COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 2, 2009 11:15 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY, CHAIR COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO BILL 080025 - An ordinance amending Chapter 17-100 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Procurement Contracts," by adding a new Section, providing that any contract for the construction, extension or major renovation of certain buildings, paid for with public funds, contain a provision requiring the contractor to certify that a certain level in energy and design efficiency will be achieved... - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Committee on the Environment has a quorum, with the members present Councilman Rizzo, Councilman Kelly, Councilman Donna Reed Miller and Councilman Frank DiCicco. I'll read the proposed ordinance into the record before we wait for the sponsors. Bill No. 080025, an ordinance 13 amending Chapter 17-100 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Procurement Contracts," by adding a new Section, providing that any contract for the construction, extension or major renovation of certain buildings, paid for with public funds, contain a provision requiring the contractor to certify that a certain level of energy and design efficiency will be achieved, in accordance with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Rating System, or that equivalent standards will be met, 3 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 requiring LEED certified professionals, and by providing for penalties, all under certain terms and conditions. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to members of the Committee and to all of us who care about this new issue. My opening comments are as follows: First, I must commend the leadership of all the interested stakeholders who were a part of this conversation since the introduction of this bill over a year ago. Their input has helped us to reexamine the bill fully and make adjustments that we believe make sense, are reasonable and, further, will help move the needle on this new emerging public policy issue called sustainability. The amendments offered will require all City-owned buildings only to meet LEED standards versus our initial 4 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 language wherein we suggested all City-funded buildings. So let me repeat that so that we're clear. The amendments offered will require all City-owned buildings only to meet LEED standards versus all City-funded buildings. These amendments reflect extensive year-long conversations with the Law Department, the Administration and a roundtable of interested stakeholders that included developers, union leaders, environmental lawyers and builders who were convened by a businesswoman, Terry Graboyes. I also want to acknowledge and say thank you to Joe Meade, my former Legislative Director, now with the School District of Philadelphia, for his initial hard work, and Jeffrey Knowles, my former graduate fellow from the University of Penn, who worked aggressively on this bill and has landed as the Project Manager at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. Pleased to have this bill, 5 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 because it is consistent with the Mayor's Greenworks Philadelphia plan. And I'll close with just a couple of points of information before we hear from our witnesses. The Entrepreneur Magazine featured ten top trends for 2009. And we know that "trend" is defined as a general direction in which something tends to move with the intended tendency to change. In the business world, a trend is a consumer behavioral pattern that shapes how people think and how they spend money. You guessed that the number one trend as identified by the Entrepreneur Magazine is going green. Further, Ebony Magazine wrote about five issues that President Obama must tackle, and energy and conservation came in as number four. So this new public policy issue of green, sustainability, energy and conservation and our environment is here to stay, again, as we seek to make 6 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Philadelphia the greenest city in America. I want to say thank you to Mr. Chairman for your leadership on this issue, and I'll turn this hearing back over to you.
Thank you very much for your comments. The first witness we have on the first panel is Suzanne Biemiller for Katherine Gajewski and James White. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good morning. I'm Suzanne Biemiller testifying here today on behalf of the Office of Sustainability.
Good morning, Councilman, Chairman Kenney and other 7 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 members of the City Council Committee on the Environment. As I introduced myself just a minute ago, my name is Suzanne Biemiller and I'm here testifying on behalf of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability on Bill No. 080025, which proposes to apply green building standards to major City construction and renovation projects. The Mayor's Office of Sustainability is responsible for the implementation of Greenworks Philadelphia, the City's comprehensive sustainability plan. One of Greenworks Philadelphia's goals is to reduce the amount of energy that Philadelphians consume, with City government leading by example. We believe that we cannot ask residents and corporations to take steps that we ourselves are not willing to take. Therefore, Greenworks' first target sets an ambitious goal of reducing the City's energy consumption by 30 percent by the year 2015. This is 8 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Greenworks' first target for a reason - the Administration is serious about demonstrating its commitment to energy efficiency. To that end, we agree that the City's future capital investments must consider the resulting building's energy intensity and lifecycle costs. As the largest energy consumer in Philadelphia, the positive environmental and financial impacts of the City's energy conservation measures will be substantial. In Fiscal Year 2009, the combined energy bills of the General Fund departments, not including street lighting, Aviation or the Water Department, were approximately $38 million. And energy prices are only on the rise. Therefore, reduced energy use will result in significant cost reductions, money that can be put back into further energy savings investments as well as service and program delivery. Energy conservation at this scale will require a comprehensive 9 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 integrated approach that considers energy needs and consumption from all angles. To this end, the Mayor's Office of Sustainability has begun to take a number of important steps, including securing Recovery funding to support the development of a robust municipal energy management program; convening an interagency green team to ferret out energy savings; creating target energy budgets for City departments and an energy conservation education campaign for employees; and developing a sophisticated energy management database that can be used by our energy office and department managers alike. But since the City's buildings represent the majority of our energy use, these efforts will be in vain if we fail to address our existing and future building stock. The City began to take steps in this regard in the previous Administration in an Executive Order 10 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 calling for the pursuit of green building certification in connection with certain City projects. We greatly appreciate Councilwoman Reynolds Brown's efforts in focusing renewed attention on the importance of creating environmentally efficient buildings in the City and support the aim of her bill. We recommend some improvements to the bill, however, and have worked closely with the Councilwoman to develop appropriate amendments to that bill. As introduced, Bill No. 080025 has broad requirements that would be applicable to any large construction project that involves any use of any amount of City funding regardless of whether the City actually has control of the building process. The bill also would have placed the onus on private contractors to ensure attempts to achieve LEED certification. Therefore, the Administration today is proposing amendments to the bill 11 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 to focus its requirements on large construction projects funded with capital dollars and ultimately controlled by the City. This focus will allow the City time to build its internal capacity in the area of green building requirements.
It will also put the onus on ensuring pursuit of green certifications on the Administration itself so that we lead by example. Through this effort, the City will strive as a first and significant step to ensure not only that major building projects meet the broad sustainability rating of LEED-Silver, but also will take steps to ensure that major building projects use at least percent 18 less energy than regular buildings. 19 Let me now please offer up the 20 amendments proposed by the Administration. And I believe you all have copies of those. As we propose the bill to be amended and based upon the pace of projects undertaken under Executive Order 12 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 1-07, we would expect specific LEED-Silver registrations arising from the requirement of Councilwoman Reynolds Brown's bill to total approximately five projects per year. This includes capital projects undertaken by departments and agencies across the City, including the Airport, the Water Department and others. One example is the new Youth Study Center, a building that's projected to be 160,000 square feet, which is 30 percent larger than its previous home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The City spent $485,000 a year to pay for the utilities of that old facility. In designing the new facility as a LEED-Silver building, we anticipate a minimum savings of approximately to 20 percent per year, or $133,000. So 21 despite the increased building size, we 22 project that the energy savings will 23 actually be reduced by 20 to 25 percent 24 over what they would have been if the 25 building had been designed not at 13 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 LEED-Silver. In addition, we will be saving water, reducing air pollution and waste, and providing occupants with more daylight and fresher air. Overall, a City building that achieves a LEED-Silver rating can expect the following benefits over a conventionally built project of the same size: lower operating costs for energy, water and waste management; lower greenhouse gas emissions; and improved worker comfort and productivity. Another key benefit of the bill's requirement for the City is that as departments learn about cost-effective operations for integrated design and high-performance structures, lessons learned can be applied to already existing facilities. These new projects will also benefit the larger community by helping to foster innovation and market support for green building practices. These and other green building programs either underway or under 14 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 discussion may be considered Phase 1 of the Office of Sustainability's green building program for City facilities. Subsequent phases could include an expansion of this legislation, building sustainability guidelines into procurement, an area that I'm aware that Councilman Kenney is very interested in and working on as well, and additional capital program policies and procedures. Also, it is important to note that through the initiatives laid out in Target 2 of Greenworks, we are considering energy efficiency initiatives that go beyond the walls of City buildings, with an eye toward residential and commercial buildings, as we strive to meet a goal of ten percent energy reduction target citywide. The commitment to energy efficiency is one that is understood and shared across the Administration, and we plan to work together with Council and with our community partners to 15 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 aggressively advance this shared agenda. We look forward to working with you on the development of these critical first phases, learning what works and what doesn't and positioning Philadelphia to take increasingly aggressive steps in the future. Thank you. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you very much. We'll take the additional testimony from Mr. White and then we'll have questions.
Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to testify. My names is James White and I am the Policy Coordinator of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. PACDC is a citywide association with more than 80 community development corporations and other organizations that have extensive experience developing affordable ownership and rental homes, commercial 16 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 space and facilities as part of their larger mission of addressing resident needs and fostering successful revitalization of our neighborhoods. We applaud the efforts of the City Administration and the City Council to encourage sustainable development and energy-efficient design. The CDCs operating in Philadelphia agree that the City needs to promote more sustainable development and green building practices. In fact, PACDC members are already incorporating such practices into their developments. In addition, public funding sources such as the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency already require energy efficiency practices and/or incentivize green building practices in the developments they fund without requiring sponsors to utilize the LEED system. While some of our members are pursuing LEED or LEED-Silver 17 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 certification for their affordable housing developments, due to the higher up-front costs and limited public subsidies for their developments, they have been forced to value engineer out some of the green components they initially wanted to incorporate. Given the higher costs associated with achieving LEED-Silver certification, it is unrealistic to expect that all developments will be able to achieve this level, especially without additional resources. In reality, there are many ways to advance green building beyond requiring LEED certification for projects, which adds additional costs to developments and squeezes projects on tight budgets receiving limited public funding. Instead of creating penalties for failure to achieve LEED certification, the City should reward developers for achieving stages of energy efficiency along a spectrum and identify 18 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 new funding or incentives to address additional up-front costs. The City should work to build the local infrastructure to support green building and encourage cost-neutral green building techniques in all sectors. As an important first step, the City should lead by example by promoting green building for new and renovated public buildings. This can also provide an opportunity to examine the cost implications and savings of utilizing the LEED certification system versus other systems such as Energy Star or Green Globes, as well as encourage more local contractors to get acquainted with green building practices. In addition, we encourage the City to pursue development of a more nuanced green building code that takes into account local market conditions and challenges, such as in Chicago. Other cities like Austin, Texas adopted a green building code developed by the 19 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 International Code Council, a non-profit organization that developed the International Building Code. In January 2009, the National Green Building Standard, a collaborative effort of the ICC and the National Association of Home Builders, was approved as a national standard for residential construction. Building on that success, the ICC has now teamed with the American Institute of Architects and the ASTM International in the International Green Construction Code initiative to develop a green code for commercial construction that is specific, reliable and enforceable and reduces or eliminates the need for post construction certification programs. It is not a surprise that the leading green organizations such as the United States Green Building Council, the developer of LEED, and the Green Building Initiative support the IGCC initiative.
We urge the City to take the following two steps to advance green 20 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 building in Philadelphia in an appropriate way: First, amend the bill, as suggested here today, to apply to only City-owned public works projects instead of all City financed projects. Two, to convene the range of concerned stakeholders to craft an effective and realistic plan to move us down the path towards creating infrastructure to support green building and sustainable development in our city in a cost-effective way. In particular, such an approach should provide funding and/or incentives to address the challenges confronted by developers, especially those engaged in affordable housing development. In closing, I would like to thank in particular Council Lady Brown for all of her help, her leadership and her ability to understand the impact the bill as originally written would have on our affordable housing industry. We also thank the Committee for its steadfast 21 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 leadership and guidance as we move forward to a greener Philadelphia. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Just a comment. And I appreciate the Administration's position and also your concern relative to CDCs and affordable housing. One of the things that I would hope that the Office of Sustainability would pursue, if they haven't pursued already, is an additional form of energy savings which I think has come out of Germany and is coming here, not new, but not as well known, and it's called passive house. And the reason I mention it, on two instances. Number one, I think in the affordable housing area, if we were ever to get to the passive house level, it is a long-term benefit to the people who reside in those homes, because they're normally of meager income and lower means, and the savings from their utility bills will be substantial, up to 22 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 what I understand is 90 percent. So even though -- and we have this discussion all the time. Whether it's affordable housing or whether it's commercial development, when we talk about green roofs on buildings, requiring them with 50,000 square feet or more, the argument or pushback, Well, the cost of that is prohibitive. But if you look at it over the long-term life of the building, whether it's a commercial property or residential property, the savings is there. I mean, it's going to pay itself back. The thing I think we need to do is to try to get the banking industry and the lending industry in this country or in this region as they do in Germany, to consider folding those savings into your financing, because that really will drive this. In Germany, I understand that they will allow you to finance up to 90 percent of the savings on a passive house or a passive commercial building, and 23 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 then you can get the savings up front and be able to build it affordably. So I think if we start -- I mean, certainly LEED-Silver is a great big first step on City property. Going into the affordable housing area after that I think is the way we should be going. But the more and more savings we have on utilities, hopefully at some point in time, the lending industry in this country will be able to recognize that, be able to quantify it and fold it into the financing packages. So I understand your concerns and I understand the City's desire to keep moving forward, which we should be. So with that said, Councilman Jones.
Taking lead from my senior members, both the Chairman of this Committee and also the author of this bill, I'm inclined to follow their lead, but I'm going to say this, that whether it was Darrell Clarke, Councilman 24 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Clarke's bill on tax abatements or my recommendation for a green tax abatement, I can almost hear the exact same testimony coming about why affordable housing should be exempt, and I would only say that I will follow their lead, but my position is this, that the most expensive thing in the City of Philadelphia is being poor. We pay more for everything. The people that need it most, which are people of low income, are going to be the last to have these kinds of green applications. And right at a time when utility companies are going through the roof -- I'm hearing about water, I'm hearing about electric deregulation, I'm hearing about gas considerations because of their constant costs. So at some point as we dealt with the mortgage foreclosure issue -- this body boldly stepped up to the plate about that -- I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to hear more and more about homeless people not being able to stay in 25 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 their homes because of utilities. So at some point -- and I know the market is adjusting to LEED certification in an evolutionary way, but the people who need it most need the boldest action sometimes. So I'm willing to take small increments. I'm learning patience as a freshman on how to get to where you want to be, but I am growing impatient with the fact that the people in my district that need it most are the folk who are probably going to get it last, and so I'm very concerned about that. Mr. Chairman.
I want to acknowledge both Councilman Kenney's and Councilman Jones' dead-on observations, that they were discussed at length in our meetings, and we made a decision to at least get the needle moving, fully recognizing that it is that and only 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 that, to get the needle moving and started, acknowledging that we must do exactly what you just stipulated. So it's, I believe, fair warning to the community that us on this side of the table will continue to be aggressive and resist what some may view as pushback as we try to do what we say we want to do, and, that is, make Philadelphia a green city and include everyone of all stripes, of all levels of the economic strata in that process. Thank you, Councilmembers.
Thank you very much. Any other questions for these witnesses? (No response.)
Seeing none, the next panel is Heather Shayne Blakeslee and Dan Garofalo. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good morning. 27 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 My name is Dan Garofalo. I'm a volunteer Board member of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, DVGBC. I'm accompanied here today by Heather Blakeslee, the Programs and Advocacy Director for the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. Councilman Kenney, Councilwoman Reynolds Brown and members of the Environmental Committee, I am testifying today on Bill No. 080025 on behalf of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, DVGBC, which is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to transform the Delaware Valley through sustainable planning, design and construction and operation of the region's buildings, mindful of the legacy left for future generations. The DVGBC represents over 1,000 members in Philadelphia and the surrounding region, including leaders in the design, construction, energy and green products industries. I am an architect and I am the 28 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Environmental Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania in addition to my volunteer Board member role. We're grateful for the opportunity to testify on this important issue, and we applaud Councilwoman Reynolds Brown for her leadership. The DVGBC endorses the goals of Bill 080025 and will support its implementation with further language suggestions, which are included in our submission to Council today and included at the end of my testimony. We believe this bill, with the changes described, will improve the environmental quality of Philadelphia by helping to change the design and construction marketplace, reduce utility bills, provide healthier work environments and help create green jobs. In pursuing this green building path, Philadelphia would be joining the ranks of Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, the 29 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 School District of Philadelphia and many other municipalities and entities around the country and would also meet the recommendations of Building Green: Overcoming Barriers in Philadelphia, a report published in 2008 by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and endorsed by Mayor Nutter. This bill 10 would also serve, as previous testimony indicated, to meet Mayor Nutter's own goals contained in Greenworks Philadelphia by allowing the City to lead by example in the field of green buildings. In practice, this bill would help create a core group of public buildings and most several new and retrofitted buildings each year, which would demonstrate how green building can be accomplished easily in this city, and then these buildings would become models for further market transformation in Philadelphia. The bill establishes a modest 30 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 standard for environmental performance. In most cases, such standards will not add construction costs. S. Green Building Council with detailed information and citations on costs and benefits of green building. We believe that the bill would not provide an undue burden on the City because it is not difficult to achieve LEED-Silver standards in Philadelphia. The LEED-Silver rating can be achieved by a code-compliant building with very few specification changes. The main change from a regular; that is, code-compliant building project, is there would be a commitment from the design and construction teams to meet and verify the compliance with the code and with the project's green goals. S. Green Building Council has developed LEED-Silver standards, such as LEED for new construction, LEED for commercial 31 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 interiors, LEED for core and shell. We believe the building should simply -- the bill should simply refer to LEED-Silver, as it does now, and leave flexibility for each project to determine which particular type of certification to follow. The buildings impacted by this legislation will demonstrate that it can be done in Philadelphia and done easily.
We encourage the City to take this small step in the right direction in terms of energy savings, lower utility bills, healthier workplaces and the creation of green jobs. It is our goal at DVGBC to support efforts to make Philadelphia the greenest city in America, and this bill 18 demonstrates leadership from City Council on this issue. In closing, I want to thank the Council for the opportunity to testify and also thank all the Councilmembers for your insightful comments in regard to low-income housing and public housing sector. 32 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Thanks.
Before your testimony, we're going to do a little housekeeping, back-flip for a second. Since we have a quorum, I want to make sure that we -- and I have to leave in a few minutes, so I want to make sure that we get the bill where it's supposed to be. So I want to recess temporarily our public hearing. I want to start our public meeting. I want to recognize Councilperson Blondell Reynolds Brown for a motion to accept the amendments as were proposed to Bill No. 080025.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 080025 for acceptance by this committee.
It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? (Aye.) 33 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025
There are none opposed. The bill will be amended accordingly. Now the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown again for a motion on the amended bill.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill No. 10 080025, as amended, be moved out of Committee with a favorable recommendation. (Duly seconded.)
And there was also a request for a rules suspension. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? (Aye.)
There are none opposed. Bill No. 080025, as amended, is reported out of this 34 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Committee favorably and a request made for rules suspension to allow for first reading at our next Council session. We will now recess our public meeting and resume our public hearing and recognize you for your testimony. Please identify yourself.
My name is Heather Shayne Blakeslee. I'm the Programs and Advocacy Director for the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. I actually don't have separate testimony from my colleague, but I want to echo his comments that as a non-profit in the area who has just recently adopted social equity as one of the pillars of our organization, we are absolutely here to stand as resources and partners with the PACDC and others to try to build capacity in those areas, because as Dan said, we very much also feel as strongly as Councilman Jones does, that we don't want the people who need these buildings the most to be the last ones to get them, and 35 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 we stand ready to serve as a resource for all of you to make that happen.
Thank you very much for your testimony. Any questions for these witnesses?
My only question is, have you had an opportunity yet to sit down with that world and guide them in helping them understand and embrace the notion that we can do both?
We've started talking last year with PACDC in particular, but also with places like Project HOME and others, and I've at least held one sherat (ph) with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council to identify what some of the barriers to green building are for the public housing community, and we're committed to following up on that in the following year. We've had a couple of informal conversations with Rick Sauer over at PACDC and have a collegial relationship 36 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 and are looking forward to working with them in the future.
Your success with Project HOME, where are you -- what is the status of the movement with Project HOME?
Just being able to use them as one of the stakeholder groups that are talking about these issues.
Okay, then. Thank you very much. Thank you both for your testimony.
Thank you. One of the other issues I think we need to pursue -- and I know it is being pursued in some sectors -- is the issue of solar energy. I've tried to look at getting my own residential property solar energized and the cost is a bit prohibitive. However, because of Philadelphia's row house structure, you can pretty easily solar panel a whole 37 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 street, which would obviously minimize the cost or spread the cost across a number of properties and also create enough of an array that would potentially allow the sale back to the grid for PECO. So, I mean, all those kinds of things. I mean, it's not -- we were behind the curve for a long time. I think we're getting up to speed. We're not exactly Seattle or San Francisco, but I think we're moving pretty quick in a short period of time. So all those kinds of things I think are really worth pursuing. But thank you for your testimony.
Next witness is Rachel Vassar and Jack Strong. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record.
Rachel Vassar, PennFuture. 38 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Rachel Vassar and I am the Philadelphia Outreach Coordinator for Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, PennFuture. PennFuture works to create a just future where nature, communities and the economy thrive. We enforce environmental laws and advocate for the transformation of public policy, public opinion and the marketplace to restore and protect the environment and safeguard public health. In line with our mission, PennFuture works as the lead organization behind the Next Great City initiative, which is dedicated to creating a positive future for Philadelphia by advocating for commonsense, cost-effective policies that enhance environmental quality, strengthen neighborhoods and increase economic competitiveness. Made up of civic associations, labor groups, public health organizations, environmental non-profits 39 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 and faith-based communities, the Next Great City came together in the fall of 2005 to address environmental and public health issues that are harming Philadelphia's economy and quality of life. The diverse coalition identified ten affordable actions that the City could undertake to revitalize Philadelphia's neighborhoods, and these actions have the broad support of the 122 organizations that make up the coalition. Among the ten agenda items is a recommendation that Philadelphia build energy-efficient, healthy City and School District facilities. We call on the City to follow the lead of the cities and states throughout the country as well as the federal government that require new buildings to meet the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED, standards. In the 2009 fiscal year, the combined energy bills of the General Fund departments, not including street 40 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 lighting, Aviation and the Water Department, were approximately $38 million. Rising energy prices and budget deficits at the city and state level make it more important now than ever for the City to take control of its energy spending by practicing greater energy efficiency. Buildings are a vital component of this strategy. In order for the City to better meet its budgetary priorities now and in the future, new City facilities and retrofits of existing buildings must use energy as efficiently as possible. Any up-front costs associated with constructing City facilities to LEED standards would be offset by energy and water savings garnered over the lifetime of the building. In addition to saving money on energy bills, requiring City buildings to meet LEED standards will help to meet a number of Greenworks' goals, bringing us one step closer to being the greenest 41 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 city in America. LEED requirements will better equip the City's workforce to compete in the green economy by providing opportunities for workers to learn state-of-the-art construction practices. Buildings built to LEED standards will also decrease the burden on our aging sewer system and improve air quality and cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need for electricity derived from fossil fuels and coal. I urge the City Council Committee on the Environment to give its full support to Bill No. 080025 -- which you already did, so I thank you instead -- requiring certain publicly funded construction projects to fall under the City's control to obtain LEED-Silver status. This legislation is the right thing to do for our communities, our economy and our environment. It exemplifies the long-term vision that Philadelphia needs to make us the next great city with a 42 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 sustainable future. Thank you for your time and consideration. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Sir, I'm now in charge.
Hi. My name is Jack Strong. I'm with the Energy Coordinating Agency. I don't know if you're aware of the agency. We do weatherization programs all over the City. So we're on the front line every day helping people save energy in their homes. Good morning, Councilwoman Reynolds. I wanted to just digress a little bit from the testimony. My background is, I've been a builder/developer for the last 30 years. I'm certified as a building inspector. I'm a BPI certified building analyst, and this is close to my heart, what we're talking about here. ECA is in total support of Bill 25 080025 sponsored by Councilwoman 43 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Reynolds, and this bill will help produce overall energy consumption and increase the sustainability of public buildings in Philadelphia. It is also a very important first step in increasing the sustainability of the City as a whole. At the same time, we need to recognize that it will only impact a small number of buildings. Going through this, to impact a larger number of buildings, ECA recommends that the City take the next step and pass legislation that would require the Energy Star Homes standard be used for all new residential construction, and this would help our affordable housing as well. Using Energy Star guidelines will ensure that all new homes in Philadelphia would reach a reasonable level of energy efficiency. Energy Star homes are also more durable and of higher quality. While the Energy Star standard is only a modest increment above the 44 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 current code, there are real concerns that all new homes do not actually meet code. Adopting the Energy Star Homes standards would allow the City to have inspection and certification done by independent third-party raters instead of the City's Department of Licenses and Inspection. Thus the cost of certification would be borne by the builder and not the City. This would eliminate both cost and liability that the City now carries. This would require little effort by the City, other than having it as a requirement for the builder to present an Energy Star certificate at the time a Certificate of Occupancy is issued. By Philadelphia taking the lead in requiring Energy Star certification now, Philadelphia will be much better prepared to cope with rapidly rising energy costs. This reputation will enhance the City's image and help attract businesses and residents who want to live 45 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 in the City but are put off by the lack of energy-efficient and sustainable housing. A successful example -- by the way, I was in Austin for ten years. I was on the Green Council there, and I know this from fact. I mean, I've lived it. In Austin, the city passed an ordinance requiring residential property ten years and older to have -- and multi-families to have an energy audit performed prior to the sale of the property. This was met with huge resistance by the realtor community. The realtors soon discovered that having this rating for a home helped them sell more homes. The buyers feel more confident that the home they are buying is now energy efficient, and the older homes that have had energy saving improvements done now compete much better with new construction. This is fostering job growth in the inner city as well as 46 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 increased tax revenue by having more people move back into the city. There's an absolute boom going on in Austin. I just left there about a year ago. I moved back for family reasons. But there's an absolute boom going on there. The realtors are just crazed. I was a realtor in Texas as well, and everybody was just crazed about doing this. They thought it wouldn't work. And there was a soft -- there's no 13 penalty if you don't have the energy audit done, but the realtors snapped to it. They said in this tough market, they can use that energy audit as a big sales tool.
You look at an old house that's -- here's one that's an energy hog, here's one that's been fixed. It's a no-brainer. The buyer says, I'll take the one that doesn't cost as much money to live in. And I appreciate the chance to testify on behalf, and this is a great bill that you're putting forward, and if 47 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 you have any questions, please ask. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Any questions? Councilwoman Brown.
Let me say thank you very, very much for your expert advice and observations, and to know that we've at least -- I'm into moving the needle. So to know that we've moved the needle based on your testimony is a great thing, recognizing fully as, again, my Councilmembers acknowledge, we have a long ways to go to make sure we include everyone. To our PennFuture professional, you said that -- you identified ten affordable actions that the City could undertake in your testimony.
PennFuture leads Next Great City, and Next Great City has -- we have a document I can give to you, but they include public riverfronts, improving the zoning code, single-stream weekly pick-up recycling. These were put 48 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 forward during the last mayoral primary campaign.
I see. And the example you talk about in Austin, Texas, how old is that experience there?
Eighteen months. It's been going on for months. The 9 bill was originally very, very strict and 10 it was overbearing, so they backed off to 11 where there's no punitive fees or fines, 12 but because of that, the city is on fire. 13 They're moving back in. The city's tax 14 base has grown and it's actually helped 15 maintain property values, because there's 16 a section of East Austin, which is like 17 the low-income neighborhood, and there's 18 a gentrification there of those buildings and of those homes.
What you mentioned were shared in the roundtable discussion we had for a few months that 49 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 included builders and developers at the table, and so you've in many ways affirmed what they stipulated in those discussions that led us to where we are today. So I thank you both for your testimony.
Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Any other questions for these witnesses? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Seeing none, is it Mr. or Mrs. Swann?
Mitchell. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Mitchell Swann. Please come to the table. (Witness approached witness table.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: And I understand that we have written testimony that's been submitted by Kevin Gray and Nathan Wilcox that will not be testifying, but their testimony will be 50 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 made part of the record. Good afternoon, Mr. Swann.
Good morning. I think it's still morning, right? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I don't know. Is it? You're right, it is. I'm rushing it along.
Since I'm alone, I'll sit in the center. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Center stage. Please identify yourself for the record and then proceed with your testimony.
My name is E. Mitchell Swann. I'm a mechanical engineer with over years experience in 19 the design, construction and analysis of 20 buildings pretty much around the world. 21 I'm also a Board member of the Engineers 22 Club of Philadelphia. So I can testify 23 on their behalf and interest in this 24 issue. 25 I'm a registered engineer 51 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 licensed in ten states and the UK, United Kingdom, and I've been a LEED AP, a LEED accredited professional, since 2003. And I've been asked to testify at this hearing on the value of a green building requirement for City-funded and now City-owned/occupied projects. Just to sort of condense, you've heard a lot of statistics, which I think were very valuable, but I just want to put out that sustainability or green buildings are not a fad. It's not an attempt to be hip or trendy, and it is not about saving the snail darter, although there's not anything wrong with that. It's about competitiveness and it's about long-term value. And as was pointed out in other testimony, it's also about a health issue with regard to the City's well-being. Every dollar that the City saves in energy is one more dollar available to fund necessary programs or it is one more dollar available to reduce 52 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 the tax burden on the City's residents and businesses, and that's a good thing. Every dollar that the City saves on energy is one less dollar that the City exports out of the region, out of the state and out of the country, and that's a good thing, too. The principles of sustainability are at the heart of what a city should be. Reducing the cost and environmental footprint of the City will allow us to create a more competitive atmosphere in which our residents and businesses can prosper and grow. The City is a "buy and hold" owner. And so that's a very interesting aspect that one has to keep in mind when discussing things from a developer perspective versus a buy and hold. The City is an institutional owner, much like University of Pennsylvania. The City's first charter was granted in 1701 and we've been here ever since. That's over 300 years. And we 53 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 have sustained William Penn's "Green Country Towne." We have some of the best universities and colleges in the world here and some of the best minds those universities can produce. We have skilled tradespeople and contractors. So I believe we should set the goal to delivering sustainable, green design and construction to maintain our sustainable Green Country Towne. As much as the private sector might not want to admit -- and I am a private sector business owner, so the tax issue is important to me -- the City is the biggest economic dog on the block in this region. If the City of Philadelphia wants to create an environment that facilitates and promotes green, then the big dog has to lead the pack. So I think it's essential the City move forward on this. Any questions? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm sorry. 54 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you very, very much for your testimony, and I believe your last statement says it all. "If the City of Philadelphia wants to create an environment that facilitates and promotes green, then the big dog has to lead the pack." I thank you for your testimony.
Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Any other questions for this witness? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Seeing none, is there anyone else here who wishes to testify for or against this bill? Yes, ma'am. You have something to add? Please come up. (Witness approached witness table.)
Just one more quick thing that I forgot to say on the 55 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 affordable housing front, just so that it's in the record is that -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Please identify yourself.
Heather Blakeslee from the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. One of the things that we've been working on over the last eight months is working with Habitat for Humanity to green the specs that they use for their standards, which would be across the board, and while we believe that the LEED Rating System because it's verifiable and they're certified by a third party is part of its value, that there are plenty of other things out there that we can do to help, as you have been saying, move the needle forward, and as part of the mission of our organization, LEED is not part of that, but green buildings are and sustainable buildings are. So we as the Council are committed to any kind of effort that 56 12/2/09 - ENVIRONMENT - BILL 080025 could help Council, their Office of Sustainability or other stakeholders in the area move the needle forward. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you again.
Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: No 9 questions? No one else to testify? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you all for attending. This concludes the public hearing and meeting on the Committee on the Environment. Thank you. (Committee on the Environment concluded at 12:00 p.m.) - - - 57 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on December 2, 2009, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)