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Fort Myers advisory board hears Florida Green Building Coalition presentation; asks staff to explore implementation
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Summary
A Florida Green Building Coalition presenter outlined FGBC’s flexible, Florida-specific green-building certification, citing roughly 46,000 state projects and disaster-mitigation credits; the board asked staff to invite the building official and local builders to assess implementation and incentives before recommending a path forward.
The Fort Myers Environmental Advisory Board on March 2 heard a presentation from a representative of the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) on the group’s Florida-specific green-building certification program and asked staff to return with implementation options.
The presenter from the Florida Green Building Coalition described FGBC as a state-focused, nonprofit certification body that awards third-party-verified green-building certifications and maintains a public standards library and checklist. “To date, we’ve certified over 46,000 projects statewide,” the presenter said, and added the program includes energy (about 29% of total credits), water (20%) and health (15%) categories and a disaster-mitigation section that awards credits for flood and storm resiliency measures.
The presenter said FGBC’s home certification fees are modest — “about $100 to $150” for single-family homes — while commercial and local-government certifications are larger and scale with square footage or population. The presenter also described a flexible, points-based system (four certification levels from bronze to platinum) and an innovation category for site-specific approaches such as bird‑friendly design that verifiers may approve as bonus credits.
Board members asked technical and implementation questions. Board member Jerry Reeves asked whether FGBC awards innovation points for wildlife-friendly design; the presenter replied that the innovation category is “kind of an open category” and that verifiers review and approve submitted innovations on a case-by-case basis.
Members debated whether the city should pursue FGBC certification for municipal structures, require certification for new development, or use FGBC checklists as voluntary roadmaps. Several members said they wanted input from the building department and from local builders on how certification is verified and whether expedited permitting or permit‑fee rebates could be used as incentives. City staff agreed to invite the building official and a local builder to a future meeting to discuss practical implementation, enforcement and timelines.
No formal policy or vote was taken. The board’s working direction was to gather staff analysis and industry perspectives before making a formal recommendation to the council or proposing code changes.
Background: A representative said FGBC’s local-government certification lasts five years and that some post‑disaster federal funds (for example, in Lee County after Hurricane Ian) have been tied to certified recovery work. The presenter noted FGBC is one of several certification options commonly accepted by Florida municipalities (others include USGBC and NGBS).
