"We think the Enviro Center is a really great project. I hope they can proceed in the future," she said.
Sersen said he wanted to use the stimulus money to build a water discharge reclamation project in his new building. Rainwater and runoff would filter through a permeable paved surface, through sand and gravel filters and then drain into trenches that would return it to groundwater instead of sending it through storm sewers that feed into the Chesapeake Bay.
"It would capture one million gallons a year, clean it and put it back in the ground," he said.
The 9,000-square-foot atrium-greenhouse portion of the three-story building would grow organic vegetables for the people who work there, and have such features as passive and active solar heat and light, electric vehicle recharging stations, and shared kitchens and other rooms. The office portion would be 15,000 square feet.
"In a time when we must be moving expeditiously toward cleaning the water that drains from the roads and properties into our precious Chesapeake Bay, we must now step back and reassess," Sersen wrote to Marycarole "Missy" Martin, a division chief at MDE.
Delegate Elizabeth Bobo, a Howard Democrat and champion of environmental causes, said she's a fan of Sersen's efforts and the delay is a shame. "So many people have learned from the Enviro Center what they can do in their homes and offices. It has a rippling effect," she said, but the credit problem is a tough one.
"It's one of the really bad consequences of the condition of our financial system."
The center was visited in August 2008 by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and County Executive Ken Ulman, who praised it as a place that might show others cheaper, greener office building techniques. "You're showing us the model that can work nationally," Cardin said at the time. And that's just what Sersen is seeking.
"I want Enviro Centers all around the country," he said.
