Arlington County - Green Building Incentive Program
Program Overview
Category:
Financial Incentive
Program Type:
Green Building Incentive
Implementing Sector:
Local
State:
Virginia
Eligible Storage Technologies:
Solar - Passive, Solar Water Heat, Solar Space Heat, Solar Photovoltaics, Wind (All), Biomass, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Daylighting, Comprehensive Measures/Whole Building, Wind (Small), Hydroelectric (Small)
Consistent with Section 15.5.7.A.1 of the Arlington County, Virginia, Zoning Ordinance, the program allows up to 0.50 FAR for residential and office buildings who achieve LEED Silver or higher using LEED Version 4. Commercial office buildings earning bonus density must also agree to earn ENERGY STAR building certification within four years of occupancy. An additional 0.025 FAR is available for achieving one of eight Arlington priority credits (credit will be given for up to two priority credits). Projects designed and constructed to achieve at least LEED Gold certification plus two Arlington priority credits plus Net Zero Energy Building certification through the International Living Futures Institute may apply for bonus density above 0.55 FAR. Affordable housing projects receiving tax credits from the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) are allowed to earn bonus density using the Earthcraft green building rating system at the Gold or Platinum certification level.
General Information
The provision of LEED-certified green building components do not guarantee additional density and/or height, or any particular amount of density or height. The FAR bonuses are the maximum allowed for each level of LEED certification. Site plan requests for bonus density and/or height will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis based on the characteristics of individual sites.
The provision of LEED-certified green building components will be a part of the typical site plan negotiations for environmental amenities in exchange for the requested bonuses.
All project owners will also be asked to provide ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager utility reporting data after occupancy each year for 10 years. These data are provided for informational purposes only and do not include a specified performance requirement.