Smoke-free buildings?

This, from a recent eco-broker listserv:

“Do you address the issue of secondhand smoke in multi-unit buildings as a component of indoor air quality? A condo could be built with the healthiest eco-construction but still be hazardous to your health if you end if living next to or above a smoker.

After many inquiries, I finally found a smokefree condo property recently – the new Mississippi Lofts has a provision in the bylaws for no smoking anywhere on the property. That may have been required to get their LEED certification. If this were publicized, perhaps it would motivate other developers or condo converters to include similar provisions. I bet most people haven’t thought of that possibility or realize it’s legal. Most people don’t smoke and don’t want secondhand smoke in their homes –  “smokefree” would be a nice additional amenity to offer and I think would be quite popular. And a realtor or developer championing the smokefree condo issue could have a nice little niche.”

Per LEED standards, Version 2.2 (page 31 of this PDF (archived: 2013)):

Zero exposure of nonsmokers to ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) by prohibition of smoking in the building, OR, provide a designated smoking room designed to effectively contain, capture and remove ETS from the building.  …

There will be an increase in buyers requesting non-smoking buildings, green-built or not. I am working on finding whether any condos in the Charlottesville area have any existing restrictions against  smoking. A quick search of the MLS shows a couple of single-family properties being marketed as “no smokers have ever lived here” and “house being sold as-is – owners were smokers” …

There is more to the story than houses and developments that are designed to be “green.” This is a related story in Seattle (no longer available).

More that I have written about “green” stuff here and this is a story about a new green condo development Downtown.

* email courtesy of Suzanne Goddyn (no longer available)