Alexandria City Council approved new environmental standards for the development review process on Saturday, following testimony from dozens of public speakers on climate change and impacts on housing development.
The new Green Building Plan is an update to the 2019 Green Building Policy, which set standards for new public and private renovations needing site plan or special use permit approval. The plan focuses on a measure of energy used by a building called Energy Use Intensity (EUI), rather than specific sustainability certifications like LEED.
Under the plan, developments would be evaluated on either standard, green building certification, affordable housing, or small projects options.
Ryan Freed, the city’s climate action officer, said the goal was making energy “a consideration and a priority in design at the outset, rather than energy becoming a consequence of design.”
“We’re already seeing that our grid operator has a hard time buying enough energy, securing enough energy to make sure that we can be reliable now, and in the next 20 years, that’s only going to get worse,” Freed said. “The biggest thing we can do is that we’re not wasting energy when we don’t need to be wasting energy.”
The Council was divided on what the EUI limit should be for multifamily developments. While Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley called for staff’s recommendation of a maximum 38 EUI for multifamily residential, Council approved a substitute motion for a 35 EUI from Councilmember Abdel Elnoubi.
Elnoubi said the mid-30s range was “doable” after looking at data and discussing with advocates.
“To me, I came to the conclusion that 30 is very doable for the medium, and for the high rises, it’s probably doable, but somewhere in the mid-30s is very doable,” Elnoubi said.
Aside from the EUI, the Council approved the rest of Bagley’s motion on the Green Building Plan. Council adopted the Planning Commission recommendations to consider projects of four or fewer units or up to 10,000 square feet as small projects, prohibit on-site combustion unless allowed as a permitted use, and have emergency management considerations for locations of EV infrastructure.
Bagley amended the Planning Commission’s recommendation to require Planning and Zoning to lead the review process.
Her motion adopted staff recommendation for a 3% or $150,000 contribution to the city’s Clean Energy Fund in place of solar energy installation at developments, as well as net zero energy standards.
The Vice Mayor said the action resulted from continued progress on environmental goals as well as “incorporating to the extent possible” housing and affordable housing goals with developers.
“We are here today because this Council created the Office of Climate Action, because this Council did not ever back off the idea of wanting to update the Green Building Policy, despite very little having been built under the past policy due to larger forces in the world and interest rates and such,” Bagley said. “This is absolutely, I believe, reflective of a continued march forward in this area.”
The Office of Climate Action will provide an update at least every two years on the plan, but Mayor Alyia Gaskins said it could be sooner if an issue comes up.
“I appreciate everyone whose been a part of this dialogue,” Mayor Alyia Gaskins said. “I think this is the most speakers that I’ve seen in a very long time. We’ve been here for three and a half hours, and I think it shows the thoughtfulness that has gone into this discussion in the ways in which people are wrestling with it.”
Councilmember John Taylor Chapman called for other jurisdictions to update their own building policies to continue tackling climate change as a region.
However, he expressed concern about the new building standards affecting Alexandria’s competitiveness against other jurisdictions. Representatives for developers were among the public speakers sharing concerns about the environmental building standards affecting the viability of development.
“I am continually worried about our competitiveness, and I want to make sure like all of us we still have an opportunity to take real full advantage of development and redevelopment within the city,” Chapman said. “I do certainly understand that we are seeing other examples in the region, but as we do so, I would like at some point hear from staff once we’ve approved a policy and update the policy, how are we making sure that others in the region know that this is good work that they need to do as well?”
Bagley also called for review of how buildings are designed with the changes to energy performance.
“I believe very much the young people that were here speaking are going to have different expectations about what the buildings they live in over their lifetimes as a result of climate change. People will not want as much sunlight in, potentially. They will appreciate opportunities for shade.”
