The City of Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of 2007, Hayward’s estimated population was 155,312 residents. The City has a total area of 63 square miles, of which 29.68% is water. The City is located on the Hayward Fault, an earthquake fault, which is still the center of town. Hayward has transit stations for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), a heavy-rail system that connects San Francisco with various East Bay cities.
Hayward is located in the environmentally active California San Francisco Bay, and the City’s ordinance is placed in the context of many California environmental regulations. Hayward has set forth green building regulations in two parts: municipal buildings and private development. Hayward’s municipal green building requirements are set forth in Article 21, and Hayward’s requirements for private development are set forth in Article 22. While the general spirit of both Article 21 and 22 are very similar, the City has effectively taken into account that when mandating private projects meet green standards, more flexibility may be necessary. The City has managed to grant such flexibility without compromising the actual sustainability of privately constructed buildings. However, Hayward’s ‘flexibility’ is only allowed for private structures, as Hayward holds its own municipal structures to a high standard. Of course historically sensitive buildings are allowed an exemption regardless of whether such structure is private or municipal. Also important to note, the City of Hayward utilizes two forms of green building standards, GreenPoints (predominantly for private buildings) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
The municipal building regulations are very definite, all municipal construction projects, including minor projects and public-private partnerships must build to meet LEED Silver standards. In addition to achieving LEED Silver, municipal works must have a LEED accredited professional involved in the development and certification process. Municipal projects are not allowed the alternative third party rating of GreenPoint Rated, which private developers are allowed to use. Municipal projects that are public-private partnerships may be allowed an exemption from the LEED Silver requirement if such goal is financially unattainable and that the proposed (non-LEED certified project) building will provide an over- riding benefit to the community. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the City’s regulation is that within the mandate, it specifies that the law will be reviewed each year and improved upon to ensure further green building success.
Article 22 partitions private projects into two groups: residential oriented structures and commercial projects. Private projects that are residential oriented include Multi-Family Residential and Mixed-Use Buildings, New Single Family Dwellings, or Residential Additions/Remodels greater than 500 square feet, in which these projects are encouraged to attain GreenPoint Rated. Regardless of whether a residential oriented project is actually seeking attainment of GreenPoint Rated, all residential projects must submit with building permit applications the appropriate GreenPoint Rated check list and green building criteria. With respect to the second group of private projects, the Commercial Covered Projects, are required to meet all GreenPoint Rated criteria prior to a certificate of occupancy. The City of Hayward requires that both types of private development use the private development checklist submittal as a way to familiarize all private developers with green standards that will ultimately be promulgated to mandate that all buildings comply. Hayward does allow for hardship exemption for instances where projects valued at less than $50,000 where the Project Applicant can demonstrate the cost of complete compliance will exceed 20.0% of construction costs. In these cases, the applicant may limit compliance to 20.0% of the cost of the project.
