Mosler Lofts in Seattle is a 12-story steel, glass and concrete building that is on track to earn LEED Silver certification.
Today, there are many reasons to build green. Beyond altruistic motives like reducing emissions and conserving energy and resources, builders are beginning to discover economic benefits to sustainable construction. Efficiencies associated with green building can lead to savings on materials and mechanical systems and can reduce the overall operation cost of a building. Owners and architects have been catching onto the trend and more local governments are leaning green. “Communities are beginning to notice the benefit of green building,” says Jason Hartke, director of advocacy at the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council. “[The building sector] impacts the environment in a huge way. It consumes about 70 percent of our electricity in the U.S., uses 40 percent of our raw materials and accounts for 40 percent of our [carbon-dioxide] emissions and 12 percent of our potable water use. In that regard, policymakers at the local level have looked at buildings to reduce that impact.” Many counties and municipalities around the country now are offering a variety of incentives to green projects. One benefit being explored by local governments is expedited permitting. The policies and programs vary in details, but the overall idea is that projects specified to be environmentally friendly get a fasttrack through the often time-consuming process of applying for and being awarded the proper permits to build. In some cases, these benefits can save weeks or even months on a construction project.
Chester's Residence in Schuyler, Va., utilizes durable metal siding and roofing, a highly recycled and recyclable option.
This kind of incentive can be a major advantage in areas where the sheer number of applications creates a bottleneck that can strand projects in a permitting quagmire for several months. “Builders have a lot of hurdles to jump through before they get their projects approved in most jurisdictions,” explains Stella Tarnay, manager of the Arlington County Green Home Choice program, Arlington, Va. “It involves zoning and watershed protection and building permits and so forth. Expediting the building permitting process can save valuable time, even if it is just a matter of weeks.” Time savings can translate into dollars for owners and developers. For cities and local governments, fast-track permitting is a way to encourage energy- and resource-efficient construction in a way that does not negatively impact the municipal budget. “This policy is not a big financial investment for a city. It’s just reworking the process,” says Hartke. “That’s a significant reason why this is an attractive option.” City and county governments are offering these incentives because they see a benefit to sustainable buildings in their communities. “Local governments know the proven track record of green buildings, so they know what they’re getting,” Hartke explains. “The average LEED-certified building saves 36 percent in energy, 40 percent in carbon-dioxide emissions and 40 percent in water. Recycling can bring a 70 percent reduction in solid waste. That’s waste that’s not going into a local landfill. That alone has a big impact on the community.”
Chicago's 340 on the Park, which is slated to achieve a LEED Silver certification, uses a thermally broken aluminum frame to minimize the amount of energy transferred into and out of the building.
Most of these incentive policies are based on established green ratings and certifications, such as USGBC’s LEED certification, the Washington-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star rating system or Portland, Orebased Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes. Others take an approach based on benchmarks for energy efficiency. Chicago was an early adopter of an expedited permitting policy. The city has taken a multi-tiered approach, offering three different incentive packages to green projects. The Chicago Standard’s tiers are based on levels of LEED certification, as well as items from a “menu” that includes green roofs, renewable energy and affordability. Buildings designed to be LEED Certified and that include one item off the menu qualify for Tier I, which delivers permits in less than 30 days. LEED Silver-certified buildings that select one menu item are eligible for Tier II, which expedites permits to less than 30 days and also waives the consultant review fee. Finally, buildings that are certified at least LEED Gold and feature two menu items can qualify for the Tier III incentive, which delivers permits in less than 15 days and waives the consultant fee. As is the case with most municipal green incentive programs, agreements must be signed to ensure the structure meets its sustainability goals; there are fines and penalties for not following through. Santa Monica, Calif., offers an incentive without a specific timeframe but puts green projects ahead of the line for permitting. “[Santa Monica] offers expedited processing through all city departments for buildings that pursue LEED certification,” says Brenden McEneaney, LEED AP, green building program advisor for Santa Monica. “To qualify, an applicant’s project must be registered with the USGBC and must submit their LEED checklist with their intended credits indicated. The expedited processing essentially moves a project to the front of the line. The actual amount of time that processing takes depends on a number of factors. There is no fixed turnaround time, but the project is given priority.” McEneaney notes, however, that the program does not include projects seeking LEED for Existing Buildings or LEED for Commercial Interiors certification. San Francisco has a similar program and, like Santa Monica, extends the benefit to projects that make significant use of solar energy. The incentive has been in place for about one year in San Francisco and currently there are more than a dozen projects totaling 3.2 million square feet (297280 m2) in the expedited pipeline. On the other side of the country in Arlington County, Va., an expedited permitting program specifically targets green residential projects. It is designed, not only to speed along the permitting for developers, but to encourage them to take their first steps into sustainable design. “We partner with builders to make it easier for them to go green,” says Tarnay. “Our Many of these incentive programs are very new; some are less than one year old. The concept is a work in progress, but initial participation has been encouraging. “We’ve gotten a very positive response,” Tarnay says. “The challenge has been to coordinate clearly with our inspections department. They have a lot of established systems in place, and green was an innovation we brought in as an additional layer. We’ve had to learn to collaborate and work together. Local government has been growing alongside the contractors and builders and we’re all learning how to make green building work. But when we do that, we make the builders look good and the county look good. And every green project reduces stress on the environment and public infrastructure.” “Local governments are experiencing not just the environmental benefits of green building, but the financial benefits as well,” Hartke says. “They get to see statistics up front and can turn to their taxpayers to say this is not just sound environmental policy; this is sound fiscal policy. We’re saving taxpayers money.” program provides them with a score sheet based on the [Arlington-based] EarthCraft House green home standard and lots of support. Projects that reach a certain point value are rewarded with certification that can then be used as a marketing tool. Performance is verified by county inspectors, so this builds confidence in the label.”
To Each Their Own
Similar fast-track incentive programs are popping up all over the country in major cities, like San Diego and Los Angeles, as well as at the county level in places like Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Howard County, Md.; and King County, Wash. Expedited permitting, while often effective, is not a one-size-fits-all solution. “This policy definitely doesn’t work for all localities,” Hartke notes. “I talked to a mayor in Arkansas. We spoke about expedited permitting and he said it’s probably not going to work there because it only takes a week to get through the permitting process. So there’s no real advantage to being put at the top of that line. I think that is the case for many localities where the process is not backed up.” Many of these incentive programs are very new; some are less than one year old. The concept is a work in progress, but initial participation has been encouraging. “We’ve gotten a very positive response,” Tarnay says. “The challenge has been to coordinate clearly with our inspections department. They have a lot of established systems in place, and green was an innovation we brought in as an additional layer. We’ve had to learn to collaborate and work together. Local government has been growing alongside the contractors and builders and we’re all learning how to make green building work. But when we do that, we make the builders look good and the county look good. And every green project reduces stress on the environment and public infrastructure.” “Local governments are experiencing not just the environmental benefits of green building, but the financial benefits as well,” Hartke says. “They get to see statistics up front and can turn to their taxpayers to say this is not just sound environmental policy; this is sound fiscal policy. We’re saving taxpayers money.”
Resources
U.S. GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL, Washington, D.C., www.usgbc.org
NATIONAL LISTING OF LOCAL LEED INCENTIVES, www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=691
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, Washington, www.epa.gov
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, Washington, www.aia.org
LOCAL INCENTIVE LISTING, www.aia.org/static/state_local_resources/adv_sustainability/html/green_legislation.htm
GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVE, Portland, Ore., www.thegbi.org
GREEN HOME CHOICE PROGRAM, Arlington County, Va., www.arlingtonva.us
EARTHCRAFT HOUSE, www.earthcrafthouse.com
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CONSTRUCTION AND PERMITS, Green Permit Program, egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_EDITORIAL/GreenPermitBrochure_1.pdf
KING COUNTY, WASH., DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, www.metrokc.gov/permits/info/site/green.aspx
LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND SAFETY, Plan Check for Green Building Projects, www.ladbs.org/permits/green%20bldg%20brochure.pdf
SANTA MONICA GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM, Calif., www.smgreen.org
SEATTLE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, City Green Building, www.seattle.gov/dpd/GreenBuilding/Commercial/IncentivesAssistance/default.asp
To find out about incentives for expedited permitting in your area, contact your local city government.