It's
not easy being green
What
kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
When
brothers Frank and Harry Bielinski asked themselves that question
in the 1990s, the answer, said Bob Brownell, CEO of Bielinski
Homes, could have been one of two:
"Will
I be remembered as a good steward of the land? Or am I just going
to be the conventional developer who slams in the lots, who slams
in the house?"
The
two answered the question by transforming their business.
The
Bielinski brothers, who founded Bielinski Homes in 1960, started
out by building garages. Their goal by 1964 was to build 12 homes
a year. In the 1970s, they far exceeded their dreams and built
200-plus homes a year, making Bielinski Homes the largest home
builder in the area.
Growth
often begets change, and in the mid-1980s, the two wanted greater
control of their inventory and started Bielinski Development Inc.,
which acquired and developed land strictly for use by Bielinski
Homes.
"All
this time," Brownell said, "Bielinski is using conventional
land-development methods."
That
all changed by 1995, when Brownell was hired as director of development.
From the Seattle area, Brownell was already well versed in low-impact
development.
"The idea was very foreign at the time in southeastern Wisconsin,"
he said.
In
1998, though, Brownell and Bielinski had an opportunity to prove
low-impact development's worth. The village of Germantown sent
out requests for proposals from builders to develop a national
low-impact development model for the Conservation Fund; Bielinski's
proposal was, ultimately, one of three chosen in the Midwest to
do so.
That's
when Bielinski changed its focus.
"We
made a serious switch in our land ethic," said Brownell.
"There are some days we question ourselves."
Brownell
said the Germantown model, initially, was difficult for village
engineering staff, used to developing subdivisions one way, to
accept.
"We
realized that we were going to face a challenge here to re-education,"
he said. "We decided as a firm to take that challenge."
Taking
the risk, initially, cost Bielinski Homes money.
"When
you acquire a piece of land, you want to develop it as quickly
as possible," Brownell said.
But
the low-impact development in the village took Bielinski five
years to complete, compared to about six months for a conventional
housing development.
"The
whole idea was to create a natural ecosystem to handle the storm
water," he said. A low-impact development also creates much
more open space, and 64 percent of the 40-acre Germantown parcel
was left undeveloped.
While
there are added costs to low-impact development, Brownell said
they are outweighed by the pluses, including the money saved by
reducing the parcel's infrastructure.
But
beyond that, Brownell said Bielinski was proud of the Germantown
and subsequent conservation developments, which logically led
to a venture into green building.
Currently,
Brownell said there are no Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design standards for residential developments, but Bielinski is
working on developing those. Once established, Brownell said,
"within the next 12 months, we hope to have LEED's certification."
Once certified, Brownell said Bielinski will build LEED-certified
homes only.
Brownell
said it keeps coming back to the conversation Frank and Harry
had in the '90s.
"I'd
rather be remembered as an environmentalist and philanthropist
than, 'He was a greedy developer, wasn't he?'
"I'm
glad we stayed the course."
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