At the City Council Public Hearing yesterday afternoon, Councilman Bill Peduto once again spoke out for a revised economic development policy for the City of Pittsburgh.

“It is essential that subsidies that this government gives out for development do not simply go into the pockets of out-of-town developers, but benefit the entire community,” said Councilman Peduto.

With over $1 billion dollars of development in his district throughout the past 8 years, Councilman Peduto has worked to ensure that all of these developments have created good paying jobs, generated new tax revenue for the City, and catalyzed other neighborhood development.  

Now he is calling for the same triple bottom line development to be enforced throughout the City of Pittsburgh, which would ensure that any new development would:

• maximized economic impact
• minimized environmental impact and improvement of the surrounding neighborhood
• provided the opportunity for good jobs for all residents

“Each and every development proposal in the City of Pittsburgh should meet the triple bottom line or else you must question whether or not this is true economic development that benefits the City or simply real estate development that benefits a select few.”

On Tuesday, Pittsburgh City Council gave unanimous final support to a bill that will help encourage more green building within the city.

The new amendment to the city building code states that any project that receives aid in the form of TIF (tax-increment financing) subsidies, will have to ultimately meet the LEED silver rating standards.  Projects that utilize this subsidy and do not obtain the LEED silver rating will be fined in the amount of 1% of the construction costs of the project.  Building projects that are 10,000 sq. feet or greater, or whose cost exceeds more than $2 million dollars will be subject to this amendment, along with any renovations to city-owned buildings totaling more than $2 million dollars.

The Green Building Alliance, who worked closely with Councilman Bill Peduto on this amendment, praised it’s passage yesterday.  Executive director Holly Childs said, “It is exciting to see the City of Pittsburgh moving forward to protect our natural environment and the health and safety of City residents and workers.  We are very pleased with today’s vote and will work with Councilman Peduto and Pittsburgh City Council to pass legislation that incentivizes and promotes green building.”  
To read more from the Green Building Alliance about the passage of the amendment, visit the press release here.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette also praised this legislation in an editorial yesterday.  The editorial commends the amendment’s insistence on using the LEED certification standards for building, as opposed to a similar bill that recently received overwhelming support in the state House in Harrisburg.  The editorial also praises the long-term savings that such environmental standards create, by creating buildings that use less energy and natural resources.

Read the Post Gazette editorial here.

Tomorrow, City Council will vote to give final approval to legislation that would ultimately lead to the construction of more green buildings within the City of Pittsburgh.

The legislation, authored by Councilman Bill Peduto, would require that any developers who use city TIF (tax-increment financing) subsidies achieve at least a LEED silver rating for that building project.  If the subsidy is used by the developer, and LEED silver rating not sought for the building, that developer will be fined in the amount of 1% of the construction costs.  Any buildings constructed by the city would also be required to achieve this environmental standard, if they are larger than 5,000 square feet or cost more than $2 million dollars.

Prior to authoring this legislation, Councilman Peduto wrote the city’s first green building ordinance, and was the co-founder and co-chair of the city’s climate action plan.  He also authored the Hillside Preservation Act.  When it comes to creating innovative green policies, and fighting to protect our environment, no one can match Councilman Peduto’s record in city government.

View the legislation here.