Comment Log Display

While it’s highly commendable that the Building Standards
Commission recently approved the first set of statewide Green
Building standards, contrary to the statement on page 23, the
adopted standard will require 16 mandatory measures for the
residential sector only by year 2011. The standards provide no
more than voluntary measures for all other occupancies.

As stated in the intent section of the Green Building code, these
standards are to be viewed as minimal Green Building Standards and
that local government entities retain their discretion to exceed
the standards established by this code. We recommend that the
scoping plan include language to explicitly encourage local
jurisdictions to implement green building standards, guidelines
and rating systems that are more stringent than the state code and
that the state address any obstacles for local jurisdictions to do
so. We also recommend that the “green building standards,
guidelines and rating systems” adopted by local jurisdictions be
defined as a publicly available system, developed by a
third-party, and includes a mechanism for evaluating and
determining whether, and to what extent, a structure qualifies as
a green building. This will assure a level of consistency and
quality assurance throughout the state. This recommendation could
be included in the Local Government Actions section of the
report.