LEED Incentives in Jacksonville, Florida

The City of Jacksonville, Florida has passed legislation creating incentives for new buildings to be constructed in compliance with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

City of Jacksonville, Florida Ordinance 2009-211-E (available at www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=12174&sid=9) created new Chapter 327 of the Jacksonville Ordinance Code, which establishes the Sustainable Building Program for Jacksonville (Sustainable Building Program).

The Sustainable Building Program mandates that all public buildings be certified by one of the following three standards (Sustainable Development Certification):

1. LEED
2. Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes
3. Florida Green Building Coalition

The Sustainable Building Program is voluntary for private construction projects and offers the following incentives:

1. Fast-track development review by the Planning and Development Department — Development Services (available at www.coj.net/
   Departments/Planning+and+Development/Development+Services):
   1. Concurrency review, preliminary site plan review, site development plan review (10 set review), and other reviews by the Planning and Development Department — Development Services (www.coj.net/Departments/Planning+and+Development/
      Development+Services). Interested parties should see and contact Mike Sands at [email protected] or 904.255.8575.
   2. Applications for administrative deviations to facilitate sustainable development.
   3. Applications for plat approval if there are recorded covenants that require the homes built on the platted property to comply with the Sustainable Development Certification.
2. Refund of the certification fees paid for the Sustainable Development Certification not to exceed $1,000. This part of the program is administered by the city’s Environmental Protection Board (www.coj.net/Departments/Regulatory+Boards+and+Commissions/
   Environmental+Protection+Board). Interested parties should contact Christi Veleta at [email protected] or 904.255.7111.

Certification must be provided to the Environmental and Compliance Department within 180 days of receiving the certificate of occupancy. Contact Derek Igou at [email protected] or 904.391.3600 for more information. If certification is not obtained, the penalty is that the director of the Planning and Development Department may deny future fast track priority.

Thus far, no projects have applied for a refund of certification fees. For statistics on LEED Northeast Florida-certified and registered projects, please see Foley’s recent alert on LEED projects in Northeast Florida at www.foley.com/publications/pub_detail.aspx?pubid=6153.

Legal News Alert is part of our ongoing commitment to providing up-to-the-minute information about pressing concerns or industry issues affecting our clients and colleagues.

If you have any questions about this alert or would like to discuss the topic further, please contact your Foley attorney or the following individual:

Emerson M. Lotzia, Esq., LEED AP
Jacksonville, Florida
904.359.8722
[email protected]