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You can lead a horse to water…
…But you can’t make it drink. In other words, bike racks and showers will probably not be enough to encourage biking in an area that’s unfriendly to bicyclists. If you’re thinking of pursuing this credit, first consider the realities of the neighborhood around the school. Is it realistic that students and staff will ride bicycles and make use of the bike racks and storage or the shower facilities? It’s important to consider whether the intent of this credit will bear out in reality, or if your resources might be better allocated elsewhere.
There are some additional costs
This credit entails the costs of purchasing and installing the bike racks, as well as showers and changing facilities if you decide to provide those onsite. For smaller projects, the additional...
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Don't double-count parking spaces
If your project is pursuing both SSc4.3 and SSc4.4, be careful not to double-count preferred parkingPreferred parking, available to particular users, includes designated spaces close to the building (aside from designated handicapped spots), designated covered spaces, discounted parking passes, and guaranteed passes in a lottery system. spaces allotted for those credits. The total number of preferred parking spaces must be equal to those required for SSc4.3, plus those required for SSc4.4. The same parking space cannot count for both credits (although they do not have to be distinguished through signage).
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Credit language straight from USGBC
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20 Comments
revised student numbers on form 3 not updating on template
students above grade 3 # was corrected on form 3, template student # still shows old #. GBCI says that all associated point templates cells must be filled-in with something or change won't take. Thought I filled in all cells but it's still not updating the template.
Resident students not included?
My building is an academic building at a 100% residential boarding school. There are walking paths everywhere, students all live within 3/4-mile, and students rarely use bicycles. It seems illogical to include them in the 5% bike calculation, as there's no way that many spaces are needed or would be used. Is this a candidate for special circumstances? Does anyone have experience with this?
What is the building used for? Who uses it?
It's a math/science classroom building used by most students at some point during the school day. 22 FTEs (2 FT staff and 32 teachers there for a portion of the 8-hour day) work there as well.
This isn't a situation addressed clearly in the BD&C Reference guide, since the building types the K-12 Schools rating is based on don't typically have a residential function. Your campus is more similar to a residential college in that sense, so the Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and Campus (Part 1 Oct 2010) might help here:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2326
This updated 2010 document is organized differently than the 2005 guidance document: a Master Site block of overall site credits is set up in LEED Online for the credits that are applied across a whole campus, and then individual buildings are registered as separate blocks for their building-specific credits.
See 1.4 Table 1A for SSc4.2. My understanding is you'll calculate the total # of bike racks for the whole campus based on the campus FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. numbers, but still have to have a pro-rated number of racks near buildings seeking certification. When they say: "The appropriate number of bike racks and showers provided must be within 200 yards of the projects on the shared-site/campus that are attempting LEED certification" it would suggest they want to see the portion of racks (and showers!) for the classroom building's FTE within 200 yards.
Remember, the # of transients is defined as those who occupy the building for less than 7 hours. The number of transients is used for calculating bike racks, but don't have to be provided showers. It's not entirely clear to me, but I believe any full-time staff who work in that building are expected to have showers within 200 yards.
The document also states "Feedback received from project teams that use this guidance is very valuable and will be utilized to inform future versions of the guidance," so I'd encourage you to contact the USGBC or submit 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 to clarify how the guidance document should be applied to the this credit.
Drawing scale
Does LEED require any minimum scale for drawings, either for credits or for the general project drawings?
Thank you.
No, I've never heard of one being enforced. I would only say that the burden is on the team to make their documents clear to the reviewers.
Calculating Transient Occupants for a K-5 elementary school
Does anyone have a standard or rule of thumb to generate a logical number for volunteers and visitors in an urban area? If the school district doesn't have a volunteer program, then that answers one question. However, how is a visitor count calculated? I would think most visitors would be parents - thus it would be unlikely they would be straping the kid on the bike with them. I suppose I could just take the number from the # of visitor parking spots and call it a day? Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks!
Renee, on a Schools project you don't have to account for transients to earn this credit. (See the credit language tab above.)
I see what you are saying about the credit language, but then in the LEED reference guide calculations for schools (step 1d) it lists peak transients. I would definitely prefer to NOT count them, because we get "nicer" number of required bike racks (12 vs 13).
Interesting—it's also requested in the LEED Online form. I guess they do want a number, which does make sense.
If the number of visitor parking spots is reflective of peak transients, then I would go with it. Consider whether folks arrive by other means, or with more than one person in the car.
Bike Lanes for Urban Schools
Any suggestions or experience for meeting the requirement for a dedicated bike lane on school property for an inner-city school with no setbacks (e.g. a public school in NYC)? Children will likely using bikes to get to school, but it isn't possible to incorporate a bike lane on the actual school property. Any way around this?
Hi Carly,
We've had a project in a similar situation. However, we did have dedicated city bike lanes on one side of our school and showed those in our project drawings. Any chance there are city bike lanes nearby?
We've also used wide (8 feet) sidewalks and installed a sign that said bikers left and pedestrians right.
Both projects were approved.
Shannon
Thanks Shannon. There are city bike lanes within a few blocks of the school but not along any of the perimeter streets. The tight property space will limit the ability for wide sidewalks as well. It's looking like the bike lane requirement might not be achievable for this particular project. Any other methods/CIRs people have used would be great.
Providing Bike Lanes for Schools
Hi all,
We are working on a school where the bike racks will be installed in the first basement level just next to the ramp. That same ramp will be very close to the site entrance. Knowing that it is impractical to have a bike lane sharing the ramp, do you think the bike lane requirement can be omitted based on "none practical" grounds? Can we submit our design letter templates explaining why we did not specify bike lanes or should we submit 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 and err on the side of caution ?
Thanks for your help,
Given that bicycle storage and changing rooms are required only within 200 yards of the main entrance, it seems reasonable to have the bike lane go to the storage area (if it's within 200 yards of the entrance) and not all the way to the front door.
Dedicated Bike Lanes on School Property
"Provide dedicated bike lanes that extend at least to the end of the school property in 2 or more directions with no barriers (e.g., fences) on school property." This requirement seems vague in the actual purpose but very explicit in the requirement. The credit purpose is to encourage bike use. The bike lane part is I assume for safety, but school campuses have many possible configurations and this requirement needs to be less rigid to allow for solutions that work with campus plan, layout and logistics.
What is the minimum bicycle path/sidewalk's width for an Elementary School project pursuing LEED credit SSc4.2? 8 foot?
Thanks
During previous applications, the LEED review team has requested an 8ft path to accommodate shared pedestrian/bike use.
I haven't seen a prescriptive requirement for the width of a stand alone bike path.
Thanks for your response Mr. Stanley.
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