HomeMy WebLinkAbout2576-19 - ADMIN Ordinance - City Council - 2019/12/02Ordinance No. 2576-19
Efficient building benchmarking
The City of St. Louis Park does ordain:
Section 1. St. Louis Park City Code Chapter 6 is amended by adding Article VIII to provide
as follows:
6-301 Definitions.
The following words shall have the meaning ascribed to them, unless the context clearly
indicates a different meaning:
Benchmark means to compare the measured energy performance of a building to itself,
its peers, or to industry standards, with the goal of informing and motivating performance
improvement.
Benchmarking information means information related to a building’s energy
performance as generated by the benchmarking tool using descriptive information about the
physical building, its operational characteristics, and energy and water consumption.
Benchmarking tool means the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Energy
Star Portfolio Manager tool or an equivalent tool as adopted by the city.
Energy means electricity, natural gas, steam, heating oil, or other product sold by a
utility for use in a building, or renewable on -site electricity generation, for purposes of
providing heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, or for powering or fueling other end -uses in
the building and related facilities.
Energy performance score means the numeric rating generated by the Energy Star
Portfolio Manager tool or equivalent tool adopted by the city that compares the energy usage
of the building to that of similar buildings.
Energy Star Portfolio Manager means the tool developed and maintained by the United
States Environmental Protection Agency to track and assess the relative energy performance of
buildings nationwide.
Gross square footage means total building floor area of all conditioned space calculated
from overall exterior wall dimensions of all below and above grade floors .
Industrial means manufacturing, compounding, processing, packaging, treatment, and
assembly of products and materials.
Property owner means a person or entity possessing title to a building, or an agent
authorized to act on behalf of the property owner.
Tenant means a person or entity occupying or holding possession of a building or
premises pursuant to a rental or lease agreement.
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Utility means an entity that distributes and sells natural gas, electric, or thermal energy
services for buildings.
Water means supplied, metered potable water for mixed use and irrigation uses.
Sec 6-302. Benchmarking Required.
(a) Required. Annual benchmarking is required for all buildin gs of 25,000 gross square
feet or larger. A property owner shall input the energy and water consumed during
the previous calendar year and obtain an energy performance score by June 1, 2020,
and by every June 1 thereafter. The property owner shall annually provide
benchmarking information to the city, in such form as established.
The information input annually by the property owner shall include, but need not be
limited to:
(1) Building characteristics;
(2) Building use;
(3) Meter information, including consumption.
(b) Exemptions.
(1) A building if its primary use is industrial, and the industrial use of the building
comprises the majority of energy demands for the building. A property
owner must make a request to the city to qualify for this exemption. In order
to qualify for an exemption, the property owner must permit the city to
complete an inspection of the property. The city will determi ne whether the
building qualifies for an exemption based on the requirements contained in
this chapter.
(2) Condominium multiple family residential buildings.
(3) A property owner may request exemption in writing from the benchmarking
and energy assessment requirements of subsection (a) for any of the following:
(a) The property is presently experiencing qualifying financial distress such
that the property is the subject of a qualified tax lien sale or public
auction due to property tax arrearages, the property is controlled by a
court-appointed receiver based on financial distress, the property is
owned by a financial institution through default by the borrower, the
property has been acquired by a deed in lieu of foreclosure, or the
property has a senior mortgage which is subject to a notice of default; or
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(b) The property or areas of the property subject to the requirements of this
section have been less than fifty (50) percent occupied during the
calendar year for which benchmarking is required; or
(c) The property does not have a certificate of occupancy or temporary
certificate of occupancy for all twelve (12) months of the calendar year
for which benchmarking is required.
Sec. 6-303. Multiple Tenant buildings.
Where aggregate data is not available, each tenant located in a property subject to
benchmarking under this chapter shall, within thirty (30) days of a request by the property
owner and in a form to be approved by the city, provide all information that cannot otherwise
be acquired by the property owner that is needed by the property owner to comply with the
requirements of this section.
Sec. 6-304. Public disclosure.
The city shall make readily available to the public, and update annually, benchmarking information
for the previous calendar year by September 1, 2021, and by every September 1 thereafter.
Sec. 6-305. Violations.
It shall be unlawful for any entity or person to fail to comply with the requirements of this
section or to misrepresent any material fact required to be prepared or disclosed by this section.
Violations shall be subject to the Administrative Penalties section of the city code. Violations
constitute a misdemeanor offense.
Section 2. This ordinance shall be effective 15 days following publication.
Reviewed for administration:
Adopted by the City Council December 2, 2019
Thomas K. Harmening, city manager Jake Spano, mayor
Attest: Approved as to form and execution:
Melissa Kennedy, city clerk Soren Mattick, city attorney
First reading November 18, 2019
Second reading December 2, 2019
Date of publication December 12, 2019
Date ordinance takes effect December 27, 2019
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