Looming Deadlines for PlaNYC 2030 Compliance

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn reported that 29 recommendations aimed at making New York City's buildings more sustainable have been drafted into law, with an additional eight already in the works. Started five years ago, the plaNYC 2030 initiative touted Bloomberg's "Greener, Greater Buildings Plan" as one of the most comprehensive sets of efficiency laws in the nation. 

Some of the laws were aimed at reducing artificial lighting, using water fountains instead of energy-consuming vending machines, improving energy and water efficiency and reducing the city's carbon footprint, as well as streamlining processes to make it easier to complete green design and building improvement projects. 

Several laws were signed in 2009, including Local Laws 84 and 87, regulating the energy and water efficiency of buildings in New York City. Affecting more than 20,000 publicly and privately-owned buildings in the city, some of the deadlines for compliance with these two laws have either already past, or are rapidly approaching. 

According to James J. Periconi, Esq., founder of Periconi LLC - a law firm specializing in commercial property transactions, litigation and regulatory matters: building managers, owners and their attorneys need to pay attention to these deadlines. He estimates that nowhere near the 20,000 affected city buildings have met these first or fast-approaching requirements, which could lead to litigation and enforcement actions from the city. 

Specifically, the "benchmark" requirement of Local Law 84, intended to assess the current state of relevant buildings covered under these laws, giving a starting point against which to measure improvements. For covered buildings, that is (with exception) privately-owned properties more than 50,000 square feet, the benchmarking deadline was May 1, 2011. What's more, these benchmarking reports are an annual requirement; meaning new reports are due by May of each year. 

While the deadline for Local Law 84 has passed, the deadline for Local Law 87 has not. Yet. The law requires those same covered buildings to perform an efficiency audit every 10 years, and based on those audits, possibly face retrofitting (the replacement of non-compliant systems) or retro-commissioning (fine-tuning of non-compliant systems), generally within one year of the energy audit. The first set of energy audits will be due in 2013 for those buildings with a tax block number ending in 3. For buildings whose tax block number ends in four, energy audits are due in 2014, and so on. 

According to NYC environmental attorney James Periconi, building managers and owners who are unfamiliar with environmental reporting requirements may be surprised to learn there are penalties for non-compliance. Potential enforcement actions may land owners in court, with all the troubles that come with such litigation. Periconi has experience in handling compliance issues, and interested parties can reach him atjpericoni@periconi.com. 

He adds, "It is imperative that building owners make every effort to avoid non-compliance with the Greener, Greater Building Plan before it’s too late, which is when the City finds out about it." 

by Justin Sumner