Pretty soon, new parking garages of the future might all have charging stations for electric cars. If you bike to work, you might find it easier to find a place to shower. They're among a bunch of green code changes Seattle is considering. And even a quick glance shows they could impact a lot of things around here from bathrooms, to car washes, and parking garages. Here's a few of the more interesting ones.
· Swimming pools would have to have splash troughs. The idea is to recirculate pool splash water back into the pool water system rather than discharging to the sewer system.
· Bathroom faucets in non-residential buildings would have to be self-closing. "The intent of this provision is to reduce unnecessary water consumption during the hand washing process," the proposal says.
· Automated car washes would have to make sure at least half of the water used in the rinsing phase is collected to be reused for the washing phase.
· Large demolition and construction sites will have to have a plan to recycle or reuse about half the materials so that that they don't go to landfills;
· New homes and apartments with enclosed parking will have to include an electric charging station. According to the proposal, "the purpose of this section is to encourage the transition to electric vehicle use by providing electric vehicle infrastructure in order to increase the cost effectiveness of future electric vehicle charging station installations"
· Apartments and office buildings will have to include long- and short-term parking spaces for bicycles. And large buildings required to have lots of bicycle parking will have to have places to shower and change.
To see the whole list and make comments to the city, go here.
—Kery Murakami