[Added 12-20-2006 by L.L. No. 40-2006]
The Town of Babylon is committed to minimizing
the short-term and long-term negative impacts construction has on
the environment. The intent of this article is to provide owners and
occupants of commercial buildings, offices, industrial buildings,
multiple residences and senior citizen multiple residences with the
economic benefits of energy and water savings, good indoor air quality
and healthy, pleasant and productive surroundings. A further intent
of this article is to benefit the community by having buildings constructed
that are resource-efficient and conserve energy.
A.
The Town of Babylon hereby adopts, in principle, the
U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design for New Construction (LEED-NC) Rating System, Version 2.2,
and, further, automatically adopts any future versions promulgated
by the USGBC. For the first six months after adopting an amended version,
applicants may apply under the preexisting version.
B.
The LEED-NC system establishes several levels of environmental
achievement from a "Certified" rating to a "Platinum" rating. The
ratings are attained by earning LEED points in the categories of Sustainable
Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials &
Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation & Design
Process.
This article shall be applicable to all new
construction of a commercial building, office building, industrial
building, multiple residence or senior citizen multiple residence
equal to or greater than 4,000 square feet, and the provisions of
this article are mandatory for any application received by the Town
one year after its effective date.
A.
Every applicant who files a building permit application
for construction of a new commercial building, industrial building,
office building, multiple residence or senior citizen multiple residence
shall provide a completed LEED-NC checklist or the local variant of
a green building project checklist acceptable to the Commissioner
of Planning and Development or his/her designee.
B.
Every applicant shall pay a fee of $0.03 per square
foot of the project, not to exceed $15,000, to the Town of Babylon
Green Building Fund. An applicant who achieves LEED-certified status
shall have this fee refunded.
C.
No building permit shall be issued unless the LEED-NC
review documentation or the local variant of green building project
documentation demonstrates that the proposed building shall attain
LEED-certification or the local variant acceptable to the Building
Inspector.
The Building Inspector shall determine whether
the requirements under the pre-permitting documentation have been
implemented at each stage of construction, including at the foundation
inspection, framing inspection, and prior to issuance of a final certificate
of occupancy. The Building Inspector may conduct other inspections,
as needed, to ensure compliance with this article.