A bill for an ordinance amending Article I and adding a new Article V to Chapter 4 of the Revised Municipal Code of the City and County of Denver regarding energy efficiency in commercial and multifamily buildings. Amends Chapter 4 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code to add a requirement for commercial and multi-family buildings over 25,000 square feet to track and publicly report their energy performance as part of the City’s plan to reach its 2020 climate goal. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 11-30-16.
I was honored to represent the council and really grappled with what are the ways to work appropriately with private sector owners of apartment buildings, commercial buildings, to think about ways to reduce the impact on climate. And so a lot I learned a lot about the many options and the conclusions were that there is more we can do . And so this ordinance represents the first two steps, which is to, first of all, make sure all those owners know what their energy consumption is. And second of all, to make that transparent. Why transparent? Well, we're competitive in the United States. Just making something public makes folks want to do better. Right. And so we've seen in cities that have made this information transparent that, you know, energy usage drops by a couple percentage points just for making it public. We know that, you know, tenants want to know this information. Maybe it determines what their payments are going to be for these utilities or they want to be in a green building that matches their their values. So it's important for tenants, for buyers of buildings. So so there's a lot of benefits to making this information public. There was a lot of conversation about asking buildings that don't have very good energy scores to do more to make some improvements. Now, that's a hard thing to ask a business to finance upfront, but one of the things we talked about was making sure that those things pay back, right? So you get a little you have a little upfront payment, but you earn it back over time as you have lower heating bills or lower electrical bills. And so you really end up even and the climate ends up the winner. So the the real consensus with the mayor's office was that it was important for us to learn about the scores and get folks started with these first two steps first. And I'm fully supportive of that. I'm hopeful that we have dramatic drops in energy usage from the commercial sector. But I am very pleased that we've committed to come back and talk about this again in 2018 so that we can keep the conversation going and so that if we need to take more action, this is critical. It's critical. Denver is connected to the state economy in terms of tourism. If we don't have thriving ski mountains because we have climate change, we are hurting. We depend on the food sources. And so our city is intimately connected to these issues and we have an obligation to stick with this as long as it takes to get it to get some impacts reduced. So with that, I'm really enthusiastically supportive. I want to thank the departments that worked on it and especially the stakeholders. We had a lot of owners of buildings, you know, experts and, you know, community businesses that do energy improvements all at the table. So for those that are watching or here tonight, I just want to thank you for all your time and encourage my colleagues. I know this is on the consent agenda, but not just to pass it, but to feel good about the fact that we're taking a really important step forward on climate change. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman and Councilwoman Black. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman Canete, for your hard work on this. I just wanted to give a shout out to our apartment buildings and our condominium buildings. While they are big energy users, they're much more efficient than single family homes. And so one of the other issues we talk about as a city is. All in the impact of sprawl on our environment. And single family homes actually are big users of energy, too. And there may only be one or two or three people living in a single family home. And if they're far away from the city, people are probably driving. So this is a good balanced compromise, but multifamily buildings are actually much more energy efficient. So just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of that. Thanks. Thank you, Councilwoman. I'll just jump in that. I'm very excited about this, Bill. Thank you, Councilwoman, for your work representing us. And I hope that we will continue to push harder to be a leader in sustainability on this front and on all the other fronts, because I think that's the city that we we are and we should be. All right. This concludes the items to be called out. All other bills for introduction are ordered published. You're now ready for the block vote on resolutions and bills on final consideration. Council members, please remember that this is a consent or block vote and you will need to vote I. Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote. Councilman Cashman, were you pleased with the resolutions for adoption and the bills on final consideration for final passage on the floor? Thank you, Mr. President. I move that resolutions be adopted and bills on final consideration be placed upon final consideration, and do pass in the block for the following items. These are all series of 2016 resolutions 1168 1228, 1249 1250 1251 1252, 12, 13, 12, 14, 12, 15 1242 1243, 1245 1246 1236 1237 1238 1241, 1253 1254 1255, 1256, 1263 and bills for introduction also series of 2016 919 920 1172. Bills on final you'll need bills on final. I'm sorry. The bills on final. Those on 530 with 1196. Not the bills on introduction. 1196 is the first one. Sure. 1196 1218 1226 1083 1084, 1171, 1069. 1189, 1198. 1200 1201. And 1231. Thank you, Madam Secretary. It has been moved and seconded. Madam Secretary. Roll call. Black. I Espinosa. Hi, Flynn. I Herndon. I Cashman. Hi, Kenny Lopez. New Ortega. I i Mr. President. All right. 11 eyes. 11 eyes. The resolutions have been adopted and the bills have been placed upon final consideration and do pass. Tonight, there will be required public hearing on Council Bill 1030 for changing the zoning classification for 1209 North Perry Street.