Our project is a new works yard for the City and is a campus style site, with four main buildings and a fueling station. Due to the industrial nature of some of the buildings, and based on advice from LEED project managers, we have defined a LEED area on our site, surrounding the two buildings, the administration building and the parking operations building, that are most like office buildings. The LEED site area also includes the staff parking area. The fueling station is not included in our LEED site area. The fuel station will have a propane refueling station to be used for City fleet vehicles. The vehicles that will be fueled at this station will be used directly by the staff in the buildings on our LEED site, and the capacity of the propane dispenser will be more than enough to serve 3% of the total parking capacity. Can we count the propane dispensing station towards our alternative transportation credit, and if so, can we do so without counting the fuel island as part of our LEED site area?
The refueling station as described appears to comply with the intent of the credit requirements, provided that its installation can be documented as part of the project scope. As outlined in the SSc4.3 Credit Ruling dated 11/6/01, this technology must actively be introduced and documented as part of the building project to qualify. Also, it is acceptable for this station to be located within the campus setting yet outside the defined site boundaries (see SSc4.3 CIR Ruling dated 11/4/02), so long as the proposed new parking lot for the total parking capacity served by this refueling station is located within the site area utilized in the calculations for all credits. Please note that LEED v2.1 offers an alternative compliance path, one that may apply to this project, via new AFV purchases, so long as preferred parking is provided for these vehicles and proof of ownership, or a 2-year lease agreement, can be demonstrated; this compliance path option does not require installation of alternative-fuel refueling stations. Applicable internationally.