USGBC wisely ruled that a gas/electric hybrid vehicle could be used to meet the carpool-vanpool requirement of SSc44 in multi-family residential projects (2/7/05 ruling). USGBC also stated that this strategy was not applicable to commercial projects.Our project is a highrise mixed-use building with over 200 dwelling units and a single floor of retail at street level. Please confirm that in a building with this ratio of residential to commercial, we can utilize the carshare strategy to meet the carpool/vanpool requirement of the credit.Also, for the benefit of the broader community of LEED projects, please clarify what is the required minimum ratio of residential to commercial to qualify for this compliance strategy, in either sf or residents and FTEs (occupants).
If the mixed-use building is less than 10% commercial square feet, the entire building can be considered residential and adhere to the residential requirements. Otherwise, the commercial component is to adhere to the commercial requirements, while the residential component is to adhere to the residential requirements. Thus preferred carpool parking should be provided for 5% of the retail workers, while a car-share program has to be provided to serve at least 5% of the residential occupants. Please note that there are special requirements for using a car-share program (See SSc4.4 CIR Ruling dated 5/24/2004). [The following clarification was added 7/1/2012:] Please note this ruling applies to SSc4.4 only and cannot be used for any other credit of the SSc4 suite. Applicable Internationally.