Our project, due to physical limitations of the site being this quite small, is providing mostly all of the spaces in tandem across 8 underground levels.
According to calculations we need to provide 36 preferred spaces, we located all of this on basement 2 all of them in tandem (18 tandem = 36 spots).
There are a few single spaces on every floor, in fact only 4 of them in each floor are really close to the parking elevator. If we select these 4 as preferred parking that would make us to place preferred spaces from underground level 2 to underground level 7 (around 6 per level).
Acording to LEED Interpretation 10202 "the preferred parking spaces in a garage are those that are the shortest combined driving distance from the parking garage entrance and walking distance to the project building's main entrance".
We believe that if we provide preferred parking down to the 7th level we wouldn't be complying with LI 10202.
Will provide the 18 tandem spaces for a total of 36 spots on the underground level 2 comply with the credits requirements? Due to marketing barriers more than 80% of spaces need to be provided in tandem becasue of site dimensional limitations and according to the reference guide for projects applyign to LEED-CS that demonstrate market barriers alternative may be consider.
Comments will be really appreciated.
Ellen Mitchell
331 thumbs up
April 5, 2013 - 5:13 pm
It is hard to say for sure, but I'm guessing that you are going to have a hard time convincing a reviewer that the tandem spaces are "preferred". I have had success on past projects by spreading out the preferred spaces across all levels and selecting the spaces closest to the vertical circulation on each level. That being said, the interpretation that you referenced seems to indicate that this is no longer an acceptable approach and that preferred spaces should be located on the main vehicle entrance level. Has anyone had this interpretation referenced in a review comment?
Julie Hendricks
PresidentSage Building Revival
163 thumbs up
April 5, 2013 - 5:23 pm
Yes, we've had this CIR referenced in our last two submittals on this credit. They now want all the spaces as close to the main entrance level as they can be.
Michael E. Edmonds-Bauer
Edmonds International38 thumbs up
April 5, 2013 - 6:03 pm
This will be a little bit difficult for projects with compromised space and underground parking, this will be like you either comply with close disctance to entrance or single parking.
Should we call the USGBC to ask for advice? We'll email this same question to the feedback on leed online, When they reply we'll post the answer here.
Julie, would you please provide us with the CRI number so we can see it on the USGBC website?
Thank you very much for your adivces!!
Michael E. Edmonds-Bauer
Edmonds International38 thumbs up
April 24, 2013 - 2:09 pm
This is the response we get from GBCI customer service:
"Thank you for your patience as I researched your questions on LEED-CS v2009, SSc4.3. Based on the description provided in your inquiry, we feel that the suggested approach (providing 18 tandem preferred parking spaces on level 2) appears acceptable. However, please note that Customer Service is not authorized to review or approve compliance approaches outside of the formal review process.
Please provide a narrative with your LEED application submittal explaining why the arrangement described in your inquiry is favored compared to distributing the spaces on multiple levels.
I hope that helps, but if you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to use the contact form at http://www.gbci.org/contactus and select "Follow up to GBCI Response," inputting your case number from this email's subject line."
So I think we have a chance. We will probably submit it as two preferred parking spaces per company, and it will be preffered since it will be at second underground level and since enterprises are asigned their respective parking spaces as a first come first serve basis, someone whose company has been asigned at the underground level 8 will have the preference to have one or two parking spots replaced by one at the second level.