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Exhibit CC 9-4-12 #13 Green Building Ordinance t_ > < L � CC 9 - V-- /2. Z Brittany Morales From: Adam Montgomery[amontgomeryasilvar.org] Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2012 5:01 PM To: City Council Cc: City Clerk Subject: September 4 Meeting, Item 13, Comment Letter Attachments: SILVAR#13 9_4_2012.pdf Good Afternoon, Attached to this e-mail is a comment letter from the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® regarding agenda item#13 (Green Building) for tonight's council meeting. Thank you, Adam Adam "AJ" Montgomery Government Affairs Director Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® 19400 Stevens Creek Blvd. #100 Cupertino, Ca. 95014 408-200-0100 (Main) 408-200-0108 (Direct) 650-223-4597 (Cell) 408-200-0101 (Fax) amontgomery@silvar.org www.silvar.org Silicon Valley ,,,--c7 VI Association of REALTORS September 4, 2012 Honorable Mark Santoro Mayor City of Cupertino 10300 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 Dear Mayor Santoro and Council Members, The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®(SILVAR) is a trade association representing over 4,000 real estate professionals in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and was the first REALTORII Association in California to be a Green Certified Business. Our Association has historically been an advocate for property owners and fair public policy. In specific regard to Cupertino, we are a business and a commercial property owner in the city. Thank you for addressing most of our initial concerns as stated in our 2/1/2011 letter to the council regarding the draft green building ordinance. Please consider our comments regarding the current draft green building ordinance that addresses a few of our concerns that remain unresolved from our previous letter. The CalGreen building standards were written and promulgated for new constructions with the "whole system" approach in mind (Section 101.3, California Green Building Standard Code, 2010), and yet this proposal aims to mandate CalGreen standards to minor renovations for non- residential property. Regarding"renovations,"the draft ordinance provides no definition,just that the work is more than 2,000 sf or$500,000 to trigger the mandate. Without a narrow definition of what will be factored in to trigger the CalGreen mandate, it is extremely difficult to interpret and estimate the true impact these rules will have on commercial renovations. We believe the CalGreen code should only be required for projects that qualify under state law. By requiring third party certification and verification of projects under independent green building codes (i.e. LEED or GPR),the City is far exceeding the state green building code requirements and is partially relinquishing its authority without any accountability. This will unnecessarily add new costs and an entry barrier for businesses looking to locate in Cupertino. The verification and certification requirement for some projects gives too much authority to parties outside the control of the City. The City should be the only party with this authority, and should not give authority to individuals outside of its control or without state licenses (active contractor licenses are not required for raters). If verification is necessary, then city staff should become certified through Build it Green and LEED, and the mandate should be phased in once there are enough certified staff members to process applications. 19400 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 100 • Cupertino, CA 95014 Phone: 408.200.0100 • Fax: 408.200.0101 • www.silvar.org The proposed deposits/fee associated with the verification process may also not be in compliance with Proposition 26. There is no justification provided that this fee is conforming to state law, citing that its collection(as a penalty)or refund will be determined by a non-government entity. There is no nexus study provided to justify the fees, or explanation of their potential determination in the staff report. Since the fee will have to be paid up front, on top of the verification cost, the proposed fees may be excessive and discourage economic activity in the city. We strongly encourage the Council to reexamine this approach. Lastly, the one-year break was intended in part to solicit community input on the proposal. What is deafeningly absent is comments from the community showing vocal support for this new mandate on commercial and residential projects. This leaves us to question why the City is attempting to move forward with these regulations above state mandates, without any visible community support? Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to comment regarding this item, and we look forward to answering any questions you may have. Sincerely, ./ Adam Montgomery Government Affairs Director Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® ( (4 1, y CC 9-4-12 Item # 13 Kirsten Squarcia From: Mark Matsumoto [markm @cupertino er.orgi Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2012 1:03 PM To: City Council Cc: City Clerk Subject: Re: Green Building Ordinance Attachments: Green Building Ordinance.doc Dear Mayor Mark Santoro and Cupertino City Councilmembers, The Cupertino Chamber of Commerce would like express our comments and concerns on Item #13 on tonight's Agenda -- Consideration of a Green Building Ordinance. Please refer to the attached letter for our comments. Thank you for your time and consideration. Best Regards, Mark Mark Matsumoto, Government Affairs Specialist Cupertino Chamber of Commerce markm(c�cupertino-chamber.orq (408) 252-7054 x14 20455 Silverado Ave Cupertino, CA 95014 APlease consider the environment before printing this email 1 September 4, 2012 Cupertino Chamber of Commerce Mayor Mark Santoro and Cupertino City Council Your Partner to Silicon Valley 10300 Torre Avenue Cupertino,CA 95014 Cupertino Chamber of Commerce 20455 S ilverad o Avenue Re: Green Building Ordinance Cupertino,CA 95014 Tel(408)252-7054 Dear Mayor Mark Santoro and Cupertino City Councilmembers, Fax(408)252-0638 www.cupertino-chamber.org I am writing to inform you of the Chamber of Commerce's continuing concerns regarding the cost and burden of complying with the proposed Green Building Ordinance.We believe CALGreen is still a relatively new and evolving framework for 2012 Board of Directors developers and property owners to work with.To minimize the uncertainty placed Board Officers on businesses,we respectfully request that the City's Green Building Ordinance only John Zirelli,President address the implementation of CALGreen,and not expand upon its original scope.If the Council feels they must go forward with an expansion of CALGreen's scope,then Mike Rohde,VP Special Events we respectfully ask the Council to address the following issues. Vallco Shopping Mall 1) City Review: In the ordinance that the City Council reviewed last May, Kevin rd Financial VP LAC ty y'many Leeward Financial&Insurance projects would qualify for City Review.This option allowed applicants to fund a Services consultant who would review plans to ensure that they would meet the relevant LEED or GPR standard.This option was important because it eliminated the time and Matt Wheeler,VP Finance LMGW Public Accountants cost of formal certification while providing the same level of environmental protection. By removing the City Review process from t:he ordinance,staff's Darcy Paul,VP Community recommendation effectively lowers the threshold requiring formal certification.For Relations Law Offices of Darcy August Paul non-residential renovations the threshold has been reduced from 50k square feet to 25k square feet.This change greatly increases the number of projects forced to go Lynn Ching,Membership through an expensive and lengthy LEED process while providing little to no Development Sustainable Living Group, Inc. environmental benefit.Receiving formal certification for renovations takes an additional 7-8 months from the time a building is occupied,with associated Board Members administrative costs.We encourage you to adopt a City Review process as a way of Yogi Chugh reducing the burden on Cupertino businesses.Alternatively,the Council could State Farm Insurance restore the threshold required for formal LEED certification back to 50k square feet Mike Foulkes for non-residential renovations. Apple, Inc. Tamon Norimoto PG&E 2) CALGreen Requirements:The Chamber's understanding throughout the many Sandy James months of public outreach was that when the ordinance referred to CALGreen it LeHigh Cement Company simply meant the applicant must comply with existing state building code.The staff Scott Jeng report makes clear that this is not the case. In the case of small renovations, HSBCBank USA,N.A. CALGreen requirements are being extended to projects that were specifically written Mahesh Nihalani out of the scope of the state code.The small size of these projects mean that the Jewels in Style ultimate environmental benefit achieved by expanding Cal Green's scope will be Barbara Perzigian Cupertino Inn minimal.We encourage the Council to clarify that CALGreen requirements apply only Vicky Tsai to projects already covered by its scope. Dry Clean Pro Joanne Mansch 3)Alternate Green Building Standards:The Chamber continues to have concerns Alotta's Delicassen&Catering that the Green Building Ordinance reliance on LEED may prove unwieldy or unworkable in the future. By forcing individuals to go through an unaccountable NGO for certification you may be creating problems that are riot immediately clear.While the ordinance envisions alternative standards that could emerge,we would encourage Council to adopt a broad interpretation of the Alternate Standard criteria. The Staff Report seems overly attached to the idea that any alternate standard must include a formal certifying body.We would ask that the language be amended as follows to provide additional flexibility in case it is needed in the future. 101.10.2 Alternate green building standards. The applicant may request to apply an alternate green building reference standard for a project in lieu of the minimum standards per Table 101.10. In making a determination in response to an application under this section, the Building Official may allow an alternate green building reference standard if he/she finds that the proposed alternative reference green building rating system standard complies with all of the following: A. Addresses a comprehensive scope of green building issues including energy efficiency, water efficiency,resource efficient materials,and healthy building practices; B. Applies standards that are, when taken as a whole, as stringent as the GPR and GEED standards; C. Includes a formalized alternate verification or certification process that incorporates third party verification;and D. The project will advance the purposes of this Chapter. We think each of the above asks are modest and retain the intent of the Green Building Ordinance while reducing the burden on local businesses.Thank you for your consideration and we would be happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Best regards, cyLa,co John Zirelli 2012 President Cupertino Chamber of Commerce - 2 -