Our project is a mixed-use condominium with ground-floor retail in downtown Los Angeles, with a residential FTE of 299 people. We are contracting with Flexcar to provide carsharing to the residents of our building. One-year memberships and initial usage will be provided to all residents. Ten of those residents who sign up during the first year will receive a second, additional year of free membership. The availability of the carsharing program at the building will be continuously promoted to all residents through promotional marketing, print materials, and electronic communications. For the purpose of determining how many Flexcars should be cited, we propose to use data from Flexcar\'s current program that indicates of the most active members each car supports about 27 individuals, Transit Cooperative Research Program "TCRP Report 108 Car-sharing: where and how it succeeds" Transportation Research Board, 2005, pg. 4-11. This is in keeping with Flexcar\'s own analysis in Los Angeles, which shows that even with over 50 members a vehicle most members are still able to make same-day reservations. Current Flexcar membership in Los Angeles is 936 with a total of 18 vehicles available. Therefore, the credit would be achieved by citing one Flexcar at this location (3% of 299 is 8.97). Due to current City of Los Angeles street parking regulations, a permanent parking spot for the hybrid vehicle cannot be assigned on the street directly in front of the project. Instead, Flexcar will place a hybrid vehicle in a leased parking space kitty-corner across the intersection from the building in a well lit, very visible, 24-hour, staffed parking lot accessible to all of the building occupants. Should the parking spot become unavailable in the future or on-street parking become viable, Flexcar will make a reasonable effort to secure a space on the street directly in front of the building and/or relocate the hybrid vehicle within at least one city block of the project. Please confirm that the proposed strategy meets the credit requirements for SSc4.3.
Providing one Flexcar to serve 9 people, equivalent to 3% of the building occupancy, is consistent with the compliance path for multi-family residential projects outlined by previous CIR rulings on carshare programs. USGBC will grant equivalence for the credit\'s AFV/hybrid vehicle compliance path IF the carshare contract is provided demonstrating an agreement of at least 2 years. The project\'s certification submittal must include documentation of Flexcar\'s customers served/car estimates and a narrative explaining the carshare program and its administration. If it can be demonstrated that the Flexcar is located at the closest parking space to the building legally available, the project will meet this credit\'s preferred parking requirements.