21-0309 Exceeding Maximum Occupancy Type

QUESTION

Committed to establishing an efficient, equitable and sustainable mobility system, designed to inspire human connections and a symbiosis with Reserva Santa Fe’s natural environment. As presented within Reserva Santa Fe’s Mobility Plan we will create a walkable and pedestrian oriented community with links to surrounding towns through an efficient public transport system.

Public bike storage will be distributed throughout the community, as well as a bike sharing system and a bicycle network. Vehicle charging stations and car sharing programs will integrate into our mobility plan aiming to reduce carbon emissions through sustainable and responsible uptake of community oriented strategies.

Reserva Santa Fe will house 500 families for a total of 2500 residents, a community center composed of places to shop, to congregate, work and learn, parks, plazas and sporting facilities, all of which will guarantee an equitable distribution between spaces for active and passive recreation.

According to our user based calculations determined by Ashrae 62.1 we have calculated 4400 total users. Out of these 4400 users, 2500 are residents, 560 are employees within community owned buildings and 1070 are employees that range from gardening, security, cleaning, etc. with the remaining being community visitors.

Reserva Santa Fe being a predominantly residential project on the outskirts of Mexico City surpasses by area the maximum allowed percentage per single occupancy type within the catchment area. As per L3, a maximum of 70% may be attributed to a single occupancy type. Based on our calculations we are above 90% for residential development with the rest of the area distributed between other occupancy types.

However, we believe the community still presents livelihood as the influx of non-residing users is almost equal to the amount of residents, creating a vast amount of working positions. At a project scale, our aim is to bring people together in a manifold of community settings, interior and exterior. Users have the possibility to either access different occupancy types within the project boundaries or use the public transport to connect to nearby shops within the 1km catchment area or nearby towns within 2km of the project boundary.

(Supplementary documents also provided)

ANSWER

The Institute is creating new exception LCC I04 E1 03/2021: Exceeding Maximum Occupancy Type Per Transect to acknowledge that building occupancy types may not always reflect the diversity of services or uses being provided within the community and to provide flexibility in strategies for demonstrating compliance with Imperative intent.

New Exception: LCC I04 E1 03/2021 Exceeding Maximum Occupancy Type Per Transect
An Exception to this Imperative’s maximum percentage of any single occupancy type within the catchment area, as determined by the project’s Transect, may be granted on a case-by-case basis, for communities that demonstrate through community occupant activity, rather than through occupancy type, that their design meets the Imperative intent of fostering human-powered mobility, walkable pedestrian-oriented communities, and public transit linkages to surrounding neighborhoods. The intent of this Exception is

All other Imperative requirements must still be met.

To use this Exception, project teams must submit a request to lcc.support@living-future.org for pre-approval. The Exception request must explain why the community cannot meet the maximum occupancy type percentage threshold, specify how the alternate metric will meet Imperative intent and requirements, and identify proposed activity categories and the strategy for collecting substantiating data. The request must be submitted at or before the Master Plan review stage.

Documentation Requirements:

At Master Plan submittal:

The information required in the request to use the exception, or if already approved, the alternative path and compliance strategy explained within the Master Plan narrative and use of the exception referenced.
Calculations consistent with design assumptions showing the anticipated maximum percentage of a single activity (for example, resident, worker, visitor) will notexceed the maximum percentage permitted for a single occupancy type within the Transect.

At Certification:
Calculations and supporting data demonstrating that Imperative requirements were met during the project’s performance period through occupant activities, with the maximum percentage of a single activity not exceeding the maximum percentage permitted for a single occupancy type. The calculations may be based on any of the following types of performance data:

A 12-month log of the number of people entering the community, their role within the community (for example, resident, worker, visitor), and their mode of transportation to / from and within the community. or
10 consecutive days of data, collected at three separate times within the performance period (for a total of 30 days of data), with a minimum of 3 months between each sample period, showing the number of people entering the community, their role within the community (for example, resident, worker, visitor), and their mode of transportation to / from and within the community. The project team must also submit a brief statement confirming the sample periods represent typical occupant flow and do not include large scale special events or other atypical occupancy patterns, or
Alternate measurement approved with request to use exception for demonstrating compliance during the 12-month performance period.