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Redevelop land or facilities
The intent of this credit is to reduce the development pressure on undeveloped land by encouraging development of land that has access to existing infrastructure and services.
This credit is straightforward. You can earn it if your site has been designated a brownfield by a state, local or federal agency and if the site is remediated to meet appropriate standards for development.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines “brownfields” as “abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.”
Your documentation needs to include brownfield designation, records of testing conducted on the site, and records of...
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4 Comments
Project Site: Commercial Salt Pan
The project site was a commercial salt pan, with parts of the site also serving as fishery and shrimp pool. The site hence has a high salt content and water table. The process of remediation was through the removal of part of the contaminated soil and addition of new soil for stabilization for upto 3.5m with soil dredged from nearby rivers. Would this qualify for compliance with the credit.
Shilpi,
SCENARIO ONE: Assumptions: 1) the site was determined to be contaminated as defined by SSc3 Brownfield Redevelopment, via Option 1 or Option 2; 2) the contamination was remediated appropriately; 3) the site ownership, when the remediation was conducted, is the same as when the project was registered. If these three assumptions are correct, then the project should qualify for the credit. "Dredge and Fill" operations in instances such as this is permitted.
SCENARIO TWO: If the site was determined to be contaminated, your comment regarding the “removal of part of the contaminated soil” would be cause for concern and I don’t see how you are protecting the environment or human health by leaving some parts of the site contaminated. Given the fact that contaminated sites are determined by the presence of a contamination and not by the quantity of contamination, the project could not earn the credit. Although only part of a site needs to be contaminated to earn the credit, you must remediate all of the contamination.
Asbestos abatement for existing buildings prior to demolition
I'm working on two projects (LEED - CS v2 and LEED 2009 - NC) that both require the demolition of existing buildings on the project sites. The existing buildings have asbestos and other hazardous materials that have been identified and will be professionally abated prior to demolition. Do you think this qualifies the sites for the Brownfield Redevelopment credit even though the projects are not major renovations?
Yes - We've seen a project acheive this credit under version 2.2 where an existing building being demolished for a new construction project contained asbestos.
The probable presence of asbestos in a number of the existing building materials was identified with a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment and confirmed by an Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM) survey. The abatement was carried out by a licensed contractor before demolition of the building.
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