In order to promote sustainable land development, the city uses the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED prerequisites as a baseline for requiring new development to provide Electric Vehicle (EV) Parking spaces. This ordinance requires new non-single family development to provide 2% of the required parking, with a minimum of one space for electric vehicle parking in commercial districts when 20 or more parking spaces are required pursuant to Land Development Regulations. In lieu of meeting this EV parking requirement, an additional fee is charged for those spaces that were required to proved EV charging stations. The fee is based on the average cost of an EV charging stations. The revenue from this fee is deposited into the Sustainability and Resiliency Fund. Learn more about Electric Vehicle Initiatives.
This ordinance amendment would allow for buildings in commercial districts to be developed up to an additional five (5) feet of height, provided that the first floor has a minimum of 12 feet from the base flood elevation (BFE) plus maximum freeboard, to the top of the second floor slab. This would provide for the ability of the ground floor to be placed at a lower level, while providing sufficient ceiling high for the ground floor to be raised when roadways or sidewalks are raised.