Fort Collins’ green-building codes go to vote

FORT COLLINS – If you build it, you will recycle your construction waste.

That is the gist of a new green-building regulation, among several dozen, that the city of Fort Collins could soon put into practice. The city council is considering green-building amendments to its existing building codes, and could authorize the new and updated rules by next spring.

City council made the development of a comprehensive green-building program to regulate and guide construction, renovation and other practices a priority in 2009. John Phelan, energy services manager for Fort Collins Utilities, said the proposed amendments would align with and build on other city-planning initiatives for energy use, climate action and reduced carbon emissions, and water conservation. (See related story, Plan Fort Collins, on Page 1.)

“Our goal is to move some of the green-building practices into the mainstream, and we’ve tried to pick things that make sense,” Phelan said.

The proposed green-building rules are “first steps” for the city to take, according to Phelan, rather than a far-reaching and abrupt makeover of building codes and permitting systems. Instead of creating a separate green-building program, Phelan said the amendments are about “greening the building code.” The focus on incremental progress should allow for future leaps and bounds in sustainability, without scaring off present support from builders, real-estate brokers, and, most importantly, the city council.

Three years in the making

City leaders began looking at green-building practices in 2007 with the release of a “roadmap” report detailing existing rules and incentives that tie into sustainability measures for the built environment. The roadmap noted a lack of coordination among various departments and programs, and it offered a vision for near- and long-term goals to build a more cohesive green-building plan.

In early 2010, the city utilities staff convened a green-building program advisory committee plus technical review advisory committees on both residential and commercial building to help shape the recommendations now before the council. The process has drawn on the input and expertise of builders, real estate agents, environmental advocates, and many others, including representatives from several city departments and citizen boards.

The amendments take some direction from recently updated national and international green-building codes and standards, Phelan said, but the recommendations reflect a custom-built set of rules for Fort Collins.

For both residential and commercial building, the proposals focus on new construction, and do not implement mandatory improvements for existing structures. By coincidence, the committees came up with 14 prescribed amendments to both building codes.

One significant rule would require residential and commercial builders to submit a recycling plan to account for and help reduce construction waste from development sites. Several other recommendations target efficiency standards for the “building envelope,” including the roof, windows, walls and foundation, which can influence interior climate and energy use. The residential recommendations also require performance testing of furnaces, water heaters and fireplaces in new homes for health and safety.

Other more controversial measures have been averted for now. Boulder County’s green-building program mandates efficiency requirements based on house size, while other cities have set rules that require new construction to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) criteria. City staff and the advisory committees aren’t pushing for either, instead presenting packages that combine regulatory tools with market-based incentives that developers can pursue voluntarily.

“Some people thought we didn’t push far enough,” Phelan said. “But others would like to see a voluntary approach.”

Make sense for the city

James Mitchell, a broker with The Group Inc. Real Estate and the chair of the Fort Collins Board of Realtors Sustainability Committee, served on the advisory group for residential building. He said the code amendments make sense for the city. By initially focusing on energy savings, the proposed rules should help develop support for the principles of green building and sway how people think about the costs and benefits.

“No matter what statistic you look at, there is an increased cost to building green,” Mitchell said. But the higher up-front expenses should be more than offset by later reductions to utility bills and decreased needs for maintenance and renovation.

Based on city staff analysis, the suggested amendments would roughly increase the construction costs of a new home, listed for $230,000, by 1 percent to 2 percent. Commercial costs would rise 1 percent to 4 percent, depending on building size.

The proposed rules’ benefits, on the other hand, are annual utility-bill savings of up to 7 percent for new, green-built houses, and up to 25 percent utility savings for new commercial buildings. The improvements would also include 5 percent to 10 percent reductions in energy and water use and carbon emissions of homes, and double or triple those savings for commercial spaces, providing a local and global environmental benefit.

The reduced peak and overall demands on city utilities should also pay off for consumers and citizens who typically finance new electricity infrastructure through rates and taxes. A shift in city spending may also enable utilities staff to devote more resources to education and enforcement on green-building practices and further develop the program.

Among real-estate brokers who already specialize in green-built spaces, Mitchell said that the numbers only represent part of the payoff for residents and tenants.

“Consumers’ favorite part about green-built homes is not the lower energy bills,” Mitchell said. “It’s having a comfortable environment and a healthy place to live in.”

Fort Collins Utilities is prepared to implement the new rules by April, with council slated to vote on the final changes in March.

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