Hello We have a project with minimum parking requirements set to 238. We have agreed to provide 13 additional car-sharing stations, bringing the total parking effectively up to 251. Does this make us ineligible for the credit or is it okay since the additional spots are for Low Emitting/Fuel Efficient ZipCars? Thanks Mike

Post a reply

Tristan Roberts

Representative

Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

7780 thumbs up

Wed, 02/19/2014 - 01:06

Mike, there are a lot of options to this credit so without more background I won't say that it makes you ineligible, but the car-sharing stations would be a part of your total parking capacity. I don't really see a logic to exclude them, although if you have a case, by all means...

Lauren Wallace

LEED Project Reviewer, LEED AP BD+C, Senior LEED Specialist

Certifications Department Manager, Epsten Group, Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

26 thumbs up

Wed, 02/19/2014 - 14:21

Mike, I wanted to add to Tristan's comments. If you're asking whether the car-sharing spaces that are reserved for Zip cars can also count as the low-emitting and fuel-efficient parking spaces for the project building in order to earn SSc4.3, then the answer is "probably not," in my opinion. I assume that GBCI would want to see parking spaces reserved for the building occupants. Since these spaces would be reserved only for Zip cars, it is assumed that the parking spaces are not also available to the building occupants. And last, but not least, make sure that the parking spaces are in a preferred location. To Tristan's point, I agree that including these spaces does not make the project ineligible for the credit.

Mike Stopka

Director of Sustainability

Solomon Cordwell Buenz

LEEDuser Basic Member

14 thumbs up

Wed, 02/19/2014 - 15:48

Thanks for the responses. I will try and clarify a bit more. This is a High-Rise Residential building. Planing code allows for 238 parking spaces. We have provided 238 parking spaces for the building to accommodate for all the occupants, not exceeding the minimum parking requirements. The client also WANTS to provide car-sharing stations on the project. 13 ZipCars will be added on top of the 238 parking spaces, bringing the total of parking spaces on-site effectively up to 251. LEED requires you to provide infrastructure for Car Sharing. In this case, the infrastructure is additional parking spots to support Car Sharing. My question is, because of the additional parking added for ZipCars, does that increase our total vehicle parking capacity to 251, thus exceeding the minimum parking requirements specified by zoning and making this project ineligible for the credit? Seems like Tristan thinks that the ZipCar parking gets added to total capacity. Lauren, the ZipCar are reserved only for the ZipCar and they are in preferred locations. You said you agree with Tristan that including these spaces does not make the project ineligible, however it sounded like he was saying the opposite. Thanks Mike

Lauren Wallace

LEED Project Reviewer, LEED AP BD+C, Senior LEED Specialist

Certifications Department Manager, Epsten Group, Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

26 thumbs up

Wed, 02/19/2014 - 16:07

Mike, In regards to SSc4.4 for residential projects (Case 2), adding more parking than is required of the local code does not meet the credit requirements. Tristan was saying that, without additional information, he couldn't say you were ineligible for the credit. I agree with Tristan in saying that, if you think you have a case for excluding the Zip car spaces, then you could try your argument and see what GBCI thinks.

Lewis Hewton

Cundall

LEEDuser Basic Member

9 thumbs up

Wed, 02/19/2014 - 23:15

Another way to look at this is would planning allow for you to provide 225 general parking spots and 13 zip car spots? If the answer is NO then you should certainly be able to achieve the points. If the answer is YES and you are still looking at a way to exclude the 13 zipcar spaces from the parking capacity I suggest to look at them as not car parking but rather "infrastructure provided to support programmes which facilitate shared vehicle use". This would be looking at them in the same way as car-pool drop off areas or shuttle services to mass transit.

Add new comment

To post a comment, you need to register for a LEEDuser Basic membership (free) or login to your existing profile.

You are currently logged in under an enterprise account

FAQs about SSc4.4 :

Does Car-Sharing add to the total car parking capacity count?

You rely on LEEDuser. Can we rely on you?

Add new comment