By February, contractors committing to build environmentally friendly projects could get their permits faster than others waiting in line, if the City Council approves an ordinance offering this and other green building incentives. The City’s Environmental Protection Board recently finished a draft version of the ordinance creating an overall green program for new City construction and incentivizing green construction in the private sector. “About a year ago, we looked at a three-phase program to create sustainable building practices,” said Environmental Protection Board member Robert Schuster. “One phase already approved is funding to train City employees on sustainability.”
Schuster said the second phase is a proposal to add, what he called, a “green champion” to City staff who will shepherd green projects through the process, assist in training other staffers and keep the City abreast of new technology and trends in green building. The third phase is the green building ordinance, which requires all new civic or office construction projects owned by the City and its independent agencies and authorities to meet the U.S. Green Buildings Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria.
LEED promotes the conservation of resources like water and electricity through design and choice of electrical and plumbing fixtures, recycling as much as possible from demolition and construction materials and even using cleaning and maintenance supplies that don’t harm the environment. The City is planning for the interior renovation of the old Haverty’s building, which will become the new City Annex, and the eventual construction of a new County Courthouse to meet the LEED requirements.
Although the ordinance doesn’t require private projects to meet the certification, Schuster said he hopes the incentives in the ordinance will spur more construction projects to go green. “We see tremendous energy savings, water savings, improved working environments and so many other benefits,” said Schuster. “As for incentives, the first and biggest is priority permitting. Projects submitted for commitment to get (LEED) certified in that program receive priority in all phases of permitting.”
Developers of one proposed Downtown project, the 51-story The St. Johns residential and commercial tower on the Southbank, have announced plans to meet LEED certification. But priority permitting might not be enough to coax most builders to go green, said Council President Daniel Davis, who is also executive director of the Northeast Florida Builders Association. Davis said his members are cautious about adding green building components that could drive up the prices of homes and buildings.
“Clearly we don’t want to do anything that adds to the cost of a house,” said Davis. “Right now, we need to do everything we can to help the industry get back on its feet. I think that all the industry members want to protect the environment, and we will do everything we can to balance that.” One piece of the ordinance that could help alleviate some concerns is the ability for developers and builders to be refunded some of the costs of attaining LEED certification. The refund amount ranges from $500 to $2,000 based on the level of LEED certification attained.
The actual certification costs vary from project to project, but Ellen Reed, Public Advocacy Chair for the North Florida Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, said the cost for a 50,000-square-foot commercial building ranges between $1,800 and $2,200. “LEED certification has some fees involved, as it is a third-party verification through the Green Building Council,” said Reed. “There is a lot of administrative work, as they look at each application very thoroughly to make sure each building is truly green.”
Reed, who is also director of business development for Breaking Ground Contracting in Jacksonville, said the costs of a
Source: JaxDailyRecord.com