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Columbia Green Technologies opened its doors in Portland about 10 years ago because the city had a reputation for green building and the company’s founders wanted to take advantage. They saw Portland becoming a prime market for their product: vegetated roof systems.

But that didn’t happen, Columbia Green Technologies Chief Operating Officer Greg Love said. Portland is now a minor green roof market, he said, and production here has dropped off.

鈥淲e do most of our business outside of Portland,鈥� he said. 鈥淪eattle is a big market and now our biggest market is Washington, D.C.鈥�

In 2008, Portland initiated a temporary cash incentive program that triggered a dramatic increase in green roof production. But the $6.5 million program ended in 2012, and production has since decreased and prices have since increased. Now, as the city has shifted financial resources toward affordable housing initiatives, some green roof stakeholders are calling for new incentives.

Matt Burlin, outreach coordinator for sustainable stormwater management for Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, reported to the City Council in 2011 that the city’s cash incentive program for green roofs was a success. The city’s list of providers of eco-roofs (the simplest form of green roof), he said in the report, had grown by 30 percent since the program started.

But since 2011, eco-roof prices have risen, said Jon Crumrine, who started Enviroscapes Northwest in response to the city initiating its cash incentive program in 2008. The average cost of installing a green roof now ranges between $12 and $15 per square foot, said Crumrine, who later sold his business to Vaughn Environmental Systems (he was retained as a consultant).

鈥淚t certainly didn’t have any impact on (bringing) costs down, but it did help promote the technology in our area,鈥� he said.

Alice Coker, environmental specialist with Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, said the city commissioned a that looked into whether the cash incentive lowered prices of green roofs; it was inconclusive.

鈥淲e don’t know if it brought prices down,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here were too many variables involved.鈥�

Meanwhile, the Portland City Council has shifted its emphasis to affordable housing because the homeless population has increased in the past five years, said Ivy Dunlap, landscape architect with the Bureau of Environmental Services.

鈥淭hings are so different now, and a different administration has different challenges and there weren’t hundreds of people camped in the Springwater Corridor,鈥� she said.

As priorities change, so do allocations of dollars, according to Troy Doss, senior planner with the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

鈥淏ecause of direction from council, bonuses are shifted to affordable housing,鈥� he said.

That shift in focus has played a significant role in green roof production decreasing here, Love said. For the past five years he has joined Columbia Green Technologies CEO Vanessa Keitges at countless city meetings, he said, to push for more city support for green roofs. Markets like Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Toronto are ripe for green roofs, according to Love, because they offer incentives and rebates for installations.

鈥淎lthough some jurisdictions will still use incentives (for green roofs), it has become standard practice in a lot of Central City development, and a lot of projects are doing eco-roofs,鈥� Doss said. 鈥淎nd the majority of eco-roofs were not developed using bonuses.鈥�

In addition to the evaporation of the cash incentive program, the proposed draft of the 2035 Central City Plan includes mandates for eco-roofs in certain zones. New buildings with a net area of at least 20,000 square feet would be required to include an eco-roof that covers at least 70 percent of the roof area 鈥� with exceptions including HVAC systems and skylights.

That plan has Love’s approval, though he doubts it will become a reality.

鈥淲e’ll believe it when we see it,鈥� he said.

Also, the draft plan calls for eliminating a current bonus of floor area ratio (FAR) for providing green roofs.

Architect Shawn Sullivan, eco-roof consultant for Winkler Development, said eliminations of cash incentives and the FAR bonus will increase costs and make developments vulnerable to infeasability.

鈥淚t was really nice having the incentive, and I think carrots are always better than sticks,鈥� he said.

Sullivan said he fears the market for green roofs will soften because developers aren’t looking to spend more money.

鈥淚f the (incentive) program was here I think we’d be doing a heck of a lot more business,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith mandates, things are going to cost too much and then we can’t afford to build.鈥�

Wade Lange, regional vice president for American Assets Trust, said the absence of incentives for green roofs could slow development.

鈥淲hen it adds additional cost without any compensation, it just causes developers to pause and consider whether they want to go forward with the development,鈥� he said.

The city should bring back the cash bonuses or add other incentives for green roofs, according to Greenworks principal Mike Faha.

鈥淚 think they should continue or enhance that (cash bonus), given what’s going on around here, that we’re getting denser and denser,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e know they worked and the city would do better talking to developers about what kind of incentives meet their needs.鈥�

Increasing costs will drive up rents 鈥� the opposite of the goal to increase affordable housing, Sullivan said

鈥淟ike so many mandates that are good for our city and environment, they (green roofs) increase costs, which have to be reflected in increased rents,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e currently have an affordable housing crisis, and making construction cost more is not going to be part of the solution.鈥�

However, Amy Chomowicz, the city’s eco-roof program administrator, said there still are benefits to installing green roofs in Portland.

鈥淵ou can get a reduction on your stormwater bill if you put on (an eco-roof) through the Clean Water Rewards Program,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are various ways to manage stormwater on site and if you do an eco-roof over the entire building you don’t have to have ground-level stormwater treatment (for the roof).鈥�