Hi,
Our LEED ND-Plan Project has a few Large Lots, on which there are three or four buildings planned at the edges of the lots and in the center a large public square. There are wide pathways between the buildings, linking the square to the larger circulation network. This was planned in order to improve the walkability of the neighborhood, allowing pedestrians to "cut through" the middle of a lot, instead of walk around it. According to item c, I have calculated that more than 80% of the building facades are within 300 mm of a planned sidewalk. However, in items a. and b. the facades of each building that face outward are within 5.5 meters of the property line, but the facades facing the inner public square are at a much greater distance from the property line, and therefore the project does not qualify for these items. I suspect I might be calculating this item wrong because it seems the project could get more points by placing one large building on the entire lot, thereby causing all the facades to be 5.5 meters from the property line and at the same time all facades adjacent to a sidewalk. But that would be way less walkable for pedestrians who have to circumvent the whole block.
Is there a different way to calculate the items in this credit for buildings that are flush with the circulation network even within larger property lines?
thanks so much for any help!
Sareet
Sara Hickman
Sustainability DirectorRetail Design Collaborative + Studio One Eleven
1 thumbs up
November 21, 2019 - 2:25 pm
Hi Sareet,
I am running into the same issue as you. Have you had any luck dealing with buildings fronting a parking lot yet? Not seeing much chatter in v3 or v4 for this credit.
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1976 thumbs up
November 25, 2019 - 7:48 pm
Sareet and Sara:
A couple of comments that might help:
Note the facade setback requirements, building types, and where we measure for items a. & b. are subtly different from item c.
For a. & b. (80% [of all buildings] within 25'/ 7.5m, and 50% [of all buildings] within 18'/ 5.5m), we measure from the property line, whereas for item c. (50% of mixed use and non-residential within 1'/ 300mm) we measure from "a sidewalk or equivalent walking route." This makes item c. more achievable in some circumstances. For example, a project might provide public circulation along the rear or side of the building that's far from the property line. This publicly accessible plaza or circulation zone is on the lot, and not part of the public street or right-of-way (ROW) that's outside the property line. But the edge of the building might be within 1'/ 300mm of this sidewalk/ walking route.
Another approach might be a to create legally-binding easements for pedestrian sidewalks that are within the property boundary - this might reduce the effective distance from the building facades to the circulation network. In some jurisdictions this might be called a "private street" since it's not publicly owned, but if there's an legal language in the development agreement, design standards, or an easement, you might make the case for "Special Circumstances" to measure from the building to that edge rather than to the property line.
Another point is alleys can be exempted from many of the Walkable Streets requirements (with the LEED credit Library down I can't confirm this exactly), so if you are creating a mid-block circulation network that's far from the property line, and it's legally binding, this might be considered an alley, and the setbacks from the building facade wouldn't need to be met along that alley.
Hope that helps.
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1976 thumbs up
November 25, 2019 - 8:22 pm
Sareet and Sara,
A couple of comments:
Note the facade setback requirements, building types, and where we measure for items a. & b. are subtly different from item c.
For a. & b. (80% [of all buildings] within 25'/ 7.5m, and 50% [of all buildings] within 18'/ 5.5m), we measure from the property line, whereas for item c. (50% of mixed use and non-residential within 1'/ 300mm) we measure from "a sidewalk or equivalent walking route." This makes item c. more achievable in some circumstances. For example, a project might provide public circulation along the rear or side of the building that's far from the property line. This publicly accessible plaza or circulation zone is on the lot, and not part of the public street or right-of-way (ROW) that's outside the property line. But the edge of the building might be within 1'/ 300mm of this sidewalk/ walking route.
Another approach might be a to create legally-binding easements for pedestrian sidewalks that are within the property boundary - this might reduce the effective distance from the building facades to the circulation network. In some jurisdictions this might be called a "private street" since it's not publicly owned, but if there's an legal language in the development agreement, design standards, or an easement, you might make the case for "Special Circumstances" to measure from the building to that edge rather than to the property line.
Another point is alleys can be exempted from many of the Walkable Streets requirements (with the LEED credit Library down I can't confirm this exactly), so if you are creating a mid-block circulation network that's far from the property line, and it's legally binding, this might be considered an alley, and the setbacks from the building facade wouldn't need to be met along that alley.
Hope that helps.