The City of Aventura moved a step closer Sept. 1 to adopting a program that would provide incentives for developers who build LEED-certified buildings in the City of Excellence.

But agreement didn’t come easily on first reading of a system of administrative variances and increased floor area ratios.

Zev Auerbach

While Commissioner Zev Auerbach and Mayor Susan Gottlieb agreed the city is trying to do the right thing, they engaged in a spirited albeit respectful disagreement over whether the city’s plan goes far enough.

For Auerbach, a vocal advocate for solar energy, the federal LEEDS program is inherently flawed and a city plan based on the LEED system of awarding points for everything from bike racks to telecommute policies is missing the point.

In the grant scheme of LEED certification, solar panel are worth just seven points, a number more easily achieved by adding a range of little things that would have much less effect on the building’s carbon footprint, Auerbach argued.

He said the city should add a layer to the LEEDS system that rewards builders for adopting solar energy. He challenged his colleagues to go back to the drawing board in pursuit of a ‘great’ answer rather than settle for ‘good enough.’

Gottlieb countered that LEED – Leadership in Energy Engineering and Design – is the national standard and it would be “counterproductive” for the city to pass on embracing steps that move toward more environmentally friendly buildings. “This is a beginning,” she said, pointing out that adopting the plan would place Aventura in the forefront of Florida cities. She suggested Auerbach work within the system to enhance the city program in later years.

But Auerbach wasn’t budging. He called LEED a “complacent program” that is “laced with loopholes” and just “not good enough.” Though at times eloquent, his message didn’t move his colleagues.

Commissioner Bob Diamond expressed support for Auerbach’s solar energy objectives but urged taking “one step at a time.” Commissioner Billy Joel said the city “needed to start someplace.”

In the end, Auerbach was on the short end of a 6-1 vote. “I don’t fault the commission” for moving ahead, he said, but “good enough isn’t good enough anymore.”

As passed on first reading, the plan calls for the city to expedite permitting, handle some variances administratively, include LEED projects in city green programs and allow a green plaque on both construction signage and on the building itself.

At the rarer gold and platinum levels of LEED certification, builders would be entitled to bonuses in floor area ratio and lot coverage percentages but not in height.

Gottlieb expressed concern about allowing extra space – in effect extra density – for going green. While she voted for the measure, she said she’d be doing some further research before the matter came back for a second reading.