October 24, 2008

Brad Fehr

After receiving a variance, only the office portion of a massive Beedie Group development in Port Coquitlam will have a green roof.

Sustainable Building Practices

City of Richmond proposes ‘flexible’ green-roof bylaw

Jean Sorensen

correspondent

Richmond is attempting to become the second municipality in B.C. to have a green roof bylaw.

However, unlike Port Coquitlam, which in 2006 became Canada’s first municipality to introduce one, its bylaw will be more flexible.

Brian Jackson, Richmond’s director of planning, said rather than having a rigid format for industrial buildings of 5,000 or more square meters, Richmond is moving towards a point system with its proposed bylaw.

It could be enacted as soon as next month and is intended for office and industrial developments that are 2,000 square meters or larger.

Under the bylaw, buildings would need a minimum of 100 green points, which could be achieved through the development of a green roof, meeting a LEED Silver standard, or using the roof for parking and landscaping the grounds.

A developer can also earn green points by providing other green features.

“We recognize that in some cases the cost can be prohibitive and this bylaw allows for the opportunity to develop alternatives,” Jackson said.

These could include enhanced landscaping or bioswails that cleanse run-off water before it goes into a storm sewer.

“We have created a shopping list,” he said, adding it’s one he believes will interest other municipalities, as they forge green roof bylaws.

Under the proposed bylaw, a developer could pay cash in lieu of garnering points, but that isn’t expected to happen very often, said Holger Burke, Richmond’s development co-ordinator.

The intent of the bylaw is to place more sustainability or green features into industrial and office areas.

Richmond was concerned that too rigid a bylaw might discourage development.

Burke pointed to Port Coquitlam, which since their bylaw’s introduction has only had one project come forward.

That project by The Beedie Group received a variance, a process that can add months to a project moving through an approval process.

The roof would have had to cover 75 per cent of the 451,047 square foot building and it was estimated to cost $5 million.

“It was just not feasible”, said Doug Villeneuve, Beedie project manager.

Beedie was able to meet or beat the roof’s environmental benefits by other measures.

It is putting a green roof over the 6,250 square feet office portion, at an estimated construction cost of $12 a square foot.

The other part is a warehouse area and a green roof wouldn’t add to the over-all building’s cooling.

Other sustainable features include drilling four wells that will direct run-off water direct it into an underground aquifer, a rain garden and part of the enhanced landscaping that will take pavement run-off into a bio-filter to cleanse anti-freeze or oil.

This naturally cleansed water is then released into storm drains. The building will have 84 truck loading bays, 441 parking spaces and a two-storey office.

Villeneuve said he is not against green roofs, but feels there must be some economic balance on larger buildings.

The green roof on the Beedie Group structure will house succulent plants feeding on a half inch of soil.

Jennifer Little, Port Coquitlam’s acting manager of planning said Beedie is the first to come forward, but they know of several other projects planned for the near future.

She said the city has also just enacted a zoning development bylaw, which allows a developer to be exempt from development permit fees if a green roof is planned with no variances.

Little explained that there are two types of green roofs, one is meant to be used by those within the building as a garden or park area, while the other – designated for industry in Poco – is not meant to be walked up.

“It’s really for storm water management, improvement and natural habitat for wildlife and energy consumption,” she said.

Large residential developments with a green roof have come forward such as Omni Pacific Development’s LEED Silver project, a 25-storey combination highrise and commercial structure in the downtown area.

Because of the inclusion of green roofs, grey-water recycling and other environmental features, Little said the city provided the developer with a density bonus.

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