$150,000 State Grant In Pipeline To Give Mashpee’s New Library LEED Designation

MASHPEE- The new Mashpee Public Library may be the first library on Cape Cod and just the second in the state to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certificate.
The Mashpee Planning and Construction Committee announced at its meeting Tuesday evening its decision to pursue the prominent designation, commonly known as LEED certification, which requires buildings to prove through detailed documentation that both the design and construction are carried out with relatively little impact on the environment.
The decision came largely in response to an announcement by the state Board of Library Commissioners last month that it would be considering whether to initiate a new grant program helping libraries obtain LEED certification.
The state board voted yesterday to support the program, which will automatically provide Mashpee with about $150,000 toward the cost of certification, as long as the town sends a letter within two months and the building does receive certification, according to a spokesman for the board, Celeste Bruno.
Planning and construction committee members and town officials said this week that they had considered pursuing the certification earlier in the building design process, but instead decided to just incorporate many of the low-impact aspects into the building and forego the costly and time-consuming application process.
The nearly $9 million library project is set to go out to bid later this month, and the plans were nearly final when the state board announced its consideration of the LEED incentive program.
But because the plans included solar electricity panels, irrigation for the landscaping, a highly efficient ventilation system, and a detailed stormwater management plan, as well as several other attributes, the design needed only a few small changes to qualify for the basic certification and a planning and construction subcommittee decided to go for it, according to Richard W. Pomroy, the project manager, and Steven H. Cook, chairman of the committee. The solar panels, for example, which Mr. Cook said will provide approximately one-third of the total electricity for the building, provide three points toward the certification.
In a preliminary estimate J. Stuart Roberts, the architect, found that the project already could achieve 32 points toward certification, with only 26 needed for the lowest level of LEED certification.
“When you look at the design, we’re really there already,” Mr. Pomroy said.
At least 52 points must be obtained for “Platinum,” the highest LEED level.
According to Catherine A. Laurent, director of the Mashpee Department of Public Works who has been working with the planning and construction committee on the building, the basic certification is estimated to cost between $100,000 and $120,000, for small changes in the design, additional work for the contractors, and more expensive materials, such as sustainably grown wood and additional insulation paints. “Commissioning” the building, or establishing that the requirements have been met, costs approximately $20,000, according to a cost estimate provided by Mr. Roberts. Additional contractor monitoring is also estimated to cost $20,000.
The subcommittee decided to pursue the certification before the state board voted to approve the grant program, based in part on a sense that the committee could abandon the effort later on and avoid part of the expense, Mr. Cook said.
Sheldon Gilbert, a committee member, said, “We have reasonable options, let’s put it that way. We are not closing the door on anything.”
Town Manager Joyce M. Mason spoke strongly in favor of pursuing the designation.
The decision to pursue the certification was made late last month by a subcommittee that meets twice a month in unposted meetings.
The nonprofit Friends of the Mashpee Public Library donated $75,000 to cover about half of the 19.4-kilowatt solar electricity system. A state rebate program is expected to cover the other half of the system, in addition to $3 million for the library itself.
The state library board’s LEED incentive is part of a broader state effort to support energy efficiency and renewable energy in state and state-supported buildings, according to a building consultant for the state board. About $4,750,000 has been set aside to help 31 libraries that recently received state building grants obtain the accreditation, consultant Patience K. Jackson said.
The committee’s original decision and subsequent reversal illustrate what is often described as a conundrum in LEED certification: while it earns buildings a good deal of publicity for environmental awareness, there are many buildings that are just as, if not more, efficient and sustainable that are not certified, there are no performance standards, and it is difficult to measure either the economic or environmental gains from compliance.
The certification amounts to something little more tangible than a “plaque on the wall,” if they are already meeting the objectives, Ms. Laurent said, though Mr. Pomroy said the program does help to promote low-impact construction and design practices, “the right way to do things.”
There is currently one LEED-certified public library in Massachusetts, the North Adams Public Library, which was certified in 2007, according to an April 2007 list available on the US Green Buildings Council website. There are almost 300 other LEED buildings in the state, mostly in Boston and Cambridge, as well as at least three on Cape Cod: Cape Cod Community College’s Lyndon P. LoRusso Applied Technology Building, the Provincetown Art Museum, tthe International Fund for Animal Welfare headquarters in Yarmouthport, and the Audubon Sanctuary headquarters in Wellfleet.
The library subcommittee on Tuesday also announced its decision to change the library plans to match the newest state building code. One significant change in the code, which requires only one enclosed set of stairs from the upper story, will save between $30,000 and $40,000, Mr. Pomroy said.
The change bumped the time frame back about a week and a half, he said, but the subcommittee decided the savings and pursuing the LEED certification would be worth the delay.