What are the laws in NYC for greenroofs? Examples of other US cities?

October 16, 2019 7:41 AM

Does NYC have any mandatory laws? Are there other US cities that have laws/requirements for greeroofs on new constructed buildings?
posted by ebesan to Law & Government (5 answers total)

We do in fact have a brand new law passed in April. The NYC buildings page has the current rules and details.

More details about the 10 laws that make up the climate mobilization act found here.
posted by larthegreat at 8:02 AM on October 16, 2019

Philly has the Green Cities Clean Waters program -- I don't think anything is mandatory, but instead it gives participants ongoing credit against their water/sewer bill. I would say the majority of new construction takes advantage of it in some way, and plenty of existing properties have converted impervious surfaces to greenspace as a consequence. It also ties into homeowner participation - for example, they have a free rain barrel program for homeowners to divert stormwater and reduce fresh water consumption for gardening/landscape purposes.
posted by DoubleLune at 8:36 AM on October 16, 2019

San Francisco was the first to have a requirement for living or solar roofs on new construction.
posted by pinochiette at 9:23 AM on October 16, 2019

In Philly the same Rain Check program mentioned by DoubleLune allowed us to receive a $2000 credit toward ripping out impervious brick in our small city backyard and replacing it with professionally installed permeable brick above a gravel bed set on permeable fabric. The goal is to slow water run-off into the sewer system, and I am thrilled that we have no more puddles after heavy rain. This is one option among several that the Philadelphia Water Department offers, which is managed and run by the wonderful Philadelphia Horticultural Society. It might be worth giving the Rain Check coordinator there a call to see if she knows of greenroof resources in NYC that could be helpful to you. There is a designated person who is integrated with both the water department and the Horticultural Society, and she has a real wealth of knowledge on this subject.

We are in a row house, so a green roof is probably not practical, but we did install solar panels which reduce our electricity bill in our south-facing house (and make us feel a bit better about our consumption).
posted by citygirl at 9:33 AM on October 16, 2019

In 2018, Portland, Oregon began requiring ecoroofs on all new downtown construction greater than 20,000 ft², as part of the Central City 2035 plan. The Portland Ecoroofs section at the Bureau of Environmental Services may speak to your question.
posted by mumkin at 12:16 PM on October 16, 2019