Baltimore City Raises Standards for Green Building

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

In August 2007, Baltimore City established Green Building standards for new or significantly changed spaces and buildings over 10,000 square feet. As of July 2010, building owners who request permits have to submit documentation proving that their building will earn a LEED silver rating, or an equivalent rating, at minimum. Recently, Baltimore City’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) released the Baltimore City Green Building Standards, or BCGBS, which will act as an equivalent to the LEED Rating System.

Designed by Michael Braverman, Permits & Code Enforcement Division Deputy Commissioner; the Baltimore Office of Sustainability; and consulting firm Terralogos the BCGBS was created to make the green building registration process easier and more affordable to residents and companies in Baltimore. The new rating system features less paperwork, more credits, and no additional costs aside from standard permit fees.

Unlike LEED, a building earns BCGBS certification as a receipt of the Use & Occupancy Permit. The City accomplishes this through a “pledge” credits, meaning that the owner promises to remain green after occupancy by contracting green cleaning, re-commissioning, allowing public access to open space, or providing expanded recycling. The City is aggressive in following up to ensure that owners honor their pledge, and will even issue citations and fines for not keeping up with their promised responsibilities.

While citations and fines may be aggressive, the DHCD will be flexible in enforcing the BCGBS.  It has provided credit waivers and alternate compliance paths for unique projects and circumstances.  DHCD foresees that some building types may be excluded from complying with green building requirements.

Baltimore has not yet incentivized the law to provide tax breaks or fee waivers for projects reaching three or more Green Stars (or LEED Gold/Platinum) or projects under 10,000 square feet complying with BCGBS or LEED.  GSA and federal agencies requiring LEED Silver buildings have hinted that the two Green Stars is an acceptable equivalent; however, the design team must clarify this with the client agency before choosing a compliance path.  DHCD has withheld the one Green Star rating for small projects and single-family homes in the future expansion of the requirements.  The neatest thing – a net-zero building automatically earns a two Green Star rating under BCGBS.

The City made it a point during a USGBC seminar on October 6^th that they are absolutely available to help owners, developers, contractors, and designers navigate the process to ensure a quick and successful turnaround of the permit. They are eager to make the program a success and a benchmark for other cities to build on. The BCGBS program is still in its infancy with inconsistent submission methods, a mostly untested process, and inexperienced inspectors. Baltimore and DHCD view the next year as chance to work out the bugs and better streamline the process.

MGrabenstein   Sustainability
Baltimore City Green Building Standards, Green Design, LEED, Sustainability
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