The City of Decatur Unified Development Ordinance, approved in 2014, included new High Performance Building Standards. These standards require all new residential and commercial buildings to be certified under an existing green building program. Large scale commercial renovations and residential substantial improvements are also included in these standards.
Substantial improvement is defined in section 12 of the UDO as:
Substantial improvement (zoning). For the purposes of zoning, substantial improvement means any combination of repairs, reconstruction, alteration or improvements to a building where the cost of the construction exceeds 50 percent of the fair market value of the structure prior to the improvement. Determination of fair market value is based on the applicant's submittal of either the existing records of the DeKalb County tax assessor or a current appraisal of the structure's value. The cost of the proposed construction shall be determined by the applicant using detailed, complete (turnkey) contracts from a qualified state licensed contractor or by using published standardized construction value data published by the International Code Council (ICC). Values for the purpose of this definition are exclusive of land values.
Options For Certification Include:
- Silver Level National Green Building Standard-ICC 700-2012;
- Any Level LEED for Homes;
- Any Level Certification EarthCraft House, EarthCraft Renovation, or EarthCraft Sustainable Preservation; Any Level of Certification
- Green Globes- 3 Globes Certification Level
To view the ordinance, click the following link: 10.1.6. High Performance Building Standards
To view permitting forms, please visit the Applications, Forms, and Fees page
Additional Resources
Presentations:
Residential High Performance Building Standards
Commercial High Performance Building Standards