taught the long-term value in incorporating environmentally friendly building principles into new developments. Break-out sessions and panel discussions, led by some of the best minds in “green” development in the City, specifically addressed best-in-class “green” development in Atlanta and strategies and local resources available to develop environmentally responsible infrastructure.
“At The Home Depot Foundation, we work to improve the health of local communities,” said Kelly Caffarelli, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. “By signing on as the lead funder of Mayor Franklin’s ‘Greener Atlanta’ initiative and supporting the Developer’s Day event, we are advancing this mission and demonstrating our commitment to a ‘greener’ Atlanta.”
"Emory University is honored to co-host this year's Developers' Day," said Emory President James Wagner. "The focus of the conference, 'green buildings,' is particularly significant to Emory, which has more certified ‘green’ buildings than any other campus in America. We look forward to working with Mayor Franklin and the City of Atlanta to promote sustainable building practices and encourage Atlanta's development community to embrace ‘green’ building as a means to protect public health and our environment, and to reduce long-term energy costs."
Developer’s Day was presented by The Home Depot Foundation and was co-hosted by the City of Atlanta and Emory University with supporting organizations Southface, U.S. Green Building Council, Pollution Prevention Assistance Division (P2aD) from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Keep Atlanta Beautiful and the America Institute of Architects (AIA).
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For more information about this and services of the City of Atlanta visit our website at www.atlantaga.gov or watch City Channel 26