106-E. July 29, 2010 Focus Group Meeting Notes.pdfATTACHMENT E
Meeting Notes
Green Building Ordinance Focus Group Meeting #2
Practitioner & Community Interest Groups
July 29, 2010
Scope
• What is considered a "major" remodel/renovation vs. new construction?
o What percentage of an addition triggers the ordinance for
remodels/renovations?
o Can additions be made incrementally over subsequent years without
triggering the ordinance, even if the total addition over time exceeds
the trigger point? (e.g. what if I add 45% this year, and additional
percentage the following year, over a period of years that in total
exceeds the 50% addition?)
Reference Standards
• Who will do the certification?
o Will it bean independent third party or city staff?
• Why do we need to use both LEED and GPR standards, why not just one? If
LEED seems to be comprehensive, why do we need GPR?
o LEED seems more national & focused on non-residential buildings
o Can LEED apply to residential buildings?
o GPR is locally grown and applies only to residential
o Appears to be more GPR raters in the Bay Area than LEED raters
• Can you get a variance if you don't want to comply with the ordinance?
• What happens if the standards change over time?
o Do standards change irrespective of the type of community or type
of development?
o What happens if a project is in the application stage while the
standards are changing?
Requirements
• New Construction
o Is it easy for most residential to achieve 75 GPR or is it difficult?
• Renovations
o How well does LEED apply to renovations?
o We should not have to remodel things that are not required in order
to meet the green building ordinance requirements.
o Is there a certain time period in which renovations need to take place
to comply with the ordinance? 3 years?
o Is it difficult for residential renovations to achieve 75 GPR? 50 GPR
seems doable.
o What if there aren't enough points possible to achieve based upon
the type of renovations that you are doing?
• Non -Residential Renovations
o What does it mean if you touch 2 of 4 systems? What's the threshold
for this?
o What portion is required to comply if you touch 2 of the 4 systems,
the entire building or just the new addition?
o Are there prerequisites that you cannot meet if you are doing
renovation only?
• Renovation vs. New Construction
o Requirements should be slightly more lenient for
renovations/remodels than new construction.
o There should be fairness regarding requirements between
renovations and new construction; if they're different (more lenient
for renovation), people won't be motivated to do new construction.
o There are inconsistencies between square footage thresholds and
exemplary standards for renovations and new construction.
o Achieving credits is easier for new home construction than on
remodels.
• Exemplary Projects
o How achievable is LEED Platinum, particularly for renovations? Is it
too high a threshold to attain for incentives?
o Are there tiered incentives for higher exemplary standards?
• Scale/size of project should be considered
o Consider applying the ordinance standards on a case -by -case basis —
applying standards based upon the type of development or area of
development (RDAs) (e.g. areas that are within identified places
w/high level of transit services) or based upon the scope of the
project.
o Does the LEED rating system scale by size of project?
o The requirements should be based on the scale/type of project
because the eligibility of achievable points varies based upon the
types/scope of work (e.g. what if you're not touching the
HVAC/energy systems, but that's where most credits can be
gained?).
• Mixed Use Projects Renovations
o How can you place this requirement on renovations in older buildings
that are vertically mixed with residential and commercial, and where
there are several owners (e.g. HOA) within a building?
Verification
• There needs to be a fast track for certain types of projects, like design
builds, where the applicant can't wait to occupy until after the certification
of projects. For remodels, work can be done in 4 months, but certification
can take 8 months.
• What is the time frame in which the building needs to be certified after
completion or occupancy?
• Why do these varying stages of verification (at building permit stage and
occupancy?) if the end goal is to have the building certified?
• City inspectors should be trained to do the verifications. Third parties add
time and expense to the process.
• Benefit of a city inspector as the verifying party is that they can make the
local interpretations when needed.
• Concerned about the accuracy of residents doing their own checklist.
• How do you account for verification, if a CO is not necessary in renovation
projects and permits are granted in stages (demo permit separate from
electrical permit that separate from other TI permits) and no overall
planning permit is required.... how can you require verification or monitor
this?
• Inspector or rater needs to come out several times during the construction
process to verify that work is done to the standards.
• Is there any thought about verifications after the building is constructed
and in operation?
Deposit
• Will the City allow people to take out a CD or line of credit as currently
allowed for a deposit? This should be clarified.
• $0.20/sf for residential deposit is too low.
• Need to set a higher deposit requirements than cost of certification, or you
won't get the certification and people will merely forfeit the deposit.
• $2/sf makes more sense for residential.
• Need to think about how to administer fees on large projects (i.e. Apple)
• If there's any tie up due to litigation, what happens to the deposit?
• Will the deposit fee be adjusted with the CPI or some measure so that the
City doesn't have to constantly reset the ordinance?
Incentives
• Zoning exemptions could be problematic — community & Council may have
problems compromising parking and FAR.
• Applicants need to know ahead of time if these incentives for exemplary
work are "maybe permitted" or "will be permitted" before going into the
project.
Exemptions
• What about heavy energy uses like data center and labs ... can they be
exempted from the requirements?
General Questions/Comments
• Are we in line with other cities or are we going above & beyond?
• Is there information about energy savings that results when complying with
these standards?
• Need to consider the issue between trees and solar panels
• Need to consider the housing stock, age of homes in Cupertino