Will new LEED designation mean hardships for commercial developers?

We all think of green building as a good thing, right? And usually it is.

But what if the U.S. Green Building Council actually created a designation that would in some ways supersede the authority of municipalities? In other words, what if the U.S. Green Building Council could ultimately decide if a developer could build a retail strip center or high-rise multi-family building on a particular piece of land, regardless of whether a city or town was in favor of the project?

This sounds far-fetched, but on the REJournals.com Web site, Sean Suder, a real estate and land use attorney at Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL in Cincinnati, lays out a pretty convincing case that the new LEED-ND certification may give the U.S. Green Building Council more power than you'd expect.

You can read the story here. Be careful, though, it might spook you a bit.