Shoreline City Council adopts Deep Green Building Incentive program

Bullitt Center, the greenest office building
in the world

On April 17, Shoreline City Council unanimously adopted a Deep Green Incentive Program (DGIP) to encourage the construction of more sustainable buildings in the city.

DGIP provides flexibility in the application of development standards, expedited permitting, and fee reductions to promote construction of green buildings that meet the most stringent levels of available certification programs.

These include the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum level; the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge Petal Recognition and Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) certifications; and the Master Builders Association’s Built Green 5-Star and Emerald Star certification levels.

Shoreline’s Deep Green Incentive Program is similar to Seattle’s Living Building Challenge Pilot Program, which allowed for construction of the Bullitt Center, the greenest office building in the world.

Deep green and Living Buildings require a fundamentally different approach to design, permitting, construction, and operations that necessitate flexibility in current codes and regulatory processes to support their development.

The City of Shoreline has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2007 levels by 2030, and 80% by 2050. According to Shoreline’s most recent greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, about half of the community’s GHGs emissions come from the transportation sector, and the other half from the building sector. Adoption of DGIP will help implement Shoreline’s climate action goals and reach emission reduction targets.

The Deep Green Incentive Program will apply to all zones and building types; however, the City Council reduced some of the available incentives in single-family zoning, including removing the potential to request additional height or density or reduce required parking in R-4 and R-6 zones.

Built Green is an environmentally-friendly, residential building certification program of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, developed in partnership with both counties and other agencies in Washington state.

The certification provides builders and consumers with easy-to-understand rating systems, which quantify environmentally-friendly building practices for both remodeling and new home construction, communities, and multifamily development projects.

These systems and the certification framework demystify green building, showcase a variety of sustainable strategies, and provide a flexible path for builders to certify their projects.

Resource-efficient Built Green homes are crafted to exceed building codes and provide homeowners and renters with years of healthy, quality living while promoting sustainable communities and protecting the environment.