Forum discussion

EBOM-v4 SSc6:Site improvement plan

Not sure what we can do with this credit

Our facility was constructed in the center of 96 acres of asphalt. The area had been asphalt for well over 20 years before this. From 1880-1980 the land had been farmed. The boundary of our project is the single building within the 96 acres of asphalt. (The dirt removed to pour the foundations has been relocated on the property and turned into a new green space. However this is well outside the project boundary.) We are managing rain water run off into 2 bioswales that total 115 acres in size and feed into a local creek. My roof has a SRI of 90 and has pipes, valves and equipment on it. The area around our project is truck parking. Looking at the Site Inventory Vegetation 1. No regional habitat corridors (forest or otherwise) 2. No historical wildlife corridors 3. No sensitive species on or near the site Hydrology 1. There is a creek about 1/2 mile away 2. No historical waterway on site 3. Only source of water entering the site is rain water. (there is no irrigation) 4. Water leaving the site is storm water that travels into the bioswales and then to the creek via a half mile pipe under a residential area. Soils 1. Soil is just general clay soil high in silt 2. NA - site before hand was not intact ecosystem 3. NA - site was not undisturbed for over 100 years. There is no plans on tearing down a 1.8 million square foot distribution center. So there is no way to turn any more of this land into a green space or other space that would satisfy this credit. Other than planting small pots outside with flowers (which I doubt would satisfy this credit)... is there anyway we can satisfy this credit? Thanks

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Wed, 12/07/2016 - 20:20

Meier Corp, Just my 2 cents (having done a few v4 projects now): Unless you can demonstrate that there is enough vegetation onsite, you would not be eligible to attempt this credit. As a conditional requirement to this credit, there must be at least 5% of the site area in the project boundary that is vegetated, pre-improvement. This is one of the limitations for LEED v4 in urban cores and with sites like yours, where there is no landscaping whatsoever, Platinum projects have a difficult time achieving all of the points without these types of features! If there IS enough vegetation by the time you submit, you can still receive enough of a no-cost, low-cost recommendation to achieve the point. Planter beds can contribute to this credit, as well as living walls and green roofs, also per response from USGBC Technical: "The project team may also want to consider non-vegetated strategies, too, such as replacing any impervious hardscape with porous paving, etc. The project does not have to, but the credit includes topics other than landscaped area improvements."

Wed, 02/07/2018 - 16:21

We are working on our first LEED EBOM v4 project and want to go after the Site Improvement Plan Credit.  However, we are wondering what is truly required.   We have an existing Site Inventory Map that shows we clearly have more than 25% of the site vegetated (about 50%) and we have native planting areas.  Our Very Rough Plan:
  1. Replace X% of turf with native pants (already completed before this year – not in performance period)  Does this count? Or do we have to INCREASE the existing?  Alternatively, we could protect the native vegetation.  Would that meet the requirement?
  2. Reduce Hardscape: Plan on retrofitting pervious pavers for a portion of the existing parking lot
  3. Decrease irrigation water consumption: this is another credit – monthly reduction over years past; in addition we are proposing to tie a stormwater cistern to the irrigation system.
  4. Improve rainwater management – another credit – We are installing Stormwater Control Measures to capture all of our rainwater – Can we compare TSS removal Baseline (0%) to modelled?  Or would we have to actually do a TSS test before submitting our application?
Would this be enough? Any advice or example you could give would be greatly appreciated.  

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