LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program Certification Process Instructions

Transcription

1 LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program Certification Process Instructions Pilot Program Overview The LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program is an opportunity to test the rating system with actual projects. To truly test the rating system, we need to understand questions that arise when projects are trying to understand the credit requirements as they relate to projects unique situations. It also provides us the opportunity to see if the submittals required are sufficient to prove compliance and to explore other, more streamlined submittals that could be used instead in order to prove compliance. Further, we want to see if the three stage certification process works well and provides a benefit to users. Stages of Certification As a pilot project, your first decision is to determine which stage of certification you will submit for. This is important because it will affect the types of documentation that you will begin to collect. The pilot certification fee covers a certification review for all three stages, but most projects will not complete more than one stage during the initial pilot period (see details in LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Project Fee and Transition Policy). The goal for all projects should be to eventually complete Stage 3. Stages 1 and 2 were created so some form of review and approval are available at earlier points in a project s timeline. The three stages of certification are as follows: Optional Pre-review (Stage 1) This stage is available, but not required, for projects at any point before the entitlement process begins. Projects that have acquired entitlements (approvals and permits) for more than 50% of the total square feet, are unable to submit under Stage 1, and must proceed to Stage 2. If prereview approval of the plan is achieved, USGBC will issue a letter stating that if the project is built as proposed, it will be able to achieve LEED for Neighborhood Development certification. The purpose of this letter is to assist the developer in building a case for entitlement among land use planning authorities, as well as a case for financing and occupant commitments. Certification of an Approved Plan (Stage 2) This stage is available after the project has been granted any necessary approvals and entitlements to be built to plan. Any changes to the pre-reviewed plan that could potentially affect prerequisite or credit achievement would be communicated to USGBC as part of this submission. If certification of the approved plan is achieved, USGBC will issue a certificate stating that the approved plan is a LEED for Neighborhood Development Certified Plan and will list it as such on the USGBC website. Certification of a Completed Neighborhood Development (Stage 3) This step takes place when construction is complete or nearly complete. Any changes to the certified approved plan that could potentially affect prerequisite or credit achievement would be communicated to USGBC as part of this submission. If certification of the completed neighbor- July

2 hood development is achieved, USGBC will issue plaques or similar awards for public display at the project site and will list it as such on the USGBC website. Stage Selection Some projects will not submit for Stage 1 because the project has already received its entitlements. Entitlements are defined as all necessary approvals to develop the land as proposed in the project plan. The approvals are issued by the governing land use authority and do not include building permits. If your project has already received its entitlements, it should submit for Stage 2 Certification, even if construction has begun. If your project has started construction but it will not be completed until the pilot program is over, you should submit for Stage 2 certification now, and then submit for Stage 3 certification after the pilot program concludes. If your project is nearing completion of construction or has completed construction, you should submit for Stage 3 certification. By following the Case 3B submittal requirements in the rating system, you will be attempting to achieve both Stage 2 and Stage 3 certification simultaneously. Certification Process Once you have selected a stage, you can begin the process of documentation. Initial Steps 1. Review the Pilot Reference Guide and determine the credits your project will be attempting. 2. Integrate changes into the project plan or, if in construction phase, make any necessary changes to the construction plan. 3. Begin collecting the documents that are listed in the submittal sections of each credit or prerequisite. Technical Questions and Credit Interpretation Requests & Rulings (CIRs) Some prerequisites and credits will be straightforward for your project while others may require clarification. All questions should be ed to nd@committees.usgbc.org or you can reach USGBC staff by phone; we will post the staff points of contact and their phone numbers on the pilot resources webpage as they may change during the course of the pilot program. Although many questions will be answered by phone or , some questions may rise to the level of a CIR. A CIR is necessary in cases where it is difficult to know exactly how to apply a LEED prerequisite or credit to a specific project s scenario. If you ask a question that is determined to be a CIR, we will inform you. The CIR will be reviewed by the pilot consultant, who will create a draft ruling for the CIR that is reviewed and finalized with USGBC staff. All LEED-ND Pilot CIR rulings that are generated in response to a CIR submitted after January 15 will be projectspecific and incur a submission fee of $220. See the Technical Inquiry and Credit Interpretation Request (CIR) Guidance document on the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Project Resources website for more information. July

3 LEED Submittal Templates The LEED Submittal Templates are downloadable from the pilot resources webpage. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader or Professional 7.0 or higher to open the files. All templates have a stage selector that must be completed first. For some prerequisites and credits, there will also be an option selector that corresponds to different options within the requirements of that prerequisite or credit. The responsible party section at the top of the form and the project title and date section at the end must be completed. The responsible party can be anyone on the project team who is willing to take responsibility for the documentation s accuracy. The points documented box at the bottom right of the template indicates credit achievement (subject to certification review). The template will not automatically populate the points documented box unless all of these sections are completed. The templates will assist you in providing the required calculations in the credit compliance section. When filling out the templates, be sure to have the reference guide handy as the calculations and other submittal requirements found in the templates are based on the Calculation and Submittal sections of the reference guide. Complete Submission After your project has completed the submittal templates and collected the relevant documentation, you can prepare it for certification review. Please use the following guidance: 1. Check to be sure your team is submitting the most recent version of all submittal templates (available for download from the Pilot Resources page). While you may add onto the template file name, do not remove the version number from the template s original file name. The visible version number helpfully ensures an efficient completeness check. 2. Include all sections of the Project Essentials spreadsheet, including: a. Signed Commitment Letter (either electronic signature or scanned PDF) b. Project Checklist c. Project Characteristics (Excel format) d. If you choose to submit the optional Development Table, please submit in Excel format. 3. Compile text in Word, tables and charts in Excel, maps in ArcGIS, and drawings in DWG, and then convert all files to PDF for submittal. Please make sure to include the prerequisite or credit title as a header of footer of all supporting documentation. 4. Provide folders for each category and subfolders for each attempted prerequisite and credit. Preferably, each subfolder should contain no more than two files: the submittal template and, where necessary, a PDF combining all supporting documentation. Please do not zip individual files. Alternatively, each subfolder may contain the submittal template and all supporting documentation in individual PDF files. The following screen shots represent an acceptable folder organization method. July

4 Screenshot of Folder Organization 1) Folder with Project Essentials and all credit categories 2) Folder with prerequisites and credits July

5 3) Folder with template and supporting documents 5. Your certification submittal should be uploaded to the FTP site designated for Neighborhood Development project submittals (and organized as such below). When ready to upload a complete submission, please notify USGBC (nd@committees.usgbc.org) to confirm that you are ready and to obtain instructions and password information for accessing the USGBC LEED-ND FTP site. a. Space will be dedicated on the USGBC LEED-ND FTP site and password information is static. b. The upload instructions will provide project team members with access to the USGBC FTP site where they will upload documentation. c. Please be advised that project subfolders within the LEED-ND are not secured. Staff will attempt to minimize the duration that project information will be on the site, but by uploading, the project team is acknowledging that: i. They have chosen to encrypt or otherwise secure their folder and that all relevant passwords or encryption information will be sent to ND Staff; OR ii. While the risk is small, an unprotected project subfolder may be accessed by other project teams. d. Once upload is completed, the project team will send an to ND Staff that their upload has been completed, including any relevant information as mentioned above and that completeness check can begin. e. ND Staff will be responsible for deleting FTP folders once the process is completed. July

6 Screenshot of LEED-ND FTP 6. While we ask that project teams limit the size of submissions to 100 MB, the FTP site will allow up to 300 MB for those teams that need it. Please utilize file compression wherever possible to keep the file size manageable. Combining Files Using Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional: Acrobat 8: Acrobat 7: Certification Review After your project has submitted its documentation for review, it will be entered into the certification queue. It will then go through the following process: Preliminary Review: After reviewing the initial submission for your project, USGBC will issue a preliminary review that will detail which prerequisites/credits are: Anticipated (all documentation submitted supports achievement), Pending (the mandatory documentation is not satisfied or the documentation is incomplete), or Denied (misinterpreted credit intent or the meeting of the requirements is not substantiated). Project team preliminary review response: After receiving the preliminary review, you have an opportunity to respond to any pending or denied prerequisites/credits. You can also submit a credit that was not previously submitted, however, at this point, the credit will only be reviewed once during the final review. USGBC asks that you submit the requested clarifications within 25 business days of receiving the preliminary review. If you need additional time, please contact the certification manager that sent the preliminary review. When submitting documentation for final review, ensure all sections of the Project Essentials spreadsheet (Project Checklist, Project Characteristics and the optional Development Table) are updated and revised as necessary. Final review: After we receive your preliminary review response, we will review any pending or denied credits for which you have provided more information and issue a final July

7 review that details the achieved and denied prerequisites/credits. Along with the final review, you will receive a certification acceptance form that will allow you to accept the award or signal your intention to appeal the final ruling for one or more credits or prerequisites. If you accept the award, we will list your project as certified on the USGBC website (except for Stage 1 Pre-Reviews) and you will receive the applicable award. Appeals: If the project team feels that sufficient grounds exist to appeal a credit denied in the final review, it has the option of appeal. The appeal process is available to projects that wish to: a) provide further documentation or clarification for a credit/prerequisite that was denied in the final review or b) to submit new credit(s) that were not previously pursued. Appeals are conducted in one review stage; there is not a preliminary review or an opportunity to respond to reviewer comments. In both cases, a $500 per credit fee will be applied. Certification in Subsequent Stages Projects that earn Stage 1 Optional Pre-Review or Stage 2 Certification of an Approved Plan are encouraged to pursue certification for Stage 2 and Stage 3, respectively. Project teams must submit templates for all credits they are seeking to earn. If the project details change between stages, the templates and supporting documentation must contain the updated details. If the project details do not change, the submitted templates must still contain completed data fields with the project s information. Regardless of whether project information has or has not changed in the data fields, the template s Stage Selection section must indicate the stage for which the project is currently seeking certification. For example, a Stage 2 LEED Certified Plan that 1) does not have changed project details and 2) is seeking Stage 3 Certification of a Completed Neighborhood Development would work from its Stage 2 template, select Case 3A- No change since Stage 2, keep the details previously entered for its Stage 2 Certification and include any information that is additionally required for Stage 3. Refer to the submittal sections of the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Reference Guide for additional documentation requirements of subsequent stages. If the previous submittal included a template that has since been updated or revised, the most current version of the template must be submitted in the subsequent review. Please see the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Project Resources website for a list of the most current templates. The supporting documentation requirements of subsequent stages must be followed, regardless of whether or not the project details have changed. All documentation submitted during a subsequent stage review is subject to a full review and assessment. If documentation similar to a previous stage is submitted but does not meet the current stage s requirements, the preliminary review comments will mark the credit as pending with technical advice provided in order to clarify the documentation. Feedback Loop During a pilot program, the certification process is about more than getting your project certified. It is an opportunity to provide feedback to us about improvements that can be made to the rating system and impact the direction of LEED for Neighborhood Development. In addition to needing information about the requirements, we are interested in learning more about how projects can demonstrate achievement of those requirements. Project teams are encouraged to suggest July

8 replacement documentation that clearly verifies that the requirements have been met but may be easier to access or produce than the items listed in the submittal sections. The certification reviewers will evaluate the adequacy of the potential replacement documentation on a case-by-case basis. July