The intent of this credit is to reduce the heat island effect created by large expanses of pavement. For a building to earn option B of the credit, they must provide shade for at least 50% of the provided parking. This can be underground, under a deck, under a roof, or under the building itself. In addition, a building that provides 100% of its parking under cover is eligible to earn an exemplary performance point. One of our project buildings is located in downtown San Francisco and does not provide any parking for building tenants. We believe that this fulfills the intent of the credit because there are no paved parking areas whatsoever that would contribute to the heat island effect. The net heat island effect is the same as a building that provides 100% of parking underground. However, the building that does not have parking at all gets 0 points where as a building that provides 100% parking underground gets 2 points. An existing building that was designed many years ago to reduce heat island effect should still be rewarded under a rating system that was incepted later on. We would like to petition the USGBC to consider awarding 1 point under Option B to projects that have no parking provided.
April 6, 2018 Update: LEED Interpretation 5370 is now applicable to both LEED v2009 and LEED v4 BD+C, ID+C, and O+M projects.
A project building with no onsite parking facilities may be eligible for 1 point under LEED v2009 SSc7.1 and LEED v4 SSc Heat Island Reduction, provided that no nearby offsite parking facilities are leased or owned by the building owner, property manager, or tenants for use by the building occupants. The project team must supply evidence of this by, in single-occupant buildings declaring that no such parking is provided, or in multi-tenant buildings by declaring that no such parking is provided and by detailing the method by which this was assessed. If such offsite facilities are leased or owned, the project team may document compliance with the credit by showing that 50% (O+M) or 75% (BD+C) of the provided spaces meet the Heat Island Reduction Roof requirements.