Boston

BOSTON-Boston could become the first city in the nation to require large developers to adhere to green building standards. A new law could require projects over 50,000 sf to go green with more energy efficient and environmentally friendly materials.

James Hunt, chief of environmental and energy services for the city, tells GlobeSt.com that the city will ask the Boston Redevelopment Authority to incorporate green building standards into the city’s zoning laws on Thursday. The request is an outgrowth of a recommendation made by a task force comprised of city officials and members of the development community that was established by Mayor Thomas Menino in 2003 to study the issue.

“Our goals are to continue to grow Boston but to continue to grow it in a large, sustainable way,” he says.

The BRA is expected to approve the amendment Thursday and it could be approved by the Boston Zoning Commission as early as Jan. 10 following a period of public comment, Hunt says. If approved by the zoning commission, developers of new buildings larger than 50,000 sf would be denied a building permit unless they meet at least 26 of the 70 green building guidelines established under the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Hunt says the new requirements should not increase the cost of development.

“We’re not dictating any practice,” says Hunt. “That’s the beauty of the LEED system, it provides various strategies.”

But Greg Vasil, head of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, tells GlobeSt.com that green projects are usually more expensive, although it is hard to estimate exactly how much those costs increase a developer’s bottom line.

“The real interesting challenge,” he says, “will be as these standards are put into effect and implemented by the BRA, whether there are ways to help development to get done faster while imposing other regulations.”

Hunt says the city worked closely with the development community to come up with the recommendation and believes they are supportive of the measure.