I would like to know if there have ever been special considerations for the FAR calculation, like when considering a municipal pavilion with a park for example? In my specific situation, there will be a big ice rink surface, which will be covered up with lounge spaces and planters in the summer. The roof of the pavilion will be mostly green with indigenous plants, but seeing as the FAR calculation is only at 1.03, I cannot use it towards reaching credit requirements. Anybody know of any prior exceptions that could help us out?
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emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
449 thumbs up
August 27, 2017 - 1:57 am
Hi Nancy,
If I am summarizing this correctly, you already plan on claiming the applicable park areas towards the open space requirements, including the ice rink surface / lounge space, but would need to include the roof of the pavilion, itself, to help meet the threshold?
With the general newness of the v4 projects, there have not been any LEED Interpretations (LIs) released yet for this credit, which is where USGBC would have made an official ruling for a particular special case that could be applied to other projects. Without this, the Reference Guide, itself, is pretty clear that the FAR must be at least 1.5.
Was your project assigned a LEED Coach upon registration? If not, you can email GBCI and request one. That person would be able to officially confirm if any special situations have been considered, and provide you the relevant information. The LEED Coach cannot rule on whether a particular approach would officially be accepted or not, but they can help interpret and guide you and your team. For official feedback on an alternative approach, you would need to submit and pay for a CIR through LEEDOnline.
nancy picard
4 thumbs up
August 28, 2017 - 9:34 am
Hi Emily,
I ran my question by the CaGBC, and they are going up the USGBC channels. It's been 2 months now, so I hope to get some feedback soon. Since my post, I continued my own research and stumbled on an exception on LEEDuser concerning the exclusion of a swimming pool from space calculations. Although I do understand how different the impact of a swimming pool and ice rink surface are, given as they both serve purposes of active leisure and gathering points for communities, there are also undeniable parallels as well. I would like to know your thoughts on this!
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
449 thumbs up
August 30, 2017 - 10:02 pm
If it's been that long since you heard from them, I'd definitely email again and get them to check back in with you. I stand by the LEEDCoach suggestion, too. I use them all the time to confirm that what we're planning to document meets the requirements/intent of a particular item.
I would hope that you'd be able to include the area of the ice rink given that it satisfies at least one of the requirements as written in the reference guide:
·· a pedestrian-oriented paving or turf area with physical site elements that accommodate outdoor social activities;
·· a recreation-oriented paving or turf area with physical site elements that encourage physical activity;
Whether summer or winter, it seems you're meeting the first criteria, and with the ice rink, you definitely meet the second criteria during the winter.
If you aren't getting a response or can't wait for one, I would probably submit and include these areas and see what comments come back.
Definitely keep us updated if you can!