Subject
title
Work Session - Green Building Regulations
end
Department
CPDS - Inspection Services
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Mayor and Council hold a work session to review, discuss, and provide direction on amendments to Chapter 5, Article XIV of the City Code, Entitled “Green Building Regulations”.
Change in Law or Policy
The proposed amendments will update the Green Building Regulations in the City of Rockville by adopting and amending current versions of the model codes published by the International Code Council (ICC).
Discussion
During the 2024 updates to Chapter 5 of the Rockville City Code, staff recommended evaluating Article XIV - Green Building Regulations separate from the amendments to the other 13 articles, to provide thoughtful and meaningful updates. The City’s Climate Action Plan calls for progressively strengthened Green Building codes in Action Item C-03. The 2024 updates to Chapter 5 included several amendments to the City’s Energy Conservation Code which are substantially more progressive than the base text of the International Green Building Code (IgCC) and the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) and will continue to make Rockville a regional leader in this area.
The 2021 edition of the IgCC and the 2020 edition of the NGBS are more substantial than prior editions and warrant more in-depth review. The staff has conducted reviews of these documents and presents the following recommendations for amendments to Article XIV, the IgCC, and the NGBS. This report details only those changes that are significant and does not include grammatical or administrative changes that do not impact projects.
Article XIV
The newer editions of the IgCC and NGBS contain scoping provisions that were lacking in prior editions, enabling scoping to be relocated from the body of Article XIV. Scoping, or the applicability of the provisions, will now be included in the amendments to the IgCC and NGBS. The current thresholds for applicability of the Green Building Regulations are:
• All new buildings (Non-Residential and Residential)
• Additions of 7,500 gross square feet or more to existing nonresidential and multi-family residential buildings
• Alterations of more than 50% of the gross square footage of a non-residential or multi-unit residential building if the altered area is 7,500 gross square feet or larger
• Alterations to existing one- and two-family dwellings and additions meeting the criteria for "new construction" or "substantial reconstruction", as defined in the City’s One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code
Similarly, the definitions currently found in Article XIV are unnecessary, as the definitions sections of the IgCC and NGBS have both been expanded.
Under current regulations, applicants are not required to obtain any sort of certification that their project meets the criteria of these standards. Amendments to this section will require third-party verification of projects to ensure the standards are met. There is generally a small fee associated with this third-party certification; however, there are also significant benefits to be gained from obtaining the certification, primarily in the form of tax incentives such as Montgomery County’s Property Tax Credit for Newly Constructed Energy-Efficient Buildings. According to Home Innovation Research Labs, the accreditation entity for NGBS Green Verifiers, an NGBS-Certified home “…can expect to sell faster and for 8-30% more than a non-certified home of comparable size and location.”
For the most common application of the Green Regulations, one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses, the cost of certification is approximately $200 per home. Builders that construct 400+ homes per year qualify for a reduced cost of approximately $100 per home. Multi-family and non-residential projects are priced based on size and scope.
Recommendations
Staff recommends retaining the thresholds as currently established, relocating the scoping language to the Technical Standards portion of the Article, deleting the definitions from the Article, and requiring third-party certifications for all applicable projects.
International Green Construction Code (IgCC)
Much of the IgCC will remain as published, with minor changes to meet the minimum requirements of the City’s Energy Conservation Code.
More substantial changes will be noted in Chapter 5, which addresses Site Conditions. The bulk of this chapter will be deleted or amended, as the items covered in this chapter are addressed elsewhere in the City code.
Section 701.3.2 will be amended to allow off-site renewable energy to meet the section requirements. This allows some flexibility for projects while still promoting renewable energy. The section will require applicants to submit Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) or other approved means of verifying that a comparable amount of off-site energy is provided from renewable sources. As a note, Montgomery County has elected to delete this section in its entirety.
The IgCC does not contain any requirements for EV-charging infrastructure. To support Action Item C-12 of the Climate Action Plan, staff has developed the following proposal based on the current local amendments to the Energy Conservation Code and Montgomery County’s amendments to the IgCC. Note that the specific applications (longer dwell time vs. brief destinations) shown in Montgomery County’s table are addressed through language in the code, mirroring language found in the City’s Energy Conservation Code.
Proposed EVSE Requirements
|
Occupancy Classification |
EVSE-Installed |
EVSE-Ready |
EVSE-Capable |
|
Groups A, B, E, F, I, M, S-2 |
5% |
10% |
25% |
|
Groups R-1, R-2, R-4 |
15% |
25% |
65% |
Figure 1: Montgomery County EV-Charging Requirements in the IgCC
Recommendations
Staff recommends modifying Section 701.3.2 to incentivize both on- and off-site renewable energy and adding a section to require EV-charging infrastructure above current energy code requirements and more than Montgomery County.
National Green Building Standard (NGBS)
The nature of the NGBS is different than that of the IgCC, in that it allows for a more selective approach based on obtaining a certain number of points rather than following a uniform list of mandates. This allows homebuilders some flexibility in how they meet the requirements. Due to the scoring model and the recommendation to require third-party verification, staff recommends adopting the NGBS mostly as published, with a few minor changes to reference other City codes where applicable.
Mayor and Council History
This is the first work session that the Mayor and Council have held on amendments to the Green Building Regulations.
Public Notification and Engagement
Once the direction is received, staff will make a copy of the draft language available on the city website for public review and comment. Staff will also notify stakeholders and customers to see their input. Staff will collect any comments received and provide responses and recommendations to the Mayor and Council when this item is brought forward for introduction and adoption.
Next Steps
With the Mayor and Council’s support of the proposed changes, staff will complete draft language for the amendments and release this draft to the public for a review and comment period.