This project is a residential apartment building with ground-level retail which is not included in the LEED boundary because the spaces are tenant build-out. The LEED boundary/site itself has no new parking, but a new parking garage (a separate project under a separate permit) is being built across the street which will serve not only the tenants and retail visitors, but also the general public and visitors to the adjacent university. There are 205 spaces in the lot. 10 of the 205 spaces are designated for a neighboring facility and have a separate entrance. 11 of the 205 spaces are dedicated to one of the retail tenants. We believe this leaves 184 spaces as our project\'s total parking capacity. Of the 184 spaces, 8 spaces (4.3%) are designated for use by LEVs. Of the remaining 176 spaces, 2 spaces (1.1%) are set aside for a car-sharing service, for which the project has a two-year contract and the shared vehicles will be hybrid LEVs. These 10 spaces constitute 5.4% of the total parking capacity of the facility. The LEED project\'s FTE is 388, so having two car-sharing vehicles provides this service in a ratio of 1:8 for 3% of the FTEs, following the calculation shown in a CIR dated 12/17/07. We find confusion between two relevant CIRs. Our reading of a CIR dated 02/26/07 indicates that the project will not achieve credit under Option 2 because the LEV spaces are not designated for the sole use of the LEED building tenants; the lot is shared by the tenants, retail visitors and general public, and there are no special passes issued to any parkers granting them sole use of the LEV spaces. However, under the 12/17/07 CIR requiring the 1:8 ratio of car-sharing vehicles to 3% of FTEs, the 2 car-sharing spaces will qualify the project for credit. Plus, with the two designations combined, the lot does feature at least 5% of spaces set aside for LEVs as required under Option 2. We seek clarification as to whether or not this strategy may achieve credit under SS 4.3.
The project team has raised three questions in regards to compliance with SSc4.3. 1. Can the ground level retail space be excluded from project boundary and credit calculations? The project team is indicating that the ground-level retail is not included in the LEED boundary because the spaces are tenant build-out. This is not an acceptable way to draw the project boundary for LEED purposes. Because the retail portion of the project comprises only a small portion of the project, the project team should treat the building as a LEED for New Construction project and include the retail space in the credit calculations; tenant guidelines should then be provided for the retail and other tenant spaces. There are numerous CIRs that deal with this situation including SSc4.4 CIR dated 2/18/2005 which states that if the retail component is less than 10% of the total building area, it is to be considered within residential requirements, if greater than 10%, it is to be considered under commercial requirements; and an IDPc1.1 CIR dated 12/19/2007 providing guidance on credit calculations and Rating System selection for mixed-use projects. 2. Can off-site parking be used to achieve compliance with SSc4.3? Per the CIR Ruling dated 8/22/2008, it is acceptable to have all or a portion of the parking stalls used by a project be located outside the LEED project boundary. 3. Which CIR should be used to pursue an alternative compliance by providing LEFE carshare vehicles? The project team is advised to use the most recent CIR that has been issued on this compliance path. As indicated in the CIR Ruling dated 2/4/2008, providing hybrid shared vehicles in an off-site parking facility, capable of serving 3% of the building FTE + Residential occupants is an acceptable compliance pathway, provided that the parking is the closest available to the project. All requirements listed in that CIR must be met, including the requirement to include the retail space occupancy in the FTE calculations. If the retail customers are not included in the FTE count, then the project must have 5% of the parking allocated for retail use reserved for low emitting or fuel efficient vehicles. Alternately, the project can provide preferred LEFE parking for 5% of the buildings 205 total parking space capacity with the LEFE carshare vehicles contributing to that total.