Hawaii Green Building Law

One of the 240 LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND) pilot project recently opened at the Fort Shafter Army base on Oahu. If all goes as planned, the Simpson Wisser neighborhood will receive LEED-ND certification in spring of 2010. Read Press Release.

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) says its proposed LEED ND rating system:

“encourages smart growth and new urbanist best practices, promoting the location and design of neighborhoods that reduce vehicle miles traveled and communities where jobs and services are accessible by foot or public transit. It promotes more efficient energy and water use—especially important in urban areas where infrastructure is often overtaxed.”

The USGBC touts LEED ND in a White Paper entitled “Guidance to Local and State Governments” as a tool policy makers can use to evaluate current policies and practices, to implement “structural incentives” such as density and height bonuses, expedited and fast‐track permitting, and conditioning of the sale of publicly‐owned land, and to implement “financial incentives” (grants, tax credits, reduced permitting or impact fees, etc.) that would leverage market forces to encourage sustainable development.

The White Paper wisely discourages straightfoward mandating of LEED ND as not all locations will be able to meet prerequisites of the rating system.

The utility of the LEED ND rating system to policy makers remains to be seen. A municipality requiring LEED ND credentials for new neighborhood developments would likely chill development investment and face legal challenges.

Within LEED ND neighborhoods, what incentives or requirements, if any, would be in place to encourage energy efficient living at the individual household level?

Could green lifestyles be mandated at the neighborhood level through bylaws and restrictive covenants?

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