Our project is a 27,000 gsf commercial office located in an existing building in the Chicago Loop. The project will be pursuing this Credit using CASE A: For projects occupying less than 75% of gross building square footage, parking space provided to tenant shall not exceed minimum number required by local zoning regulations, AND, Priority parking for car-pools or van-pools will be provided for 5% or more of tenant occupants. All parking is located under structure and within the building. The building is providing the tenant with (5) reserved parking spaces. The project does not exceed the minimum number of parking spaces required by local zoning regulations and is therefore compliant with that portion of the LEED Credit. The project will also reference the CIR Ruling dated 1/27/2007 which allows use of LEED NC v2.2 SSc4.4 Option 1 as a compliance path to determine the number of preferred parking spaces for car-pools in this situation. Therefore, the tenant is being provided (5) parking spaces and (1) of those spaces must be designated as a car-pool or van-pool space to meet the intent of the Credit. We would like an interpretation about the designation of this (1) car-pool space. The Building Parking lot is private and requires individuals to register their vehicle for the five provided spaces. The tenant would like to enact an internal policy which designates (1) parking space as the car-pool space. This space will be a preferred space. The space will be awarded to an individual that intends to car-pool with others to work each day. We feel that this approach meets the intent of the Credit, which is to reduce pollution and land development impacts from single occupancy vehicle use. Does this meet the intent of the Credit? (It should be noted that per a survey, 85% of the employees in the office take public transportation to work. Offering this reserved parking space for car-pooling for those that drive would further decrease the commuting carbon footprint of the office.) As an alternate compliance path, would it also be possible to purchase (1) parking space in a parking lot immediately adjacent to the building to designate as the car-pool / van-pool space? With this additional space, the project would still not exceed the minimum number of parking spaces required by local zoning regulations. We feel that the intent is still met with this approach as well. Please advise.
There are several questions in the project\'s CIR. First, the project is inquiring whether it may assign its only carpool space to an individual who will commit to carpooling to work. Since it is the policy of the private parking lot to register vehicles for each of the parking spaces assigned to the tenant, it is acceptable to assign the carpool space to a specific vehicle/owner who will commit to carpooling to work. The project team must submit documentation indicating that this space will be devoted to a car-pool/van-pool. This may include, but is not limited to, a copy of an employee policy and/or a letter of commitment. Secondly, the project has requested if it may utilize a space in a separate lot immediately adjacent to the building as a car pool space. Since car pool / van pool spaces are required to be preferred / priority parking spaces (meaning that they are nearest to the building), it would not be acceptable to locate a car pool space in a separate parking lot adjacent to the building. Applicable Internationally.