The Observation Deck

Kenneth Warren wrote:Shawn:

I want to make one point about landscaping at Lakewood Public Library.

Due to the lateness of the season, there was no planting in the bed in the front of the new library and the rear. It was simply too late in the season, late June/early July, to plant sensibly, according to the advice of professional landscapers.

Again this is a phased project. So improvements such as landscaping roll out gradually due to scheduling and logistical issues.

Next Spring there will landscaping for the entire site, which should provide a very attractive measure of green to the site.

Kenneth Warren
Director
Lakewood Public Library

maybe the gardening group from the LO could help????

Well hopefully that means that the area to the west of the new building will provide a greater percentage of green than cement. It does look very neat and clean but being that this desire for green space is being used as a reason to redevelop the Drug Mart site it sounds strange that the plans for the library included so much cement. Maybe phase two will balance that out. Currently it looks like one neighbor holding another to a standard that they are not doing themselves.
As it relates to this committee for a Greener Lakewood, it sounds like their influence did not impact two of the bigger projects in the city. And that's just the landscaping portion without even considering the types of materials used or if there was attention to conservation with the removal of the rubble. Again, I'd be open to hearing more about this and learning more about what's to come.

Shawn:

There will be green to the west in the front of the old building with standard sidewalk. This will make for more green in that space than before, when the entrance was located there.

I did, in fact, meet with the Committee for a Greener Lakewood. As a result of this meeting a deconstruction company was identified and utilized.

Any concrete masonry debris is recycled. Likewise, any soils are used for fill.

Before the Committee for a Greener Lakewood was established, however, the Lakewood Public Library Board of Trustees hired consultant for training in green building issues with particular attention to costs and benefits of LEED certification.

At the time of hire, the architect commissioned obtained the only LEED certified project in the state of Ohio. Likewise, the Construction Manager had considerable experience in green building matters.

While we have studied LEED and applied numerous recommendations to the design, we did not believe the cost of the certification process itself would produce substantive value.

The issues of affordability, quality, functionality and sustainability were taken very seriously for a project that is, after all, a public library, not a park.

In addition, the Lakewood Public Library Citizens Committee, chaired by Brian Powers, did not express any particular requirements for adding green space to the library site.

For decades additional parking has for been requested by citizens in survey and by Citizens' Committees. Parking capacity will roughly double upon completion of the project.

For more information on the high performance systems in the project see:

http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/news/l ... ble-design

Kenneth Warren
Director
Lakewood Public Library

As always, Ken, thank you for the speedy, informative response. I look forward to the finished project and will be interested to see how Lakewood in general can make strides to set themselves apart from Ohio in regards to how we treat our environment. As you had mentioned there are certainly cost considerations in some regards but I think most would agree that it's worth looking into.

Kenneth Warren wrote:Likewise, the Construction Manager had considerable experience in green building matters.

Just an aside... last winter, This Old House on PBS did an entire series on green building and construction techniques and so on. Their project house was in Austin, Texas.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/ ... 53,00.html