The intent of this credit is to reduce pollution and land development impacts from automobile use. Pacific Garden Mission (PGM), a homeless shelter for homeless men and women in Chicago, is proposing an alternate calculation for the required bicycle storage capacity for this facility. PGM has four types of occupants: Transient-homeless; Program-people, Resident-staff and Commuting-staff. The Transient-homeless are the primary occupants. Averaging about 800 people, they come and go nightly with only what they can carry in bags, suitcases or backpacks. They certainly do not have cars or bicycles to use and/or bring to PGM. They stay temporarily at PGM-not long enough to qualify as residents or to enable them to even consider acquiring a bicycle. Therefore, it does not seem appropriate to include them in the calculating the required amount of bicycle storage. We propose to not require bicycle storage for the Transient-homeless population at the facility. Program-people are homeless people who are enrolled in training/education programs at PGM. The average program person resides 45 days before moving on. These 140 people are not long-term residents but some may have the opportunity to acquire a bicycle during their 45 day stay. Most likely it would be a used bicycle that would be kept outside. We propose to allocate outside bike storage for 5% of the Program-people. (140 x 5% = 7 outside spaces). Resident-staff work and reside at PGM. Of the sixty (60) total staff, forty (40) are Resident-staff that live at the facility and twenty (20) commute. The Resident-staff typically stay for 2 to 3 years and are therefore able to own bicycles. As such, the project team proposes to calculate the amount of bicycle storage for Resident-staff as detailed by the LEED Reference Guide for a residential facility. This means that covered bicycle storage for 15% of these occupants must be provided. (40 x 15% = 6 covered spaces) For Commuting staff, the need for bicycle storage for staff will be calculated as detailed by the LEED Reference Guide for a commercial facility. This means that bicycle storage for 5% of these occupants will be provided, plus separate showering facilities as per the LEED Reference Guide. (20 x 5% = 1 outside space) In summary, the proposed changes are to: 1) Not allocate bicycle storage for the Transient-Homeless population since they do not have, nor is it practical for them to have, bicycles; 2) Allocate outside bicycle racks for 5% of the Program-People. 3) The resulting proposed required amount of bicycle storage and the actual storage in the design are summarized as follows: Occupant Type #Occupants Typical Duration of Stay Type storage % of occupants served # of bikes stored Transient-homeless 800 1-2 days overnight N.A. 0% 0 Program-people 140 45 days overnight Open 5% 7 Resident staff 40 2 to 3 years Covered 15% 6 Commuting staff 20 One 8-hour shift/day Open 5% 1 Type storage # bicycles stored # bicycles stored # extra spaces Proposed Requirement In The Design In the Design Open 8 18 10 Covered 6 7 1 Note that the design does call for a number of extra spaces that could be allocated as needed among the all the various occupants. Please let us know if this alternative method for calculating the requirements of SS Credit 4.2 is acceptable.
The applicant is requesting clarification about how bicycle parking requirements pertain to overnight homeless residents and longer-term homeless residents in a homeless shelter for homeless men and women in Chicago. Given the specific circumstances of this project, the proposed approach of exempting the overnight homeless residents from bicycle parking requirements is appropriate. However, the longer term Program-people must be included under the residential requirement of covered bicycle parking for 15% of occupants, as these occupants reside in the building and bicycle use may be offsetting car, bus or other transit trips. The proposed calculations for resident staff and commuting staff are appropriate. Applicable Internationally.