Building upon the “Efficiency First” SB 5854 signed into law last year by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, the City of Seattle announced a new city ordinance that will require owners of large commercial and multi-family properties to measure its annual use of energy.

Why?  Seattle City Council Chair Richard Conlin explains in the city’s press release that “[y]ou can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

New Requirements in Washington & Seattle

In large part, the Washington bill and Seattle ordinance will require certain classes of private property owners to rate their buildings using Energy Star software, and disclose the information to prospective buyers, lessees and lenders prior to any closing transaction.

Here are some highlights of the new state-wide regulations, including information on how it may apply to you:

• Non-residential buildings greater than 50,000 square feet must rate and disclose beginning January 1, 2011.   Buildings greater than 10,000 square feet required to rate and disclose beginning January 1, 2012.
• Beginning January 1, 2010, public agencies may not lease or renew space in private buildings with Energy Star rating less than 75.

The Seattle ordinance adds a few wrinkles, highlighted as follows:

• Multifamily buildings (5 units or more) are subject to disclosure requirements.
• Rating date must be disclosed to current tenants, if they request it
• Energy performance data must be reported annually to City of Seattle.   Multifamily properties must report beginning April 1, 2012.  Other non-residential property must report beginning April 1, 2011 if over 50,000 SF, and April 1, 2012 if over 10,000 SF.

Consequences for Failing to Report

Since the state law and city ordinance is so new and not even in full effect, it’s difficult to predict how aggressive the city and state will be in enforcing the regulations.   As time goes on and the challenges of the requirements are examined, these regulations may even be altered to aid in enforcement.

Seattle’s City Ordinance provides the city with the following remedies if a building owner fails to comply:

1. Failure to Report:  $150 citation, and if not filed within 15 days of the citation, a $150 per day penalty for first ten days of noncompliance, then $500 per day for each day in violation pat the 10th day until compliance is achieved.
2. Failure to Disclose:  $150 citation for first violation, $500 for subsequent violations.

The failure to disclose penalty is a lot less severe than then failure to report, which can become astronomical to a property owner if they try to ignore the ordinance.    As usual, the ordinance does provide administrative procedures to challenge and mitigate citations.

Related Links

Seattle Green Building Capital Initiative

Raw Text:   Seattle Ordinance 123226

Raw Text:   Washington Senate Bill 5854