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

Under Sec. 94-133(d) of the Zoning and Land Development Regulations, the Okeechobee Business District office incentive lets qualifying class A office projects (minimum 200,000 square feet of net class A office space, designated OBD-5-25 on Figure IV-35) build to additional height. S. Green Building Council (or the equivalent certifying body) and pay for a LEED-accredited professional retained by the city as the Green Development Review Agent (GDRA), funded through a developer-established escrow account sized by the city finance director. The GDRA reviews the certification plan, verifies credits are integrated into demolition and construction, reviews every building permit submittal for compliance, inspects the project through construction, and reports monthly to the director of development services.

The certificate of occupancy cannot be issued until the GDRA verifies conformance with the certification plan. The developer then has six months after the certificate of occupancy to formally pursue LEED (or equivalent) certification and must file written status updates every six months for up to two years. If certification still is not achieved after two years but the GDRA confirms the project was built to the certification plan, the incentive requirement is deemed met; all application costs are borne by the developer. This is a project-level condition tied to the OBD incentive, not a citywide green building code applicable to all construction.