3L Vision

The way we see it, responsible developing means truly listening and collaborating with neighbours, city officials and special interest groups. It means taking great care to protect eco-sensitive areas. It means creating sustainable communities that benefit us all.

3L Developments has always worked cooperatively with communities and dedicated large areas to parkland. But now we’re incorporating even more sustainable practices by adopting the Canadian Green Building Council’s http://www.cagbc.org/ LEED guidelines http://www.cagbc.org/leed/index_en.htm (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) wherever we can.

Our Sustainable Practices at Riverwood in Courtenay

Ecosystem enhancement/Landscape design
• Dedicate 50% of the site to natural park space.
• Create an extensive multi-use trail system that accesses the Puntledge River and Browns River.
• Reforest along several streets and trails.
• Employ water-efficient landscaping practices.
• Propose a community garden space.

Low-impact transportation
• Create multi-use trail systems.
• Create pedestrian access to Puntledge River Park.
• Create a community-integrated bicycle pathway system that links with the Comox Valley regional cycling network.

Rainwater management
• Reduce stormwater runoff into the river system by capturing and reusing rainwater to offset the need for potable water.

Mitigating heat island effect
• Alleviate areas of excessive heat (resulting in expensive cooling systems and smog) by incorporating more vegetation, narrower street ways to reduce paving, light coloured hard surface materials, and special roof design.

Water efficiency
• Require water-efficient fixtures and appliances in home design guidelines to reduce the consumption of potable water and reduce the production of waste water. (i.e. low-flow toilets, faucets, urinals, showers, dishwashers, and clothes washers)
• Propose using the Brac system http://www.bracsystems.com/home.html to recycle onsite grey water.

Solid waste recycling & reuse
• Require in the design guidelines that kitchens support a three-stream solid waste separation system (paper/containers, organics and garbage).
• Propose a stand-alone “recycle room” that would service the entire community, providing space to place household items for re-use. Items not reused within Riverwood would be donated to charity.

Energy efficiency
• Achieve high levels of energy performance by recommending high energy-efficient window glazing, indoor day-lighting, high insulative capacity, thermal resistance, ventilation and use of energy-efficient technologies.

Construction & building materials
• Recycle all construction waste through a program that diverts a major portion away from the landfill.
• Require materials with recycled content in the construction of the residential units, including flooring, concrete and siding.
• Suggest materials in the residential building scheme with consideration to durability and marketability.
• Require the use of healthy materials that minimize volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ureaformaldehyde (UF) in adhesives, sealants, paints and coatings, carpets, composite wood products, door cores, and agrifiber products.