Multidiscipline Team Installs Largest Private PV Array in Calif.
Developer gives abandoned site new life

by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: California’s largest private photovoltaic project has just been completed in Rohnert Park, a suburb of San Francisco, on the former Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies campus. Dedicated on October 24, the 90,000-square-foot solar panel installation will generate 1.14 Megawatts and power the majority of the business center, which includes four large office buildings that are being renovated for reuse. The energy from the PV flat-mounted rooftop array is enough to completely power 750 homes during peak periods or 400 homes year-round.

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About two years ago, Agilent decided to outsource its operations to Malaysia, putting the massive campus on the auction block. Codding Enterprises, one of the state’s first commercial shopping center developers, purchased the 200-acre parcel to create a New Urbanist community. “We started out in the very beginning to design a New Urban mixed-use project, which is a very good foundation for sustainability,” says Codding CEO Brad Baker of the company’s decision to make the campus sustainable. “Because of the way that we’re designing the streets and how the block size follows a New Urban platform, people don’t have to get into their cars. They can walk to their work, the grocery store, and to recreation.”

Sustainable campus
In addition to the PV array, Codding is working to make the entire campus sustainable. Part of their strategy is to reuse and recycle as much of the existing buildings as possible, while still creating a fresh, urban live-work environment. Key services and public transit stops at Sonoma Mountain Village are planned within a half a mile of residences, and a proposed Sonoma Marin Train (SMART) station in nearby Cotati will make other regional transit systems easily accessible, reducing residents’ vehicle dependence considerably. In addition, Codding is excited about the opportunity to “recycle” approximately 3,000 jobs that were lost when Agilent pulled out of the site.

The entire project has applied to be in the pilot program for LEED® for neighborhood development.

According to Geof Syphers, Codding’s chief sustainability officer, the entire project has applied to be in the pilot program for LEED® for neighborhood development. LEED-ND was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in coordination with the Congress for New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We’ve been given some indication that we probably will be part of that pilot, so we’ll be one of the first projects to certify through LEED for neighborhood design,” says Syphers. “We have tried to think about this project in terms of four environmental concepts. The first is minimizing harm. That’s the first step: to use the materials, water, and energy efficiently; recycling job-site waste; reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and so on.

“The next concept is restoring what’s here now. It’s an industrial site and fortunately Hewlett-Packard and Agilent were pretty clean operators. The third and fourth concepts are designing for a different future and creating a place for learning. In planning for the future, we recognized that people want to be healthier. They want to walk to do their errands. We’re investigating whether we can put a bio-fuel filling station on site. We want to promote alternative fuels, and we also want to have extensive transit bicycle connections.”

Making it livable
Codding Enterprises wants Sonoma Mountain Village to be a vibrant, healthy, diverse community. To meet that goal, they are planning to build a wide range of home sizes and styles. There will be approximately 900 apartment and condominium units and 1,000 single-family homes that provide modern features with a strong focus on energy-saving designs.

To be a vibrant, healthy, diverse community, they are planning to build a wide range of home sizes and styles.

Through walkability and sustainability
Sonoma Mountain Village hopes to draw a diverse group of companies to the business park. Already in place is a small-business incubator, headed by a former Agilent vice president, that focuses on bringing sustainable-resources start-ups into the area. These businesses are planned to occupy more than 500,000 square feet of custom industrial and office space ranging from 10,000 to 250,000 square feet.

“There hasn’t been a lot of clean building here,” according to Baker. “But I think more and more people are interested in that, and we expect it to be a bigger demand driver going forward. We’ve found that some companies have come just because they’ve heard what we’re doing [with making the campus sustainable]. All of them seem to appreciate the effort.”