CI 2009 SSc2: Development Density and Community Connectivity

Andrea, while it's assumed that all the buildings in the radius would be included in the calculation, I don't see any issue with not including some of them, if the buildings you are including put you well over the credit threshold for density.

Andrea, The most reliable source is the government tax rolls which have to be public. Google Earth has 'Property Owner Points' which will tell you who the tax bill is sent to and the land area. You can then call the management firm to see about how large the building is. You may not get good information from the management company. Try asking for a Green Leasing Agent who will hopefully be more sympathetic to your cause.

Jennifer- You should be able to find both of these answers in the reference guide. The density radius equation is based off project site area and gives a radius in linear feet...
Density Radius (lf) = 3* sqrt{site area(acres)*43560(sf/acre)}
Average property density (within that boundary/radius) is determined by summing each property's building area/site area. NYC has an interactive map which makes finding this info veryvery easy (http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/)...
Development Density (sf/acre) = Gross building Area (sf) / Site Area (acres). The documentation toolkit tab here has a step by step guide to creating a density map if that is useful
Hopefully that answers it!

Kate, thank you. I understand how to actually calculate all the numbers. The issue I have in Los Angeles, especially in unincorporated cities, is getting access to the surrounding buildings' information. I was wondering if there was a tool I didn't know about like a special feature in google earth that ties into density. It is one of those credits that can be especially easy in the right city, or terribly hard in others based on what information that city has available online. I appreciate the step by step guide to creating a density map though. Very helpful!

Jennifer, Do you think that your project will qualify for the exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. credit? If yes, then keep pursuing the information. If not, document the credit with Community Connectivity and be done. Most of our projects don't qualify for the EP credit so we document this credit via Community Connectivity as a general rule.

It depends - you might be able to argue the level of transit service is equivalent, but you need a lot of data to make that case. See several discussions posted under CI 2009 SSc3.1 and NC 2009 SSc4.1. Hope that helps!

Holly, I don't think I understand what you're getting at. Can you try rephrasing your question?

As i understand it, you only a portion of the residential area within your 1/2 mile radius.

Kory - one quick & simple way would be to go into Google Earth and mark out the 1/2 mile radius from your project site. If you notice any residential multi-story complexes such as high-rise condos or even low-rise apartments this is your best bet - it can be hard to comply with the 10 units/acre with a typical subdivision filled with single-family homes and standard sized yards. Zoom in on the residential area and take an area measurement of the property to get the acreage of the complex. To get the number of dwelling units, you could look up the complex's phone number and call the front desk/rental office. That's the simplest way I've found. Good luck!

Thanks for the help.

I have one question to clerify. The approach you are talking about is just looking at the one building. Given the language I am looking at, it say "the project space is located in a building that is within 1/2 mile of a residential zone or neighborhood with an average density of 10 units per acre net..." In this language, can I define residential zone as a single apartment building? If there is more than one residential area within the 1/2 mile do I have to consider the whole thing a residential zone?

In addition to the GoogleEarth strategy you suggested, isn't some of this information a matter of public record? Would someone like a city planning department or a county auditor's office be able to help in any way?

Finally, if I were to go the other route toward Option 1 and were to try and find SFs, how would I go about doing that?

It seems reasonable for single apartment building to count for the residential requirement if the number of units and it's site area meet the 10 dwelling units per acre (DUA) ratio.
True, in some cities, this kind of information is easy to access on line from the city or planning department's website, but not all cities make this kind of GIS data easily accessible on line. You could try calling the planning department to see if they'll give you the information you need.

To your final question, we've typically gotten the building and site area data for buildings from land use data that was available online from the city GIS or planning department.

Méabh, the EP requirements are shown above in the Bird's Eye View.

I had the same question as M. Browne. I am also new to LEED User and am not sure the Bird's eye view is. Please elaborate.

Under the Bird's Eye View tab above, to the right there is a little blue EP ribbon, this signifies Exemplary PerformanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements.. For this credit it begins with "Sit is previously developedPreviously developed sites are those altered by paving, construction, and/or land use that would typically have required regulatory permitting to have been initiated (alterations may exist now or in the past). Previously developed land includes a platted lot on which a building was constructed if the lot is no more than 1 acre; previous development on lots larger than 1 acre is defined as the development footprint and land alterations associated with the footprint. Land that is not previously developed and altered landscapes resulting from current or historical clearing or filling, agricultural or forestry use, or preserved natural area use are considered undeveloped land. The date of previous development permit issuance constitutes the date of previous development, but permit issuance in itself does not constitute previous development."..." 

I assume that occupants from other commercial buildings adjacent to yours would be able to access those same services in your radius. So I would say that your project would comply with the credit. SSc2 pushes for the amenities to have public and pedestrian access. There is no mention in the credit that the occupants from residential area have to have the same pedestrian access to same amenities.

Thanks Larry. Yes, the services are accessible to other office occupants as well as ours. The focus of my question is that since the credit requires proximity to 10 services and a residential area, do both of these have to have pedestrian access to our project? I agree with you that the credit does not mention this, but is the intent to have walkability to services only or to services and residential?

Occupants only need pedestrian access to those services from your building/project. Currently, there is no addenda or Interpretations that require pedestrian access to the residential area as well.

I don't see why it would be a problem, assuming those other businesses in the shopping center are already existing.

You'd want to use the sf of the whole building, since that contributes to the density of the area within the radius. That way it wouldn't matter if your project is one floor or umpteen floors.

Thumbs up David, thanks

Heather, it depends on the neighborhood. One 10-unit apartment building would do it. Or another kind of development or neighborhood with 10 units within one acre. What's your situation?

Hi Tristan,

So, to clarify your reponse to Heather's post above, would it be sufficient to provide only the number of units per loft/apartment building if there are more than 10 loft/apartment buildings located within the 1/2 mile radius?....Rather than calculating the 10 units per acre for each building...?

-Thanks in advance

Gail,

On the Credit Form, it does not ask you to provide the density/acre anymore - the actual number as in v2.0. It does ask for a map link or for the project team to upload their own map. Here, as long as you highlight the building/buildings within 1/2 mile of your site that meet the density requirement, you'll be fine, i.e. the 10+ unit apt building. What you could also do, is check your local zoning map and definitions and use this as a reference when creating your documentation.

I don't think you could count an insurance office as a basic service, no. You are pretty much restricted to the list shown in the credit language (see above).

As for the campus services, if this are on the list above, and operated like centers that are open to the public and have regular hours, then yes.

The center is open to the public but have to pay a membership fee and have to have a referral. Would that still count?

Fitness centers are on the approved list in the credit language, and I think it's fairly universal that membership fees are required. So yes, that sounds fine to me. I'm not totally sure about the referral—if that makes it more of an exclusive club, I would not be so sure.

I just had this credit denied because it is on a state university campus, the reviewer says that these services like the campus police and fire departments, gym, library etc - they say these are not open to the public......I thought the intent of this credit was to create an operation where occupants have close proximity to services....and isn't a State campus open to the public......

A project can count only two restaurants toward the ten services.

Andrew, I think you'll find this discussion on the NC forum for this credit quite helpful.

What services did you have in mind?

Thank you Jim and Tristan.

On Jim's comment, can you only double up on one of the 10? For instance can you count 2 restaurants, 2 supermarkets, 2 libraries, etc?

On Tristan's comment, other services I was considering are: coffee, bookstore, large mall (department stores, clothing, electronics, sporting goods, etc)...

There is a specific exception allowing two restaurants to be counted.

Coffee sounds like too similar to restaurant to me.

I doubt that a "mall" could be considered a service but perhaps some of the stores if they qualify.

I think you may be able to get some traction with these but I would be a bit concerned about the consumer focus. Many of the basic services listed in the credit language are just that—key services needed for life. I haven't seen this articulated as a requirement—just a thought in terms of what you choose to submit with.

USGBC recently clarified that three restaurants can be counted for LEED-CI.

JIm, that's very interesting. Where did this clarification appear?

Yes, Otherwise you could be the first to develop a project in the middle of an undeveloped track and still potentially get the credit.

If there are development plans on file with the city, or if a developer in currently working on developing the site you might be able to include the anticipated density and opening date in your documentation, but I would expect it to raise a question or two during the audit.

Yes, the alternative transportation ID credit is pretty easy to document. See the LEEDuser Documentation Toolkit page on SSc3.1 for an example Exemplary PerformanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. document.

Best,
Shannon

Hi Rona,

Unfortunately, you won’t have much luck attempting the Exemplary PerformanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. point through doubling your community connectivity. And, the 2009 CI Reference Guide doesn’t even give Exemplary Performance for doubling the density of the project (as they do with NC, Schools, and CS). If you can meet the double density portion of the credit it would be worth it to write a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide but the double community connectivity is most likely a no-go.

Good luck!
Shannon

Shannon, Thank you!

For an NC-2009 project, for a centrally located public library on an infill tract, we recently wrote a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide noting that although we did not have the minimum residential density within the one-half mile radius, a large percentage of the town's population lived within the half-mile, and with pedestrian access. We also have 15 services.

The ruling we received waived the residential density requirment. However, remember that CIRs are now project-specific.

Rona,
Just wanted to update you that the LEED Addendum from April clarifies that exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. for development density can allow a project to achieve an ID credit. You still are unable to achieve an ID credit for exemplary performance under the connectivity compliance path, but the development density exemplary performance is an option.
thanks,
Devon

Thanks Devon! I feel compelled to share what I found in the Addenda because I spent so much time searching:

Replace the text with the following:
The following exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. paths are available for projects that have earned Option 1 under SS Credit 2:
1. The project building itself must have a density at least double that of the average density within the calculated area, OR
2. The average density within an area twice as large as that for the base credit achievement must be at least 120,000 square feet per acre. To double the area, use equation 2 but double the project site area first.

But how do we document this? The LOL form only pertains to the non-exemplary density radius, and there doesn't seem to be anywhere to upload the information to document exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements..

Sara, I would ask GBCI about this. There is a good chance that an updated LEED Online form would facilitate this.

I got a response from the GBCI that I'll share with everyone: both the basic credit and the exemplary credit buildings should be captured in the same table.