Tapping the Zoning Code to Enable Greener Buildings and Communities

Jeremy Sigmon, LEED® AP BD+C
Manager, Building Codes Advocacy
U.S. Green Building Council

Many communities are opening up their zoning codes to identify and remove barriers, and adopting language that will encourage greener building and greener living outcomes. You wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Portland, Oregon has been greening its zoning code for several years including a handful of updates this year. You might be surprised that other cities and counties, such as the City of Buffalo, NY and Will County, Illinois, are doing (or have done) the same through a community-focused comprehensive look at how the zoning code could better encourage the development of a greener community. In these last few weeks of 2011, both Philadelphia and New York are at milestones worth celebrating.

The City of New York is the most recent to jump into the ring of rethinking the zoning code with their announcement last week of “Zone Green.” With a backdrop of many other successful initiatives related to Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC, this initiative will be one worthy of following in 2012. Zone Green is an outgrowth of the extremely successful efforts of the Green Codes Task Force, coordinated by the Urban Green Council. The Green Codes Task Force, which put forth 111 policy recommendations in a 2010 report, now claims 29 of those recommendations as victories, a few of which were adopted just last week. Last week’s code upgrades will improve building air quality, stop certain streams of wastewater from construction sites, and repurpose spent concrete into most new pavings.

This week Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter will sign the City’s new zoning code that was adopted by the City Council last week. This is the City’s first zoning code update in 50 years. Among the long list of sustainability elements in the Zoning Code Commission’s final report are incentives for increased development density for commercial buildings that earn LEED Gold and Platinum. These LEED incentives are a popular way to encourage green building development, and are an important part of the City’s strategy to leverage the power of the zoning code to facilitate more sustainable development. Other areas of focus include: encouraging water conservation, promoting renewable energy and building energy efficiency, reducing vehicle miles travelled, promoting healthy, active lifestyles, and encouraging urban food production.

There’s a lot to be optimistic about in the green building world in Philadelphia. The City is home to President Obama’s $129 million dollar investment in identifying and deploying energy efficient building technologies, policies and methods (see: Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster). USGBC’s local chapter organization – the Delaware Valley Green Building Council – is one of the strongest in our network. Philadelphia School District was awarded top spot amongst cities greening their school facilities in a Best of 2011 list released last week by the Center for Green Schools at USGBC. And if that weren’t enough, while in a restaurant in Center City two weeks ago before Cities Alive 2011, a waitress told me (effectively un-prompted!) that energy efficient, green, LEED buildings were all over the place, and that green real estate was the only thing renting or selling these days.

If the wait staff in restaurants in your home town aren’t talking about a greener community (and even if they are), you probably have some things to gain from removing barriers and creating opportunity for green buildings, infrastructure and neighborhoods.

LEED for Neighborhood Development looks at this scale of building, planning and development and metrics in the rating system can serve as guidelines to achieving local or regional sustainability goals. Open up USGBC’s resource page for local governments addressing community-scale planning and policy to see how the principles of LEED for Neighborhood Development can help you leverage the power of the zoning code to make sustainability happen in your own backyard.

Overcoming Zoning and Code-Based Challenges to Build Sustainable Communities

Aaron Lande
Sustainable Cities Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

The LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system has been out in the marketplace and available to developers for several months now. With its release, interest continues to grow, both among local governments seeking a tool to achieve sustainability goals; and developers looking for a way to distinguish and strengthen their communities and cut carbon emissions.

Unfortunately, LEED for Neighborhood Development is met with many challenges from existing zoning standards that reflect a bias against compact development, ranging from density maximums, to parking minimums, to bans on mixed use zoning. This all reflects the now outdated mindset of planners and policy makers from generations past, who were ruled by the automobile.

Since the benefits of sustainable communities, like the kind fostered by LEED for Neighborhood Development, are incredibly far-reaching and impactful, finding methods to work with outdated standards or change existing codes altogether is crucial. Sustainable communities promote:

• Economic diversity
• Greater convenience for residents by ensuring that the essentials for everyday life (work, food, entertainment) are accessible without having to drive
• A sense of comunity and civic engagement, leading to increased safety
• Public health by allowing residents to walk and bike through their communities

The good news is that strides are being made to reduce the challenges that Neighborhood Development projects face, improving the ease in which walkable, sustainable communities can be incorporated in to our cities. USGBC is currently working with Pace University’s Land Use Law Center, with funding from the Oram Foundation: Fund for Environment & Urban Life, to develop a technical assistance manual and model overlay zone for local governments to work to remove these code barriers. These resources will be made available to local governments in the fall.

Also, USGBC is now hosting an exhibit about LEED for Neighborhood Development, enabling our staff to work with local governments to raise awareness of the program and enact policy change. The Neighborhoods Go Green exhibit, which USGBC co-curated with the Chicago Architecture Foundation and Farr Associates, has been on display at the Chicago Architecture Foundation since. Nov. 14, and will soon be open at the AIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., from Mar. 14-Apr. 21. As part of the exhibit, USGBC assembled panels in Chicago and D.C. (forthcoming), consisting of local chapter members, and state and local government officials and staff to discuss how to encourage LEED for Neighborhood Development projects, and how to remove existing barriers to sustainable communities.

In line with efforts to promote modern zoning codes and remove blocks to sustainable community projects, it’s worth noting that many LEED for Neighborhood Development projects have spurred important code-related changes or solutions within their communities.

In Cleveland, Ohio, three high-profile LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot projects have given the city an opportunity to rethink how to create policies and tools to support green projects. With close involvement from the city, project team members and representatives from the Cleveland Foundation were able to create a set of green design guidelines that acted as an overlay for the three project sites. This meant that projects teams did not have to seek individual variances each time LEED for Neighborhood Development principles conflicted with current regulations. Similar success was seen in Nashville, Tenn., when the city adopted a new Downtown Code (DTC) in response to numerous projects seeking rezoning or variances.

Above all, LEED is a powerful tool for communities looking to reduce their carbon emissions, and can help local governments rethink the regulations and design of their communities. Roughly 38% of carbon emissions in the U.S. can be attributed to buildings, with another 30% coming from the transportation sector. Redesigning our communities to better promote walkability and alternative forms of transportation, practices fostered by programs like LEED for Neighborhood Development, will go a long way toward reducing carbon emissions and accomplishing the goals set forth in the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Working to overcome code-based challenges is an important step in getting there.

More information:
LEED for Neighborhood Development is a voluntary rating system that incorporates the principles of smart growth, New Urbanism and green building into a national standard. It was developed in partnership by the U.S. Green Building Council, Natural Resources Defense Council and Congress for the New Urbanism. For more information, consult the Local Government Guide to LEED for Neighborhood Development and stay tuned for additional resources this spring.