The Building Standards Commission (BSC) has started the development of the next set of changes to California’s Green Building Standards (CALGreen). In front of a packed room of 60 interested parties, the BSC staff outlined roughly a dozen potential changes to CALGreen, including:
- Expected changes to the amount of construction waste that must be recycled (delayed from an earlier proceeding at the request of industry)
- Clarifications are being proposed for long-term bicycle parking, additions & alteration provisions and building commissioning for industrial facilities.
- The addition of four new exceptions for “light pollution reduction” measures
The Commission also allowed the Air Resources Board to present a proposed change that would increase the level of required EV-Ready parking spaces from 3% to 4%. Lastly, the group spent over an hour hearing a presentation by the Investor Owned Utilities regarding several proposed changes designed to conserve water by further ratcheting down the flow rates for dual-flush toilets and the introduction of some new requirements for water conservation in restaurant kitchens. The toilet proposal seems to be the most controversial measure introduced to date. However, the BSC Staff has indicated that there will be a follow-up workshop in mid-December to cover the remaining items that they were unable to get to this week.
If the Commission stays on track, these changes will apply to permit applications submitted on or after January 1, 2017.
These regulations will impact your business. How difficult they are to comply with, however, is completely up to our industry. If we can provide thoughtful and constructive input into the process, we find that we are usually able to resolve many issues. However, we rely on code and construction experts at member companies to provide analysis and subject matter expertise. Your participation and input is very important!
