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Lakewood council adopts benchmarking ordinance for large buildings; funding secured through regional grant
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Summary
The Lakewood City Council on Feb. 23 adopted O‑2026‑8, creating an annual energy benchmarking program for buildings 10,000 sq ft and larger. Staff said the program is the first phase toward long‑term building performance standards, funded through a $1.5 million DRCOG grant; the measure passed 11‑0.
Lakewood City Council voted unanimously on Feb. 23 to adopt Ordinance O‑2026‑8, a measure that requires owners of buildings 10,000 square feet or larger to annually benchmark and report energy use to the city.
City sustainability staff, represented at the meeting by Jeff Wong of the sustainability division, described benchmarking as a data‑collection step intended to inform future policy. "Benchmarking is an annual tracking and reporting of energy use at the individual building level," Wong said during his presentation, framing the requirement as a non‑retrofit, transparency‑focused first phase that could lead to a future performance standard if council so decides.
Wong told council the city has roughly 830 buildings that meet the 10,000‑square‑foot threshold and that those structures account for about 47% of the city’s building emissions. Staff projected that the benchmarking subset alone could yield roughly $4,500,000 in annual utility bill savings communitywide and an estimated 2% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from the 2018 baseline.
Funding and compliance were central issues in the council discussion. A previously announced U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant for the project is on hold; staff said the city secured a separate $1,500,000 award from DRCOG (Denver Regional Council of Governments) to fund the benchmarking program through September 2029 without a city match and to pay for two full‑time staff positions to administer the program.
Under the ordinance, property owners would set up an account in EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager, connect utility accounts for automated data transfer, and submit annual data to the city. Staff emphasized that the benchmarking phase does not require building upgrades: "No building improvements are required as part of this benchmarking phase," Wong said.
The ordinance includes exemptions and waiver procedures and a staged enforcement approach intended to ease compliance. For the first year (2025 data), owners who miss the deadline will have a 90‑day corrective window; for 2026 data and future years the corrective window is 30 days. A civil penalty of $2,000 per violation is included as a last resort; staff said third‑party benchmarking services surveyed range from about $295 to $850 per building, meaning many owners could outsource compliance for less than the penalty amount.
Public testimony reflected divergent views. Ladawn Sperling, a Ward 4 resident, opposed the ordinance, arguing it could impose new costs on multifamily owners and HOAs already facing high assessments and insurance rates. Property owners and managers — including Chris Alcorn and Max Delabriere — told council that smaller commercial tenants could shoulder higher costs if owners pass along improvement expenses and urged caution about a future "phase 2" that would set mandatory performance targets.
Council members said they were persuaded that collecting building‑level energy data is a necessary first step. Several members emphasized that any future performance‑standard phase would require separate council action and public engagement. The staff timeline calls for compiling the covered‑buildings list, setting up software, and beginning reporting so owners may submit 2025 data by the end of the year; staff said a June 1 reporting deadline would be adopted in subsequent years to align with other jurisdictions.
The ordinance passed 11‑0. Staff will return with implementation details, a covered‑buildings list and community outreach plans as the program is launched.
