Redmond unveils pilot clean-buildings incentive to help nonprofits meet state standards
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Summary
City staff outlined a new clean buildings incentive program that will provide technical assistance capped at $10,000 per building, prioritize nonprofits and affordable housing, and launch regionally with Issaquah and Bellevue; $80,000 in city funding will support the first-year pilot.
Redmond staff on March 24 presented a pilot clean buildings incentive program designed to help local building owners comply with Washington’s Clean Buildings Performance Standard Law.
Micah Bonkowski, sustainability program administrator, told the council the program will prioritize technical assistance to nonprofits and affordable-housing properties, provide education and training for building owners, and partner with Issaquah and Bellevue to share a single technical assistance contractor. "The technical assistance part of the program will be launching in the coming weeks," Bonkowski said, noting the contractor McKinstry is in the final signature process with Bellevue and that the city will post intake forms on its website once launch is official.
The program responds to the city’s greenhouse gas modeling, which showed the building sector offers the largest emissions-reduction opportunity. Under Washington’s law, buildings must complete energy benchmarking, an Energy Management Plan and operations-and-maintenance programs; firms above size thresholds face staggered deadlines for submission and, in some cases, energy use intensity targets.
Bonkowski summarized the tiered deadlines the memo outlines: the earliest compliance group includes the largest buildings; buildings between 90,000 and 220,000 square feet have a June 2027 deadline; those between 50,000 and 90,000 square feet have a June 2028 deadline; and certain tier 2 commercial and multifamily properties must report by July 1, 2027. He added that only tier 1 buildings are subject to energy use intensity targets and that noncompliance can lead to fines.
On funding, Bonkowski said Redmond allocated $80,000 for the pilot and capped city-funded technical assistance at $10,000 per building. "Depending on the complexity, we can move roughly a handful of buildings through compliance in year one," he said, estimating that the budget would fully support on the order of single-digit to low‑double‑digit buildings.
Council members asked about scale and selection. Council Vice President Nuwa Kamina expressed concern that initial assistance would reach only a small portion of the roughly 500 buildings that fall under the law; Bonkowski said the pilot focuses on priority buildings that lack in‑house capacity and that the city intends to expand services in future budget cycles. He also said buildings sign a contract with the consultant and cities reimburse the contractor as benchmarks are hit; if a recipient drops out, assistance stops.
Bonkowski agreed to provide reported results from Bellevue and Issaquah so the council can better anticipate program impact; he said Bellevue’s program began with benchmarking and had larger funding, while Issaquah has successfully brought school districts into technical assistance.
The presentation was informational; staff did not request council action during the meeting. Next steps include finalizing the contractor signature with Bellevue, posting program intake materials on the city website, and notifying building owners through the city communications channels.
