Check that no changes are made to the design that might hurt your chances of earning the credit.

Websites like Walkscore and Google Maps can provide locations of services and walking access from a given address. (See Resources.) Note, however, that resources like these contain limitations that may not match up with LEED requirements (Walkscore, for example, assumes that you can walk across water, if that's the most direct route.) Use them as a starting point to identify services and approximate distances, but be sure to make adjustments as needed.

If any of the ten services are nonexistent but planned, you must obtain written documentation that these services will be operational by the time the occupants move into your building. Appropriate documentation includes a lease agreement or a letter from the owner or other responsible party. Only two unbuilt but planned services can be counted in your credit documentation.

For onsite services or those within a half-mile, you can count up to two restaurants in the list of ten community services, but no other service can be counted twice. For example, if there are three restaurants, two hair salons, and four dry cleaners within your radius, you can count two restaurants, one salon and one dry cleaner. 

All the services must be accessible by foot via an uninterrupted, safe path stretching from the designated entrance to the service location. The path cannot cross a highway, for example, unless there is a pedestrian pathway. 

If you determine that your project is eligible for this credit option, develop a list of all the services within that half-mile radius (or several half-mile radii), and their distance from the project site. 

Identify at least one residential development that meets the requirement within the defined boundary. (This could be one apartment building containing ten units.)

For projects with more than one main entrance or more than one building, you may draw a circle from more than one entrance. The area contained within the circles drawn from all these radii is then used as your project’s radius.

Use online mapping resources such as Google Earth to draw a one-half mile radius from the project building entrance. Your project must be within one-half mile of a residential development with a density of at least ten units per acre, net, as well as within one-half mile of ten basic services. 

Option 2: Community Connectivity