CREJ - Property Management Quarterly - January 2017
Right before we went to press, the Denver City Council passed two amendments that will have implications for property managers and building owners within the city and county limits. The first was an amendment to the municipal code to add a requirement for commercial and multifamily buildings over 25,000 square feet to track and publicly report their energy performance. As part of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s goals to reduce energy consumption in large commercial and multifamily properties by 10 percent in 2020, this new benchmarking requirement was originally part of the recommendations put forth by the Energize Denver Task Force. It was recommended that buildings benchmark their energy use on an annual basis using the free Energy Star portfolio management tool, and then every building’s score would be shared with the city and made publicly available. These recommendations passed 11-0 at the Dec. 19 council meeting. The second part of the task force recommendations, which received pushback from the real estate community, recommended that any building that did not receive an Energy Star score of 75 or higher would be required to pursue one of three pathways laid out by the task force to improve the building’s energy efficiency. This part was not included in the amendment put forth and voted on by City Council so, as of now, it isn’t required. We’ll see if they put forth something along these lines later in 2017. There are 3,091 commercial and multifamily buildings that are 25,000 sf or larger in the city and county of Denver – all of which will be required to adhere to the benchmarking and reporting rules. Single buildings over 50,000 sf are required to begin reporting in 2017. Buildings 25,000 sf or larger will be required to start reporting in 2018. The second amendment passed, a building code amendment, will affect the signage for single-stall bathrooms. Updating an ordinance that required multiple single-stall bathrooms to be marked specifically for female only and male only, when more than one bathroom was available, now must all be marked as gender neutral. This change will not affect larger public restrooms – if a restroom has more than one stall, it will stay gender specific. The change is being billed as a simple fix. Signs must be updated by May 1, 2018, but no specific look is required as long as it is obvious that it’s for a restroom and that it is gender neutral. The update will allow transgender individuals to choose a bathroom they identify with, as well as offer more convenience for families, caretakers and, in general, anyone seeking a restroom. Michelle Z. Askeland maskeland@crej.com 303-623-1148, Ext. 104