July, 2007 Cover Story

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The Village is Going Green: WESTHAMPTON BEACH VILLAGE HALL
BY EMILY ANDREN
© 2007 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE 2020 GUIDE TO GOING GREEN

The Westhampton Beach Village Hall admirably explodes the myth that “green” buildings cost more than conventional ones. Completed in June 2006, the Village Hall is the first municipal building on Long Island to receive a Gold LEED Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (see sidebar on page 27), yet it stayed within the 3% of the initial $5.45 million budget despite a whopping 40% increase in materials prices during the 18-month construction period.

In April 2007, Westhampton Beach Mayor Conrad Teller submitted an application that won Second Place for achievement in the Public Works Category by the New York Conference of Mayors.

In 2002, former Mayor Robert Strebel and the Village Trustees decided to consolidate three locations into one to house the Village government, the police and building departments and the justice court.

Strebel’s goal for a green Village Hall stemmed from his longtime interest in alternative sources of energy. His family’s company, Strebel’s Laundry, generated its own electricity and steam and treated its own sewage biologically without using chemicals. Beyond environmental concerns, Strebel says, “we were pushed into energy savings to stay in business. It allowed us to be very competitive with larger laundries.”

Rather than hire a general contractor, Strebel and the Trustees chose Sandpebble Builders, Inc. in Southampton to manage the project because it had done an excellent job on other municipal buildings.

Victor Conseco, president of Sandpebble, says: “From the beginning, the Trustees told us, ‘If you spend one dollar more than $5.45 million, make sure you have a dollar in your pocket.’“ Because this was a municipal building, everything had to be publicly bid. They ended up with 72 different contractors and suppliers of materials and labor.

The site for the Village Hall was the attractive but abandoned brick Six Corners Elementary School that had deteriorated beyond salvage and was riddled with asbestos. DEC-approved companies were needed to remove the asbestos and other contaminated debris and clear the site.

“The new building is 40% to 50% more energy-efficient than conventional buildings,” says Strebel. Thicker walls, extra roof and wall insulation; triple-glazed windows; and computerized lighting, air conditioning, heating and hot water on demand all reduce energy consumption. Also, the white roof deflects heat.

Cisterns on the roof collect water for irrigation, eliminating use of potable water. Restrooms use water more efficiently. Indigenous plants in the landscaping survive on existing rainfall, rather than requiring extra watering and other care.

The healthy interior environmental climate, a combination of automated temperature control, air cleanliness and oxygen level, is designed to minimize the number of employee sick days. “It’s too early to see results of reduced sick days, but people in the building say that they don’t feel tired when meetings run late in the evening,” observes Kathy McGinnis, Clerk/Treasurer of the Village.

To conserve energy on material production and transportation, 50% of materials were manufactured or harvested within 500 miles of the site: concrete came from Riverhead and bricks from New Jersey. During construction, 86% of debris was recycled, and materials content was 20% recycled, including steel from Pennsylvania.

Savings of $160,000 resulted from eliminating wall coverings and dropped ceilings that would have hidden construction details and ducts. Instead, the surfaces were painted in three interesting neutral colors: ecru overhead, putty-colored walls, and pale khaki on the door frames. The painted exposed pipes and beams give utilitarian fixtures the look of an artistic loft apartment in New York City.

Mayor Teller says, “It’s a very functional, working building. The committee did a nice job of designing it. The lighting and air conditioning are self-adjusting to conserve energy, depending on the requirements at any time. When the boardroom fills up, within five minutes the air conditioning cools the room to a comfortable temperature, which conventional systems don’t do.”

“None of the firms involved had experience with a green building; it was a learning experience for everyone,” Conseco says. “It didn’t take any new technology, only a change in people’s mindset. The mindset involves integrating the efforts of all parties: architecture and design, engineering, construction, and even maintenance after the building is finished. Collaboration takes a little extra effort on everyone’s part. You can’t just design a building and then turn it over to someone else to make it green.”

Ridgie Barnett, a Trustee for 22 years, recalls the many meetings to discuss details of the planning. “It was so exciting to see all those people working together to make everything green – the inside, wiring plans, insulation, window design,” she says.

“Prior to LEED standards,” Conseco says, “there was no way to measure how green a building was. There were many different shades of green. Now, the movement is taking off. The faster property owners get used to saying they want a LEED building, the sooner we will reach 100%."

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