“We don’t have a slush fund we’re not using, so it’s really nice we could find this,” said Bastyr University’s Director of Facilities Daniel Clark.

Clark was referring to a $25,000 grant the school recently received via the King County Solid Waste Division’s Green Tools Program.

Kenmore’s Bastyr plans to use the money to attempt to gain its new 11, three-story dorm buildings at least Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

Officials actually are hoping to surpass that goal and gain Platinum LEED certification for the $15.3 million project.

Clark said the extra dollars from the county will go toward some varied items, including different types of testing on the buildings. One such test will help ensure the dorms are moisture proof, which helps eliminate mold and other problems.

Other dollars will go toward such extras as shoe racks to encourage students to remove their shoes when entering the buildings. The idea is to keep interior floors cleaner, cutting down on the amount of swept up dust and waste that ends up in landfills.

A Bastyr special assistant for external affairs, George Cody said the university was lucky to get one of the grants, normally aimed at projects still in the permitting phase. But Cody added the still sluggish economy has slowed construction to the point county officials decided to open up the grants to a wider range of projects.

Cody further noted if the dorms actually achieve Platinum LEED status, the university could be eligible for an additional $5,000. Clark believes Bastyr could be entering uncharted waters, creating to his knowledge the first university housing project to gain Platinum LEED certification.

Clark went through a long list of steps the university took in order for the dorms to gain Gold LEED certification. A few examples include attempts to control erosion and making use of existing infrastructure rather than, for example, digging for and creating new sewer lines. The buildings are designed to harvest rain water, with so-called grey water, or non-drinkable water, reused throughout the dorms.

The King County grant was not the first or even the biggest Bastyr has won for the dorm work. Clark said a major step involved switching from the planned electrical heating in the buildings to a high-efficiency gas system. Heated water flows in plastic tubes throughout the floors and walls of the dorms providing warmth. Clark and Cody termed that effort key to the project potentially gaining a $132,000 award from Puget Sound Energy.

Unlike the King County grant that Cody said was awarded up front, Bastyr only will receive the Puget Sound dollars once construction is complete and inspections prove certain conditions have been met.

Before Bastyr broke ground on the dorms in May 2009, the project was challenged by local environmental activists as possibly contributing to flooding problems downstream and in St. Edward State Park. A hearing examiner eventually ruled in favor of the project and upheld the city of Kenmore’s ruling that the dorm project will not create a major environmental impact.

While he didn’t address any controversy connected to construction of the dorms, Clark said any water run-off from the buildings first will be filtered through a bio-swale. It then will be collected in two storage tanks, each 13 feet deep and the size of Olympic swimming pools. They are buried beneath the dorm complex’s parking lot.

Ultimately, the water will be released into neighboring wetlands. Clark emphasized that release will be done at the rate of a trickle in an attempt to ensure no disruption to the local ecology. Both Cody and Clark mentioned Bastyr is undertaking some mitigations efforts — primarily extensive tree planting — around the borders of the wetlands. Cody also said the layout of the dorms was done to leave as many existing trees in place as possible. Possibly to be used in Bastyr classes, fruit trees will be planted all around the dorm complex.

According to Clark, one of the most distinctive features of the new dorms — the V-shaped roofs — was largely a design decision. Architects did have to reinforce the roofs to make sure they would hold up under the weight of water and the occasional snowfall. Clark said the trade-off is residents on the top floors will have clear views of the campus and surroundings rather than eaves and gutters.