City of Costa Mesa - Fee Waiver for Green Building

In September 2007, the City of Costa Mesa began waiving building permit fees for green installations. The City Council recognized that waiving these fees could act as an incentive to encourage the community to build green and reduce its carbon footprint. Resolution 07-71 waived permit fees for green installations, and provides a rebate for the cost of green building certification, not to exceed the cost of the building permit. On September 16, 2008, City Council again voted for a Green Building Program effective September 17, 2008 through June 30, 2009 Green installations include home and business construction improvements requiring building permits for installing class A roof assembly, residential cool roofs, garden roofs, insulation above minimum energy code standards, renewable energy systems, biomass, wind turbine, geothermal heat pumps, cogeneration fuel cells, photovoltaics, skylights, tankless domestic water heaters, waterless urinals, grey water system, high performance windows and doors, high efficiency HVAC systems, and other green installations or innovations as approved by the Building Official. Green certifications which are eligible for the incentive include LEED certification by the US Green Building Council, green certification by Build It Green, or green certification by CA Green Builder.