Islip, NY Building Safety: Green Building Code (2026)

3, added in 2013, creates two density-bonus tracks tied to green building performance rather than a mandatory construction standard. Subsection A(1) rewards renewable energy: apartment houses, garden apartments and attached single-family developments that generate at least 30% of total site energy needs from solar, wind, geothermal or another Town-Board-approved renewable source, measured with Comcheck or another New York State Energy Code-sanctioned model, earn up to one additional unit per acre; 50% earns up to two additional units; 70% earns up to three. Subsection A(2) rewards third-party green certification instead: a development certified to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification level or National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Bronze earns up to one bonus unit per acre; LEED Silver or NGBS Silver earns up to two; LEED Gold or NGBS Gold earns up to three.

Either bonus track requires Town Board approval after a public hearing, and the code is explicit that bonus units cannot be constructed until the Commissioner of Planning and Development has verified proof of certification, the incentive is not self-executing. Because this is a density bonus inside one residential zoning district rather than a construction code, it sits alongside, and does not replace, the mandatory New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code and State Energy Conservation Construction Code that already govern how every Islip building, green-certified or not, must be built.