At its Tuesday night worksession and meeting, the council looked at a proposed "Green Building Ordinance," that would require all civic and public buildings in Fremont, larger than 10,000 square feet, to certified by Leadership in Environmental Design.
Leadership in Environmental Design is a set of standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council, the nation's foremost coalition of leaders from across the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.
Environmental Services Director Barbara Frierson said staff presented Fremont City Council with a green building policy in July 2002. She said at that time that the city council asked staff to return at a later date with examples of what other cities are doing with green buildings, as well as what Fremont was doing.
Frierson defined a green building as, "An ecological and resource-efficient approach to design, construction, renovation and operations of buildings."
This includes incorporating high-performance engineering, energy and water conservation, materials efficiency, minimal toxicity and hazardous waste, and indoor environmental quality and health, among others.
"Staff believes that by adopting a green building policy, it will demonstrate that Fremont is a leader and model for the community," Frierson said. "And it will help us build and maintain an environmentally stable community; create healthier work environments for city staff and visitors to our city facilities; and it may save the city money as it reduces operational costs of city facilities."
Frierson said benefits of a green building policy would include energy efficiency, water conservation, more recycled content, fewer toxins, improved worker productivity, and less maintenance to buildings.
She said several other agencies have already implemented green policies, such as the federal government.
According to Frierson, the federal government requires all federal buildings to be LEED certified.
The State of California is one of eight states that has adopted LEED standards in new and renovated buildings, along with Oregon, New York and Pennsylvania.
In California, cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Sunnyvale have also adopted green policies.
In Alameda County, Frierson said Alameda County Waste Management has been encouraging cities to adopt policies by supplying technical assistance, training, and financial support for selected projects.
Fremont Senior Civil Engineer Ron Fong said over the last 20 years, Fremont has added more than 500,000 feet of building space, and has been focused on conserving energy.
He said Fremont spends more than $1 million on current buildings' energy costs.
"We've focused on converting all of our lighting to energy efficient types, saving about one third of the energy we have," Fong said. "We're continuing to experiment with ways to conserve energy."
Fong said that cooler, white roofs have been installed on several buildings in the city, which repel heat, rather than absorb the sun like standard black tar and gravel roofs do.
Buildings in town that have energy efficient amenities include the Fremont Multi-purpose Senior Center, which incorporates recycled carpet tiles and bamboo floors, and city owned buildings, which have the white roofs used for comfort monitoring, Fong said.
He said that buildings being built that will be LEED certified will be Centerville's Fire Station No. 6, Fire Station No. 2 in Niles, and the North Fremont/Brookvale Fire Station No. 8.
Projects that have been approved and are on hold pending funding are the Northgate Senior/Community Center, and Industrial Fire Station No. 11, both of which will meet LEED standards, Fong said.
Community Development Director Jill Keimach said that keeping private homes and buildings up to LEED standards will be voluntary for residents, but the city will provide incentives to get more residents to jump on board the green policy bandwagon, such as fee discounts, grants, and reducing parking requirements in new projects.
Keimach added the city is discussing offering workshops for designers, construction agencies and the public about the green policy.
Additionally, the city is considering establishing a green self-help center in Fremont Planning Department's permit center, along with putting more green information on the city Web site.
Keimach also said the city may place placards on buildings that were voluntarily built as green buildings.
"The private sector is coming in right now, and without us encouraging them or doing anything, are becoming more and more interested on their own to doing green buildings," she said.
Council members said city staff should focus on keeping developers, especially those in the private sector, educated on exactly what a green policy means.
"Staff talked about outreach and education, and that is definitely something we have to do," Councilmember Anu Natarajan said. "There are a lot of myths and perceptions about green policies, and the more we can get out there, and not have to reinvent the wheel, the better we are going to be."
Councilmember Dominic Dutra agreed.
"The most important thing for us to do is educate and implement this with the city being leaders," he said. "When people hear the word Ôgreen' they get scared because they don't understand green. It's a matter of instructing and educating. Once they understand it they'll adopt it and gradually use it more and more."
Council suggested staff incorporate bay-friendly landscaping guidelines into the policy.
Those guidelines include that landscape features must be drought-tolerant, and native to the area, Keimach said.
Additionally, council wanted staff to incorporate construction and demolition recycling policies as well.
Fong said the city has recycled nearly 100 percent of all recyclable materials from demolition projects. He added the city has also mandated a 50 percent minimal goal for recycling materials from demolition and construction sites.
Staff will return to the council at a future meeting with a green building resolution, Keimach said.
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