Aventura placed a carrot in front of developers Oct. 6 when the City Commission adopted a voluntary green building program that extends expedited review process and potential increases in lot coverage and floor area ratio for Gold and Platinum LEED certified buildings.

The final language was tweaked to replace a proposed 25 percent cap on the incentive in favor of a flexible system that would allow the commission to decide on the level of ‘bonus’ on an individual project basis. A system of bonds to assure the final building meets the agreed upon LEED standard also was changed from a flat 1 percent to a more flexible 1 to 5 percent level.

Planning Director Joanne Carr explained that nothing in the incentive program would add building height or increase the number of units in a residential project. However, she explained, the incentives could result in increased density in commercial construction.

The changes were largely a staff response to concerns raised by Mayor Susan Gottlieb during first reading of the plan. But the tweaks weren’t enough to satisfy Commissioner Zev Auerbach, who was the lone dissenting vote. Auerbach argued the LEED standard is too weak and prone to gamesmanship. He favors the city augmenting the LEED standard to emphasize solar power as the basis for any incentives.

During the meeting, Auerbach aggressively questioned a LEED certification expert from The Spinnaker Group who explained that a10-14 percent increase in energy efficiency was a prerequisite for entering the LEED certification discussion. Auerbach, a vocal advocate for solar power, suggested that level of improvement wasn’t enough. “We’re beyond that,” he said.

But his fellow commissioners weren’t swayed. One by one they said the process needed to start somewhere and could be reviewed and adjusted later.

During the comment period, Commissioner Billy Joel announced that he had invited Dr. Martin Karp, the area’s member of the Miami-Dade School Board, to explain the district’s rationale for excluding Aventura students from the new Mourning High School in North Miami Beach. Joel said he had received several e-mails from residents raising the question. Karp will appear at the commission’s workshop session Oct. 15.