Explanation
BACKGROUND:
This legislation authorizes the establishment of the Green Columbus Fund Program. The Green Columbus Fund Program will provide grants for projects that promote sustainable economic development by reimbursing environmental assessment costs and a portion of land acquisition costs to facilitate safe redevelopment of brownfield sites, and for the provision of grants that promote sustainable economic development by reimbursing LEED Certification costs and providing incentives for qualifying green buildings.
The Green Columbus Fund represents the City's commitment to promote economic development and job creation, with emphasis on but not limited to inner city developed areas. In addition the Green Columbus Fund represents the City's commitment to become greener and more sustainable. Emergency action is necessary to allow the program to begin promptly.
For these reasons the City included in its July 2010 Bond Sale Ordinance an appropriation of $1,000,000 for what is referred to therein as the Green Columbus Initiatives Fund with this bond purpose clause language: "providing funding for the Green Columbus Fund, which fund will be used to further the Get Green Columbus initiative by, among other things, (1) making grants (a) for the purchase of contaminated property within Columbus' CDBG Service Area or 1950 boundaries, and (b) to finance the costs of completed Phase 1 Environmental Assessments and Phase 2 Environmental Assessments to determine clean-up costs; and (2) facilitating LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification of "green" buildings within the City of Columbus by, among other things, providing funds for (x) full or partial reimbursement of the LEED Certification fee charged by the U.S. Green Building Council, and (y) further reimbursement of the LEED Certification fee based on the number of LEED credits and the location of the building within the City of Columbus."
FISCAL IMPACT:
No funding is required for th...
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