Item A: Low Impact Development: Results of Review

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Landscaping Preservation of existing vegetation within new developments is encouraged by provision of credit towards required landscaping. Green Building - LEED Certified Building incentives The City is exploring and beginning to implement incentives for green building projects, many of which incorporate LID practices. Eligible projects will qualify for specific permit review times, priority for inspections (no holdovers) and development consultation assistance. C. Incentive Opportunities & Barriers Opportunities to implement additional incentives to increase implementation of LID practices can be grouped into three categories, financial, expedited permitting, and recognition. Specific opportunities and barriers are discussed within each of these areas. Low & Medium Potential: Providing additional financial and expedited permitting incentives have relatively low potential while providing additional marketing and recognition of LID has medium potential. Barriers: Scale of available costs offset by incentives, impacts on cost recovery, availability of funding for subsidies, potential equity concerns, and limitations in degree of influence of incentives. Financial Financial incentives can affect construction costs and fees at the time of development or longer-term costs of ownership an operation. Additional financial incentives could be developed within the following areas: Fee Reduction – In addition to the stormwater SDC/User fee reductions noted by local communities above, some communities in Florida are providing a 50% permit fee reduction. Pasadena, CA provides a rebate from the local water and electric provider for exceeding LEED certification standards. San Antonio, TX has adopted an incentive scorecard system that authorizes waivers or reductions of certain development fees for projects reaching specified scores from the score card. Reverse incentives through Additive Fees -- Arlington, VA charges an additional cost per square foot of floor area for all non-LEED developments. These revenues are then used to fund Green Building education/outreach. Grants – Some communities such as Santa Monica, CA, Seattle, WA, and Chicago, IL provide grant money to achieve certain LEED qualifications or for the implantation of retrofit ecoroofs. Potentially Lower Project Costs – An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study of 17 developments found that in most cases LID practices reduced project costs (compared with conventional development costs) and enhanced environmental performance. See the EPA document in the LID Fact Sheets appendix. Barriers to the effectiveness of financial incentives include the level of development costs able to be offset by incentives, impacts on mandated cost recovery, availability of funding for subsidies, and equity concerns. Development fees are often an initial target for financial incentives. While development fees can constitute an appreciable percentage of overall development costs, a reduction or waiver of fees may not provide a financial incentive of the magnitude required to effect a decision to choose aggressive implementation of LID. Construction costs, market conditions, costs of financing, and other factors are likely to have a greater impact on choices in the nature of a development project than the relatively modest financial incentives available through development fees. September, 2008 City of Eugene LID Report, Page 19 of 26