Proponents Explain Benchmarking Ordinance

CHICAGO—The somewhat surprising decision by the Chicago City Council to delay, at least for a short time, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s energy benchmarking ordinance has given proponents another chance to convince the skeptics.

On Tuesday, Chicago realtors, some angry condo owners, and a few aldermen from the condo-heavy lakefront wards, spoke at a meeting of the council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards. They were concerned that the ordinance, which will require municipal, commercial and residential properties with more than 50,000-square-feet to track and publicly report their energy usage, would eventually impose costly mandates to boost efficiency. BOMA/Chicago has also expressed skepticism in the past week about the public disclosure requirement, and remains concerned that owners of older buildings and class C offices will find their properties stigmatized if they receive low energy scores.