Preliminary design for Fire Station No. 2 approved

The Windsor Town Council approved the preliminary designs for
the Windsor Fire Protection District’s second station last week,
just days before a fire damaged a home near the future home of Fire
Station No. 2.
Under a September 2006 agreement between the Town and Fire
District, the Town is responsible for approving the plans for the
station, organizing bids and awarding a contract for construction.
The planning commission approved the preliminary design on Nov. 27
and the Town Council unanimously supported the design at their Dec.
5 meeting.
The plan presented to the Council by architect Mary McGrath
calls for a building designed around the operational needs of the
firefighters while meeting Town standards for design and
environmentally friendly construction and is estimated to cost just
over $7 million.
The new station will be built on a vacant lot located adjacent
to the Town’s Corporation yard and across the street from Windsor
High School. The building will be the primary point of response for
residents on the west side of Highway 101 and areas including Old
Downtown Windsor.
McGrath said Station No. 2 will be a single company, two bay
station of approximately 7,694 square feet and will include an
additional 1,500 square foot storage building. The design
incorporates several environmentally conscious features including
the use of reclaimed water for irrigation, planting drought
tolerant plants, use of environmentally friendly construction
materials where appropriate, and energy efficient features such as
use of natural light for illumination in 90 percent of interior
spaces and ventilating with fans to control internal
temperatures.
The Town will be submitting Station No. 2 for review to the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program for
verification of its green building elements. LEED certification is
based on a point system and staff are aiming for a Sliver standard
with a minimum of 32 points. Current design plans could achieve the
gold standard minimum of 40 points but McGrath cautioned against
expecting the higher standard as points are often lost during the
construction process.
After an extensive review, the design team settled on a
combination of modern materials with classic design to provide cost
effective building with a sense of tradition. The use of sloping
roof, brick walls and traditional horse-drawn style doors were
considered major contributors to the building’s sense of
character.
The Town Council voiced unanimous support for the design and
complemented the design team for their work but Councilmember Steve
Allen questioned the value of LEED certification
“This is beautiful, a really nice addition to the town,” he
said. “I can’t support (LEED certification). I’m really having a
struggle with this … to get what feels like to me to get a piece of
paper to hang on your wall.”
Allen said money would be better spent on upgrading the
facilities even further.
“To me the bottom line is to make it work better.
(Certification) to me feels too much like patting ourselves on the
back. Maybe I’m missing something but I’d much rather spend that
money on actual improvements to the projects.”
According to Town staff, the total cost of achieving the
environmental standards set by the Town is approximately $200,000.
David Kelley, a Senior Management Analyst with the Town, said
approximately half the cost is for materials while the remainder
covers administrative costs associated with planning a green
building.
Approximately a third of the $100,000 spent on administration
will pay for a specialized engineer to evaluate the project upon
completion and verify the energy saving features. Consultants will
also train WFPD staff on how to best operate their new building to
maximize savings.
Kelley said following through on the LEED process may cost more
now, but would help reduce the cost of operating the building in
the future. “The reason for supporting LEED was the goal of
reducing long term financial costs,” he said.
Newly elected Mayor Debora Fudge said it was important to
achieve the LEED standard as a means of educating the public about
green building. “The big picture is we’re reducing the carbon
footprint. This is the only building I can see us building in the
forseeable future,” she said. “This is the only thing that will be
setting an example for the community.
Windsor’s Fire Chief Ron Collier said the next step will be
drafting construction documents to put out to bid. He said the
construction documents must be exact in order to get an accurate
bid from contractors. “What we do now as the team is sit down and
decide where this light switch is and this door swings this way,”
he said. “This is a very involved process, there is drawing after
drawing.”
Chief Collier credited the design team and David Kelly for
creating a building that takes into account the unique demands of a
working fire station. “These things don’t come together by
themselves. It really takes a lot of work and effort,” he said.
“The station absolutely will work for us, its very functional.
Because we have to live in it and work out of it, certain things
that have to happen.”