Pros, Cons Of Net Zero Fire Station Weighed

ORLEANS – The town’s new fire station could be designed as a net zero energy facility. But the select board and fire rescue building committee last week raised an interesting but important question.

What exactly does “net zero” mean as it relates to the new building planned for Eldredge Park Way?

A net zero building would offset any energy costs associated with its operation, which would save the town considerable money over time. But Assistant Town Manager Mark Reil told the select board April 1 that “there are many different variations” to the term, and that he has asked for more specificity from the project’s architect, Galante Architecture Studio, about what exactly it would mean for the new station.

“That would be a help for our committee,” Chair David Lyttle said. “It really would be.”

The building committee has four design options it is considering for a 37,000-square-foot, two-story fire station that will be sited on land in front of the existing station but closer to Eldredge Park Way. The select board charged the committee with exploring a net zero building as one such option.

A rendering of the net zero option included in the packet for the board’s April 1 meeting shows a two-story building with solar panels covering the roof. A slanted solar array is also affixed to the roofline at the front of the building.

But the net zero design has been raised as a concern by some in the community in light of the projected station’s cost. An article will go before voters at next month’s annual town meeting seeking a $60 million debt exclusion to fund the station’s construction. If approved at the May 11 spring session, the exclusion would need to pass at the ballot at the May 19 annual town election.

Last month, Orleans resident Ken Heritage raised concerns that the project as priced might not pass with voters at town meeting. He suggested that the proposal be modified to exclude the net zero components in an effort to bring down the construction cost, adding that solar panels and other energy saving measures could be addressed after the fact.

“If the vote fails, the town will be left with more delay, more cost and capital project compression,” he said.

“To me, solar panels plus a building that met today’s stretch code, which is in place, would be sufficient,” Medford Runyon of the select board said April 1. “And if it would help the process to amend the charge to eliminate that [net zero requirement], I would be in favor of it.”

Board Chair Kevin Galligan added that the town could still be eligible for rebates through the Cape Light Compact without delivering a net zero facility.

“They do not require zero energy use,” he said. “They just require the building types get as low energy use as they can.”

But for select board member Michael Herman, failing to design a zero energy fire station would be another missed opportunity for the town. He cited the failure to design other recently constructed facilities, such as the police station and public works headquarters, as net zero buildings.

Herman urged the board and the town to take the long view of energy efficiency.

“When you see oil prices go up 50 percent in the last month, to think our country isn’t going to continue to be in conflicts, it would be kind of remiss of us,” he said.

Herman also sought to ensure that all options for utilizing the town’s existing fire station, which opened in 1987, as part of the new design were fully considered. Lyttle said that various factors ranging from higher costs to parking and ADA accessibility issues led the committee to move away from a three-story design, which he said would have included the existing station, and toward a two-story model.

“We made the decision to abandon the building and move forward with the two-story design,” he said. “How that all plays out, I defer to all of you.”

Ted Galante of Galante Architecture Studio is due to give the select board an overview of the four design options at its April 15 meeting.