Portland Becomes Third in US to Mandate 'Green-Building' Standards for Itself

PORTLAND-Following a unanimous vote by the City Council here this week, Portland is now the third city in the nation to require that new and remodeled government buildings meet national green-building standards, albeit with some exceptions. The Office of Sustainable Development may approve exemptions if city project managers can prove that meeting the standards would cost too much. Without the exemption, national green-building standards mean city structures must use recycled building materials, include more efficient heating and lighting, conserve more water and capture rainwater on site.

Commissioner Dan Saltzman is the one who spearheaded the ordinance, but he’s not the one who took it one step further. Commissioner Jim Francesconi successfully attached three amendments, one of which gives private developers who meet the standards a higher priority for application processing than developers who do not. While stopping short of allowing green projects to leapfrog non-green ventures, one of the amendments direct the Office of Planning and Development to give green projects their own planner to speed things along.