I have a project that sits atop a subway station and across the street from a major local bus transfer facility, which consists of a lot of open space with bus queing lanes and passenger loading bays. Although the roads surrounding this are clearly public right-of-ways to be excluded from the density calculations, the actual bus lanes/bays were built by the county on land that is technically still platted in the property records. Including this as property SF will obviously skew the density calculations negatively (there are no structures other than passenger shelters), though I would propose that this land is equivalent to the public right-of-ways where other buses pull over off the street (this occurs literally adjcent to the platted land as part of the transit center). Has anyone encountered a similar situation?
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Ellen Mitchell
331 thumbs up
January 28, 2013 - 5:19 pm
I have not encountered this situation but my instinct would be to count the bus lanes and bays as excluded right-of-ways. My advice is to submit it and see what happens. Has anyone else had experience with this kind of situation?
Eric Anderson
Technical Customer Service SpecialistGBCI
170 thumbs up
August 21, 2013 - 12:22 pm
Hi John & Ellen, our apologies for the dated response but we saw this inquiry and wanted to provide you with further guidance. The project circumstances present a tricky situation and it is our belief that the project would be served best by filing a Credit Interpretation Ruling with GBCI to provide a detailed, project-specific answer based on the actual project documentation.
Per the LEED BD+C Reference Guide, all developable land must be included in the calculations. Only undeveloped public land (such as parks and water bodies), public roads, and right-of-way may be excluded from the calculations. Based on your inquiry, it’s not clear that the bus queuing lanes and passenger loading bays would be considered land that is equivalent to the public right-of-ways where other buses pull over off the street. Rather, it sounds as though the lanes and bays are located out of the right-of-way on land that is considered developable. Concerning your note that the infrastructure is built on land platted by the county, it’s not clear if you mean to say that the records show the land as dedicated public roads or right-of-way. What the historical record suggests is interesting and perhaps relevant, but if the as-built infrastructure is not currently considered public roads or right-of-way it is considered developable land. And if the land is developable, the entire developable land area (square feet per acre) of each site within the density radius must be included in the calculations for SSc2, Option 1 Development Density.
Regarding the passenger shelters, only building areas considered to meet the definition of gross floor area are to be included in the contributing square feet per acre calculations for SSc2, Option 1 Development Density (i.e. in the numerator). This generally includes only enclosed building spaces, which would not seem to apply to transit service bays or open-air shelters. Specifically, for the purposes of LEED, gross floor area excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. This information is contained in various LEED resources, but is most clearly stated in the reference guide Glossary, Addenda (8/1/2011), and Supplemental Guidance to the Minimum Program Requirements.