The Conyers City Council last week heard the first reading of an ordinance to require builders to meet earth-friendly specifications for new residential and city government buildings after Jan. 1.

“It’s for all new residential construction and city government buildings 5,000 square feet and over,” said city Councilman Gerald Hinesley, head of the city’s community development committee, “for which the city receives any building permit applications after Jan. 1, 2009.”

Council members can vote the ordinance into law at their Oct. 1 meeting.

“This is new to us,” said city Councilman Marty Jones, who along with city Director of Planning, Zoning and Inspections Marvin Flanigan helped Hinesley write the ordinance. “We need to be out in front on this.”

The initiative is also new to Georgia, said Jones, who introduced LEED concepts to the city council last year.

“This is not being done anywhere in the state on this level,” Jones said.

The ordinance cites guidelines from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, and Atlanta-based EarthCraft as ways to enhance public health and welfare.

“The city finds that green buildings use key resources like energy, water, materials and land more efficiently than buildings that are just built to code,” the ordinance reads. “They also create healthier work, learning and living environments, with more natural light and better air quality, and typically contribute to improved employee health, comfort and productivity.”

Only city employees will be affected by the government building requirements in 2009 but in 2010 the city plans to expand the measure to offices, industrial sites and county government buildings within the city limits.

At the same meeting, the city council moved closer to a traffic signal at the intersection of Sigman Road and East View Road near Rockdale Medical Center.

“If you remember, we had a right of way issue two months ago. That has been resolved,” city Councilman Vince Evans, chair of the city’s transportation committee, said about a site owned by veterinarian William Weaver. “In the course of resolving it, we would allow a right in, right out. It allows that property owner to have ingress and egress.”

More than 23,000 cars travel that intersection daily according to city officials. The signal is scheduled for summer 2009.