The Green Permit: thirty days and no impact fee

It is Chapter 3.3 of Joint Regulation No. 9473. The Green Permit is issued for any building or design evidencing compliance with the Green Design Guidelines adopted for this type of project and which has obtained a Pre-Qualification Certification or a prior Occupancy Authorisation. The chapter establishes an expedited evaluation and issue procedure, and it consists of a ministerial permit or one with the prior approval of a consultation that also meets the guidelines.

The chapter’s provisions apply to the development of sustainable projects in their site-selection, planning, design, construction, remodelling, use, operation, occupancy, maintenance, removal and demolition phases, for all buildings, structures or accessories, connected or attached. For government facilities there is a separate rule: every Government facility project must be designed and built in compliance with Ley 229-2008, the Act to Promote Efficiency in the Use of Energy and Water Resources in New and Existing Buildings, known as the Green Buildings Act.

• Meeting the Green Design Guidelines: the regulation adopts as such the version in force of the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) of the International Code Council (ICC), and provides that each project shall be certified.Verified against the official source
• First obtaining a Green Design Pre-Qualification Certification, or holding a prior Occupancy Authorisation.Verified against the official source
• That all plans and documents carry a certification from the professional who prepared them stating that the project complies with the codes and standards in force at the time of filing and with the Green Design Guidelines.Verified against the official source
• Posting a bond equal to the impact-fee contribution from which one is exempted, as a condition of the construction permit or the occupancy authorisation.Verified against the official source
• Meeting the International Green Construction Code’s inspection requirements, satisfied through a certified Green Projects Authorised Inspector.Verified against the official source

• A Green Design Pre-Qualification application with a detailed description of the green project.
• A graphic representation illustrating the concept of the proposed green project.
• A certification that the proposed green project complies with the codes and standards in force when the application is filed and that it will meet the Green Design Guidelines.
• An efficiency commissioning plan for the green project’s systems ("Building or Project Commission Plan"), certified by the Green Projects Authorised Inspector.

1. 1

   Step 1: What the green lane gets you

   Four things, all written in the chapter. First: projects obtaining a green design certification and meeting the chapter’s requirements are exempt from impact-fee contributions; the regulation says so twice, in the general provisions and again when dealing with the construction permit. Second: the term for issuing a Green Construction Permit shall be no more than thirty days. Third: variations in construction parameters of up to twenty-five per cent of what is permitted may be accepted, provided the Green Design Guidelines are met. Fourth: environmental viability is assessed by categorical exclusion for green permits, provided those guidelines are met.

2. 2

   Step 2: What the Green Design Guidelines are

   The regulation does not invent them: it adopts as Green Design Guidelines the version in force of the International Green Construction Code — IgCC — of the International Code Council (ICC), and provides that each project shall be certified. That is, the technical yardstick is an international code in its current version, not a list of the regulation’s own. To be certified under those guidelines, Authorised Professionals, Authorised Inspectors and any interested person will be trained by OGPe or by any institution or organisation approved by OGPe’s Assistant Secretary holding the corresponding accreditation; the subjects are set by OGPe’s Professional Regulation Regulation, and will include at a minimum the green design guidelines and OGPe’s Code of Ethics.

3. 3

   Step 3: Step one: the Pre-Qualification

   Every applicant must complete the corresponding form certifying that the project meets all the chapter’s requirements, and file on SUI the Green Design Pre-Qualification application with a detailed description of the project, a graphic representation illustrating the concept, and a certification that the project complies with the codes and standards in force when the application is filed and that it will meet the Green Design Guidelines. Once the application is completed and validated through SUI’s format, OGPe, the Authorised Professional or the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III will issue a Green Design Pre-Qualification within a term not exceeding five working days from validation. There is a silence rule: once the application is determined complete, or once the five working days pass without the agency notifying its determination, the application is referred for evaluation by the Permit Managers and the Director of the Environmental Compliance Evaluation Division, as applicable. The Pre-Qualification is valid for two years from issue.

4. 4

   Step 4: Step two: the green construction permit

   With the Pre-Qualification in hand, the applicant must meet the general filing requirements of Volume II of the regulation to file the corresponding permit. All plans and documents will carry a certification from the professional who prepared them stating that the project complies with the codes and standards in force when the application is filed and with the Green Design Guidelines. OGPe, the Authorised Professionals and the autonomous municipalities with hierarchy I to III will assess the project under the International Green Construction Code’s requirements. And here the two incentives land: the issue term shall be no more than thirty days, and projects with a green design certification are exempt from paying impact-fee contributions.

5. 5

   Step 5: Step three: the Green Occupancy Authorisation

   With the green construction permit obtained, the International Green Construction Code’s inspection requirements must be met. For the chapter’s purposes, that requirement is satisfied through a certified Green Projects Authorised Inspector, regardless of the particular inspection requirements of any of the reference rating systems. An efficiency commissioning plan for the green project’s systems, certified by that inspector, is also required. Once the Authorised Inspector certifies compliance with the code, the applicant may apply for a Green Occupancy Authorisation. These authorisations are issued before the Green Single Permit, in order to verify the project’s performance and efficiency, and the certifications must be filed with OGPe’s system quarterly for a period of one year. There is an exemption worth knowing: residential uses in single-family housing projects in urbanisations, or buildings of up to three levels, are exempt from the occupancy authorisation, the requirement remaining for non-residential uses.

6. 6

   Step 6: Step four: the Green Single Permit

   After one year of operation the Green Single Permit may be applied for, and the final compliance parameters for the project’s operational phase will then be set. Green single permits will be issued for uses duly identified on the certified construction plan and holding a previously granted green construction permit; once the term for the occupancy authorisation has run; and once the original of the certifications required from the Authorised Inspector has been received. For uses not identified on the certified plan or in the green construction permit, green single permits are issued separately for each specific use, where warranted. And a warning: to occupy or use existing buildings or structures not involving new works, alteration, extension, reconstruction or remodelling, an ordinary single permit is needed, and those cases will not qualify for Green Project benefits unless they are shown to meet the Green Design Guidelines.

7. 7

   Step 7: The bond: the incentive’s small print

   Here is the counterpart to the exemption. As a condition of a construction permit or occupancy authorisation for green design projects, a bond equal to the determined impact-fee contribution from which one is exempted is required. The bond’s purpose is to secure faithful compliance with the standards under which the permits were issued, and it will conform to the provisions of the infrastructure volume and of this chapter. If those provisions are breached, the bond is executed under the rules OGPe establishes. In practice: you do not pay the impact fee, but you bond its equivalent, and you lose it if you do not comply. The chapter closes by recalling that meeting its requirements does not exempt you from other requirements set according to the type of project.

The application is filed with OGPe, an Authorised Professional or an autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III, and the Pre-Qualification is filed and validated through SUI. Occupancy authorisations, green construction permits and the green single permit will be issued only where the structure or use is in complete harmony and conformity with the chapter’s provisions.

• Counting on the impact-fee exemption and not budgeting for the equivalent bond that conditions it.
• Seeking the Pre-Qualification too early and letting its two-year validity lapse.
• Filing plans without the preparing professional’s certification of compliance with the guidelines.
• Assuming the Green Projects Authorised Inspector can be any inspector.
• Forgetting the systems efficiency commissioning plan certified by that inspector.
• Not filing the certifications quarterly during the year before the Green Single Permit.
• Believing that occupying an existing building with no new works qualifies for the green benefits.
• Thinking that meeting this chapter exempts you from the other requirements for your project type.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov