Item 2C: Amendment to Sustainable Building Policy

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Resolution 4884 - Exhibit A Sustainable Buildings Policy For Buildings Owned and Occupied by the City Purpose The purpose of a Citywide policy on sustainable buildings is to demonstrate the City of Eugene’s commitment to environmental, economic, and social stewardship, to yield cost savings to the City’s taxpayers through reduced operating costs, to provide healthy work environments for staff and visitors, and to contribute to the City’s goals of protecting, conserving, and enhancing the region’s environmental resources. Additionally, the City is in a position to set a community standard of sustainable buildings practices. Policy 1. The City of Eugene shall incorporate principles of sustainability in the planning, financing, siting, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings owned and occupied by the City and associated facilities. TM a. All City of Eugene buildings and facilities should use the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) as a guide for the sustainable operation and maintenance of City buildings. Implementing LEED-EB criteria on an inventory-wide basis is intended to maximize sustainability benefits within existing resources, and provide a means of benchmarking environmental and financial performance improvements in City practices. Certification of existing buildings under LEED-EB will be evaluated for technical and economic feasibility and pursued at the highest feasible level of certification on a case-by-case basis as funding is available. b. All new construction and additions encompassing 10,000 gross square feet or more of building area TM should achieve a Silver certification level of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System for New Construction (LEED-NC). A higher equivalent rating (Gold or Platinum) should be sought where practicable as funding is available. c. New construction encompassing less than 10,000 gross square feet of building area should achieve the equivalent of at least a LEED Silver certification level where technically feasible. Projects of any size for which certification is not feasible due to technical reasons, should use LEED-NC as a guide to incorporate as many sustainable features as economically feasible. d. Building renovation projects should use LEED-NC as a guide and will be evaluated for certification on a case-by-case basis, as the feasibility of incorporating sustainable features within the context of the existing building will vary widely from project to project. 2. It is City policy that sustainability elements should be considered part of the standard costs of building, renovating, and preserving public assets. One of the goals adopted by the City Council is that ongoing financial resources will be adequate to maintain and deliver municipal services, including funding for the planning, siting, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of City buildings and associated facilities. Budgeting for new construction, renovations and additions to City facilities should include the costs of incorporating sustainable features and achieving certification goals. 3. Implementing LEED criteria and achieving certification will be at the highest level technically and economically feasible. The feasibility of incorporating sustainable features and achieving LEED certifications L:\CMO\2006 Council Agendas\M060814\S0608142C.doc