Salt Lake City - High Performance Buildings Requirement

Salt Lake City's mayor issued an executive order in July 2005 requiring that all public buildings owned and controlled by the city be built or renovated to meet the requirements of LEED "silver" certification, at a minimum. A subsequent, related executive order was issued in January of 2006.

The Salt Lake City Council codified the requirements stated in the Executive Order in November 2006. The requirement applies to all new building projects over 10,000 square feet which are owned and operated by the city. The policy also affects the major renovation of public buildings when the work demolishes space down to the shell structure and rebuilds it with new walls, ceilings, floors and systems, and such work affects more than 25% of the building's square footage, and the affected space is at least 10,000 square feet. 

In addition to city-owned buildings, private buildings that receive city funds now must be built to achieve LEED standards. To ensure that this requirement is met, all private sector developers, excluding nonprofit developers, who receive city funds for applicable building projects must submit a $10,000 "good faith" deposit with the city. The deposit will be refunded upon the building project receiving the applicable level of LEED certification or after a determination of substantial compliance.