Better Buildings Incentives Program
General information
Do you have a Major Siting Project or planning a big development project?
Choose to use best management practices (BMPs) into your design plans. Get awarded a discount on your DCRM permit!
To promote sustainable development in the CNMI, DCRM is incentivizing the use of best management practices (BMPs) in major siting developments. These BMPs are GOOD for you and your structure. They intend to improve your development project’s resilience to climate change impacts, especially flooding, and energy efficiency. They also help minimize new developments’ environmental footprint on seagrasses, corals, and wetlands. See the “Quick Table of DCRM’s ‘Better Building’ Incentives” below!
Why “better buildings”?
Development in the CNMI, like elsewhere, adds pressure on the natural environment. We can build differently and better to incorporate our natural environment. Natural components can benefits us! In addition, we need to better prepare for climate change impacts such as:
- Increased heavy rainfall events that increase runoff and erosion OR seasonal drought (dependent on ENSO)
- Stronger storms
- Rising sea levels
- Hotter temperatures
Coastal hazards (such as flooding, typhoon winds, etc) have damaged building structures and continue to pose higher risks under climate change. These smart BMPs intend to address these on-going problems so that the development would be built to last under these conditions.
DCRM is providing incentives to encourage developers to consider these sustainable, low-impact development practices before and during the siting phase because they are:
LEARN MORE and HOW TO APPLY
quick table of DCRM’s “Better Building” incentives:
Instructions for easy reading: Each row is a different incentive and the columns provide additional information.
- Best Practice Category is the practice type.
- Tier reduction is the level (from low to high) of the incentive. The higher the incentive, the higher the discount price.
- Fee reduction is the percentage (%) of your permit cost that will be deducted. Ex.: A major siting project gets approval for using the incentive of “Stormwater Management, Tier 2: Project implements and maintains 50% or more of pervious surface area or green infrastructure elements.” They earned a 10% fee reduction. Their initial cost of the permit was $2,000 but they will only get charged $1,800.
View Table
read our guidebook
Better Buildings Practices in the CNMI: Addressing Coastal Hazards Through Responsible Development and Resiliency provides guidance for how developers can incorporate “Better Buildings” practices into their project design and avail the incentive. The Executive Summary section of the guidebook, page ii – x, is available in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.
Physical copies are free and available at the DCRM Permitting Office.