Baltimore May Adopt the IgCC Green Building Standard

Last week, an ordinance was introduced in the Baltimore City Council for the purpose of adopting the International Green Construction Code.

The IgCC will be adopted as an overlay in conjunction with existing building, fire and related codes and will apply when a permit is required, except the new green code will not apply to: 1 or 2 family dwellings, multiple family dwellings that contain no more than 5 units, a structure that is LEED Silver certified or higher, or a structure that is ASHRAE 189.1 compliant.

It is necessary to appreciate that Baltimore City was an early adopter when it enacted a green building law in 2007 that, prior to this legislation, remains among the most sweeping of that in any major American city. Today the building code mandates that all newly constructed, extensively modified non-residential, and specific multi-family residential buildings, that have or will have at least 10,000 square feet of gross floor area, must be LEED Silver certified or comply with the Baltimore City Green Building Standard.

So, while it was controversial in 2007 when Baltimore mandating that privately owned building must be constructed green, Bill No. 14-0413 sponsored by Councilman James B. Kraft is being warmly received as providing more and better options for developers. That is under the bill a developer may pursue LEED Silver certification, compliance with ASHRAE 189.1 or build to the IgCC. That menu of options allays the concerns of many who will now be able to determine which green building standard is most efficacious for their project.

But make no mistake, Baltimore is not greenwashing. A change in the existing code is necessitated by the USGBC’s June 1, 2015 effective for LEED v4, when projects will no longer be able to register under LEED 2009, because the Baltimore City Green Building Standard piggybacks on LEED 2009 metrics and forms. A change had to be made. Also driving the bill is an unsettled question in the existing code of the definition of what is extensively modified and subject to the green mandate. In the already built out City of Baltimore many projects have not been required to build green that will now fall within the scope of this new IgCC mandate.

The Maryland legislature enacted enabling legislation permitting local governments to adopt the IgCC in 2011 and Baltimore will be the first to do so. Although as this bill is introduced, Montgomery County, Maryland is preparing legislation to repeal its existing LEED centric mandate replacing it with the IgCC. And the State is drafting regulations to allow use of the IgCC on State capital projects, including schools, where the law had previously required LEED Silver certification.

The first reader version of the bill repeals the current Green Building Standard replacing it with more than 25 pages of modifications to the form 2012 IgCC, and will be available later this week. Significantly for an ordinance that does not grandfather any projects, it contains an uncodified provision where the building code official may grant waivers from the new law for 180 days from its effective date in instances of good cause. Waivers may be key for projects that have been designed, but not yet permitted.

The ordinance boldly describes its purpose to “reduce the negative impacts and increase the positive impacts of the built environment on the natural environment and building occupants.” Mandatory green building has been and remains the law in Baltimore City. This bill makes the flavor of green more palatable.