Construction manager Paul Buckley points down a main corridor of the new police station building.
CJ Dablo
Staff Writer
While a new police station will soon feature updated technology to protect and serve the people of Signal Hill, the City is also making efforts to make the building “green.”
Deputy City Manager Charlie Honeycutt said that the City Council has always made the environment a priority.
“So, basically any time we’re building anything now,” Honeycutt said in an interview Monday, “the City Council wants us to make sure we’re keeping the environment in mind.”
The building that takes up a block starting at the corner of 27th Street and Walnut Avenue is currently scheduled to open later this summer, according to the deputy city manager.
There are a number of elements that the people behind the construction plans had to consider in order to be more eco-friendly and safe for the building’s occupants. One major concern dealt with the challenges associated with construction on land deeply affected by the oil industry. The city is peppered with active, inactive and abandoned oil wells. The deputy city manager explained that the police station’s methane collection system takes that gas that develops underground and vents it out safely through the atmosphere.
The City aims to get a stamp of approval for its green efforts. Honeycutt said that the City is hoping to achieve LEED certification at the silver level. The certification is verified through an independent third-party organization and is a high standard of design for energy efficiency and environmentally friendly sustainable practices.
There will be some clear attempts to save on energy and water costs. Solar panels will soon be installed on top of two reddish-brown structures that provide shade for the department’s patrol cars and the mobile command center. The City will grow drought-tolerant plants in the landscape.
But Honeycutt also described other subtle ways that the design will be more Earth-friendly. He explained how runoff water will be treated by bioswales. Water that drains from the site will either seep into the ground or pass through a grassy swale that will clean the water before it discharges into the storm drain system, according to Honeycutt.
Even before members of the police force set foot in the building, the people behind the plans are also paying attention to the materials that will go into the structure and the materials that they’re discarding.“Almost everywhere you look in this building, you’re going to see some element that is energy efficient or is helping the environment in some way,” construction manager Paul Buckley said in an interview on Monday following a tour of the construction site.
Some of the topsoil, grass, asphalt and concrete has been recycled and are likely being used in construction sites elsewhere, according to Buckley. And, the construction manager added, they’ve separated all of the packing material and the construction lumber used for concrete forms so that some of the material can be recycled, reducing the amount that gets sent to a landfill.
The project began in November of 2010, and it’s taken almost a year and a half to get to this point in the construction phase.
Buckley explained how the weather delayed much of the work in its initial stages. Lots of rain poured down on the construction site, especially in the winter of 2010.
“The first step in any construction is to start with the underground utilities: clearing the site, getting rid of all of the old underground, miscellaneous oil pipes that were left on site,” Buckley said. “And when you open up the ground to put in all the new underground utilities, you’re exposed to the weather and the elements. So we had an extremely wet 2010 winter season, and that impacted the ability to construct the foundations for the building.”
Construction manager Paul Buckley (left) and Signal Hill Deputy City Manager Charlie Honeycutt survey the high ceilings in the police department's new reception area.
As he paced through the site with Buckley, the deputy city manager pointed out how the design will have lots of natural light with skylights and large stretches of windows throughout the building.
A few workers in fluorescent tops still lingered on the site on an overcast late Monday afternoon. On the concrete floor, there were flecks of gray, fluffy fireproofing material left over from the ceiling.
Honeycutt and Buckley stepped through rows of shiny metal studs that will soon hold up walls for offices, locker rooms, a training room and a community room.
Honeycutt pointed out one area where dispatchers will be stationed. In addition to the high-tech computer systems and televisions that are planned for the building, the area will be designed with desks that can rise up if dispatchers need to stretch their legs. The desks can also lower when workers need to remain seated.
Honeycutt said he is excited that the construction is going well.
“I know the police department is looking forward to it,” Honeycutt said. “And!as a resident and a person who’s worked here for almost 25 years, I’m just!very pleased that the City can provide such a great facility for the police department that it’s needed for so long.”
