The project is on a college campus, and the site itself if previously developed. We intend to use a wooded area immediately adjacent to the building site, and the Owner intends to maintain this area for the life of the project. HOWEVER, the wooded area is OUTSIDE the Limit of Work (except for some temporary tree-protection fencing in the vicinity) and is nearly as large as the entire area inside the LOW. Do we include this area inside the LEED boundary, or do exclude it and use an Alternative Compliance Path? Thanks!
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Daniel Hartsig
14 thumbs up
October 28, 2016 - 9:47 am
Erica -
Your LPB is at a minimum the LOW, and at a maximum the property line. If you include any area of the property that was not previously developed, the site will be a mix of previously developed and undeveloped areas. This situation is very common on large properties but not handled well on the credit forms for v3 or v4.
Depending on the credit and the situations on site, you will likely have to check the "undeveloped box" and comply with developed area requirements for the previously developed portions of the site, and undeveloped requirements for the undeveloped portions of the site. For SSc5.1, as undeveloped areas remain native, they can count towards compliant area for the restoration requirements of previously developed sites.
Erica Downs
LEED ConsultantThe Green Engineer
254 thumbs up
October 28, 2016 - 11:19 am
hi Daniel -
I really appreciate the quick response. I think I still have the same question tho...
This is a large campus setting, and well developed. I had not even considered checking "greenfield" or "undeveloped". I am fairly certain the wooded area is not a greenfield -- just touched less recently than the rest of the campus.
But my real question is, in this campus setting, where the LOW is a small part of the overall campus, MUST we include the wooded area inside the LEED boundary in order to achieve the credit?? I see the "donate to land trust" option, but that is not a path we want to follow. In the past, for SSc5.2, we have had clients write an affidavit that the area would be maintained as open space for the life of the building. Would something similar be acceptable here for SSc5.1? There is absolutely no work occurring in this area, so my inclination is to exclude it and submit the affidavit.
Thanks!
Erica Downs
LEED ConsultantThe Green Engineer
254 thumbs up
November 3, 2016 - 5:11 pm
Just putting this out there again - Does anyone have experience with "preserving" an adjacent area that is outside the LEED boundary, perhaps by including an affidavit from the owner? Thanks!