We have a large [wider than 20' in some instances] vegetated island internal of parking lots and access roads. The intent is to plan grass in this area. Do we need to limit disturbance on these internal "green" islands w/in the parking lot or just limit site disturbance within 10' along the perimeter of the parking lot? Say this island is 23' wide; do I need to maintain a 3' wide disruption-free zone within that island? That would make no sense, logistically.
Thanks in advance.
Matthew
Devon Bertram
Sustainability ManagerYR&G
214 thumbs up
November 30, 2011 - 4:18 pm
Matthew,
It sounds like this vegetated area would be considered a graded site. This area would be included with your site calculations when complying with Case 2. This compliance path requires you to restore or protect your site with native / adaptive vegetation to meet the credit requirements.
Matthew VanSweden
Director of Intersectional Professional Services55 thumbs up
November 30, 2011 - 4:52 pm
The site is a greenfield thus CASE 1 is my only option. There is a large parking lot included in the new development. In this parking lot there is a grass "island" greater than twenty feet wide. Per the reference guide, parking area's only have a ten-foot buffer. So, do I really need to "protect" the strip inside this island beyond the ten-foot buffer? Seems silly. I would consider any islands such as this part of the parking lot development.
Thanks.
Matthew
Melissa Kemp
PresidentPremium Organization
4 thumbs up
December 12, 2011 - 11:52 am
Our LEED study group talked about this, and here's the thought process, (written up by one of our group):
I thought about it and I'm not sure that I can add much to the conversation.
My only thought is that no, he does not need to protect the island. If the whole site WAS a greenfield, that doesn't really matter in the context of the project. Matthew will be grading all around this 20' island and buffer, so it's not like it has any potential left for agriculture or wildlife habitat. He might as well just consider the island "graded" or "no longer a greenfield" as well and not worry about protecting it - which means including it in his site calculations. In fact, if he didn't do that (i.e. called that piece of land a greenfield and protected it), I might call it gerrymandering. He says himself, "I would consider any islands such as this part of the parking lot development" and I think anyone else would see them that way too. The intent to protect greenfields is not met by him protecting this island.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11477 thumbs up
December 14, 2011 - 8:55 am
Matthew, it sounds like the islands are really part of the parking lot development.I'm confused, though -- if the islkand is 20 feet wide and is surrounded by pavement, doesn't the 15-foot buffer around pavement cover the entire island? So you meet the reequirement either way.