Palm Beach Gardens, FL Building Safety: Green Building Code (2026)

The transit oriented development (TOD) overlay covers projects within a half mile of the planned regional train station generally on the west side of the Florida East Coast railroad near Alternate A1A and Lake Victoria Gardens Avenue. Base residential and mixed-use density inside the district is 15 dwelling units per gross acre, and section 78-222(f)(3)b allows the city council to stack several bonuses on top of that base. The environmentally friendly design bonus rewards projects that earn LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, or an equivalent certification, or that otherwise provide environmentally friendly design elements, with up to two additional dwelling units per acre.

To claim it, the applicant files an affidavit detailing the proposed green components with the development application and must reach a LEED certification level of silver or better, or an equivalent green building rating, backed by a checklist submitted for staff review. Elements already required to satisfy other code standards, such as mobility quality-of-service requirements, cannot be double-counted toward the bonus unless the section specifically lists them. The LEED bonus can be layered with the district's other density bonuses: up to six units per acre for affordable or workforce housing restricted for 30 years, two units per acre for public art equal to two percent of vertical construction costs, and two units per acre for active ground-floor uses.

Building height in the TOD district is capped at 135 feet, rising to 180 feet with city council approval and an additional 15 percent of open space.