Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020 - 24

" THIS MODEL REQUIRES NO EXTERNAL FUNDING
OR GRANTS; BUT IT DOES REQUIRE THE CITY TO
CAREFULLY EVALUATE THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS
THAT ADDITIONAL ROOM DENSITIES WOULD CREATE,
INCLUDING THE GENERATION OF ADDITIONAL,
BROAD-BASED BENEFITS TO THE WIDEST POSSIBLE
NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESS ENTITIES. "
- RICHARD HAYDEN
This additional floor allowed for the following:

* Additional revenue for support services
to this hotel property. The additional
hotel patrons will cause increased wear
and tear on the building as well as
* Approximately 25 additional rooms
require additional hotel supplies, furni* Additional costs for constructing the
ture, furnishings and similar resources
additional rooms
to service those additional rooms. This
* Additional costs for constructing the
supports local economic activity.
amenity deck and vegetated roofs
* Additional hotel room tax revenue for
These one-time costs had a significant
the City of Savannah. The city will colbenefit to the community in Savannah
lect a portion of the hotel room rate as
during the construction of the Hometax for the additional hotel rooms.
wood Suites hotel project by Hilton in the * Additional sales tax revenue to the
historic section of Savannah. These costs,
City of Savannah and State of Georgia.
borne by the developer were rolled into
These additional rooms will attract
the overall financing for the project.
more hotel patrons who will bring their
The additional floor with the additional
dollars to spend in both the hotel and in
hotel rooms that were created in this inthe City of Savannah.
creased FAR include the following benefits: * Additional employment opportunities
for the citizens of Savannah including:
o Housekeeping services
* Additional stormwater management
o Laundry services
capacity in the City of Savannah where
facilities are limited. The green roof
o Building maintenance services
helped hold and delay stormwater that
o Green roof maintenance services
falls on the project site from entering
*Additional income tax revenue for the
the storm sewer system.
State of Georgia.
* Additional room revenue for the develRather than being a one-time-only
oper to pay the additional construction
benefit to the developer for installing a
costs.
LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / WINTER 2020 / 24

green roof, this FAR bonus creates perpetual benefits not only for the developer,
but also for the City of Savannah, the
State of Georgia, its citizens and the businesses that directly support the hotel and
those businesses that indirectly benefit
from increased business that this hotel
generates.
This model requires no external
funding or grants; but it does require
the city to carefully evaluate the
potential impacts that additional room
densities would create, including the
generation of additional, broad-based
benefits to the widest possible number
of individuals and business entities.
These benefits continue to pump financial and employment resources into the
community year-after-year. It is a model
that should be considered and adopted
by more municipalities across the
United States and Canada to encourage
creative incentives for expanding the use
of green infrastructure.
Richard Hayden, RLA, ASLA, CLARB, A.M.
ASCE, GRP, Garden and Blue Roof Manager
at American Hydrotech may be reached at
rhayden@hydrotechusa.com
Photo courtesy EU

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Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor Winter 2020

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