Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: Core and Shell, LEED BD+C: Schools

Rating System Version

v3 - LEED 2009, v2 - Schools 2007, v2 - LEED 2.2, v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

The credit presumes that only two mutually exclusive site conditions - greenfield or previously developed - define all sites. In the case of large campuses, portions of a site may rightfully be described as developed while others may be Greenfield. If a building project is located on an undeveloped portion of a site with clearly established construction limits within a contiguous undeveloped area, does that site comply with LEED\'s definition as a "Greenfield"? If the answer is no, the building project\'s site must be considered in the context of the entire site, then it\'s doubtful that any owner with extensive grounds could meet the restoration of open areas requirement. If the answer is yes, what guidelines should be applied to establish the project limits? Does that same interpretation apply in instances where the additional parking necessitated by the new project is not collocated with it (e.g. the use of common campus lots or ramps)? Within the context of our Harley-Davidson project, the owner considered two on-site options for siting their new Product Development Center (PDC) expansion. One was to build immediately south of the current PDC on the existing parking lot; the second was to build immediately east in the only remaining undeveloped portion of the site. From an environmental perspective the southern location was clearly superior and would have preserved the wooded area that both owner and design team valued highly. But the southern site also required the addition of a parking structure to offset the lost surface parking, forced the dislocation of a significant amount of parking off-site for the duration of the construction, and seriously compromised internal circulation between the two buildings without significantly remodeling the original PDC. Because of the significant increases in cost and schedule incurred with the south location option the east location was chosen. Efforts have been made to minimize the building\'s impact in the wooded setting and the construction limits for the project are contained within the undeveloped area except for the construction trailers which are located on the current parking lot immediately to the south of the wooded area. The Harley-Davidson site is an old industrial site in an urban setting. The southern half of the site has been occupied for decades by a large manufacturing plant with very little unbuilt area available for reclamation. The development of the northern half of the site began only in the 1990s with the resurgence of interest in the Company\'s motorcycles. The question remains whether the appropriate LEED classification for this project site is a 6 acre "greenfield" site with construction limits confined to an undeveloped portion of the property (where preservation efforts predominate) or whether it\'s a 49acre previously developed site? Credit 5.2: Reduced Site Disturbance, development footprint. Our question involving this credit is dependent upon the ruling of Credit 5.1 above. The Harley-Davidson project is subject to the City of Wauwatosa\'s zoning ordinance with a minimum open space requirement of 20%. Attainment of the credit requires the project to exceed the City\'s open space requirement by 25% (1.25 x 20% = 25%). The issue again is how to interpret the credit language in light of a site with multiple buildings. If the project site is defined, for the purpose of LEED, as the immediate building site then the calculation for credit compliance is straightforward. If the project site is defined as the total site, however, then each building added to the campus clearly decreases the aggregate amount of open area. Each new building project would nonetheless still capture the credit as long as the 1.25 multiplier still applied to resultant campus change. And, if the campus site was large enough or the development of the site in its infancy, then even inefficient or land intensive designs could conceivably claim the credit without apparent penalty. While the Harley-Davidson site would likely comply in either interpretation the question for us still remains: What is the proper interpretation of the site?