Green Building Incentives

Earlier this week, Hudson County Assemblyman Ruben Ramos of Hoboken sponsored two green building bills as New Jersey’s fall legislative session opened up in Trenton.

The first, A1626, would require affordable housing to implement green design features, though the bill as proposed does not mandate any particular formal certification or include specifics on how the legislation would be enforced. The second, A2065, would provide low-interest loans available to developers who construct or renovate a building that qualifies as a “high-performance green building,” which is defined in the bill as “a building having at least 15,000 square feet in total floor area that is designed and constructed in a manner that achieves at least a [S]ilver rating according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System as adopted by the United States Green Building Council.”

Earlier this evening, Huntington, Long Island's town board approved legislation that offers local developers incentives for pursuing a LEED rating. The program requires developers to provide $1.00 per square foot to the town of Huntington itself. If developers build to any level of formal LEED certification, they get to keep 80 cents on each dollar upon final completion and award of a LEED rating. If the project does not receive LEED certification, all of the funds are forfeited to the town. Monies raised will finance the program itself, as well as assist Huntington in educating local officials about green building issues. Specific language from the Huntington legislation does not appear presently available.

Supervisor Frank Petrone explained the reasoning for the program to Newsday. "The forefront of government now is energy," said Petrone. "Why? Because it's eating us up alive costwise and it's an environmental issue. That's why we're working so hard."

Robert A.M. Stern Architects appears to be on the verge of seeing its design for Greenwich, Connecticut’s first private LEED project break ground, a nine three-story luxury townhouse development at Mason Street and Havemeyer Place. The design contemplates the conversion of the former Greenwich Armory building as part of the development, which would include a geothermal heating and cooling system as part of its application for a LEED Gold rating.