Regardless of any current construction plans, all projects must develop best practices for potential future construction projects.
Even if you have established landscaping, there are still many opportunities to assess your site and develop strategies for reducing erosion and sedimentation, or create protocol for quickly identifying and reacting to issues as they arise. Potential strategies to consider include:
Products not listed on the SF Pesticide Hazard Screening List may qualify as least toxic, but you’ll need to provide documentation demonstrating equivalency between the products used and the cited standard. Do not assume an unlisted product is least toxic.
For nearly all projects, all three major operational elements (IPM, landscape management, and erosion control) must be addressed by the plan. The most common exception is when there are no landscaped areas or planter boxes within the LEED Project Boundary. If this describes your project, you are still eligible to pursue the credit but you do not need to create a typical landscape management plan, since no landscape waste is generated and no fertilizers are applied onsite.
No. While the Core & Shell rating systems does allow projects to earn credits for future tenant work, those credits must be documented with a binding tenant lease or sales agreement. See Core & Shell Appendix 4 (“Tenant Lease or Sales Agreement”) in the LEED Reference Guide for more information on credits that can only be achieved through the use of a tenant lease or sales agreement.
No. For the purposes of this credit, tenant guidelines are for reference only.
There is no minimum required frequency for pest management and based on your building's individual pest management needs. That said, the intent is for the program to be proactive—utilizing integrated pest management practices beforehand in order to avoid the future need for pesticides. Often, a pest management log will include inspections, cleaning, maintenance and monitoring activities, as well as logging any pesticide applications.
Rodenticide is never considered least toxic and therefore universal notification is required for this credit. To avoid using rodenticide, trying less toxic pest management approaches, such as building repairs or changes to cleaning procedures, to address the underlying cause of the rodent problem. Traps are also considered a non-toxic approach to rodent management.
SSc3 requires IPM practices be implemented 100% of the time for the building site and grounds within the LEED boundary, and IEQc3.6 requires IPM practices to be implemented 100% of the time within the building interior.
The best thing to do is to compare the active ingredients of your products to those listed on the San Francisco Reduced-Risk Pesticide List. Brand availability varies around the world, so when that isn't the most effective way to monitor these products, check the active ingredient and concentration to determine which tier the product would fall under based on pesticides listed on the San Francisco Reduced-Risk Pesticide List.