The Blaine County Commission met Monday morning to review possible changes to the new jail design in order to meet national standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDS) established by the U.S. Green Building Council.
According to a proposal made by Steve Christiansen, of Lombard Conrad architects in Boise, the existing jail design has 13 points toward the required 26 points for official LEEDS certification. LEEDS certification is based on more than 50 criteria from energy and water efficiency to site analysis and design innovation.
According to Commissioner Tom Bowman, "The jail design already had 13 points because the building was so well designed." To get the next 13 points would cost the county $341,750, a bill the commissioners are not quite ready to pay.
"One LEEDS recommendation was to cover the jail parking lot in 50 percent concrete or trees in order to achieve lighter shading and reduce temperatures due to 'heat island effect,'" said Bowman. "Do we spend $80,000 on concrete for the parking lot when an airport next door has thousands and thousands of square feet of asphalt? Would we be better off spending the money on compact fluorescent lightbulbs? We said yes to everything which makes sense for the design and operation of the building in the long run, regardless of the LEEDS certification."
Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said the LEEDS certification plan was a positive one and would not hinder the operation of the new jail.
"I certainly favor the energy efficiencies," he said. "But it is difficult to acquire a LEEDS certification with a jail setting. Installing big windows for views and lighting is not a priority."
He also pointed out that some of the recommended building materials are not suitable for jail construction.
Bowman said the LEEDS recommendation to recycle concrete may not be practical since there is no local facility for concrete recycling. "Do we want the LEEDS stamp enough to ship the concrete to Boise for recycling, or do we bury the inert material in the landfill at Ohio Gulch?"
Although several opportunities remain to score more points toward official LEEDS certification after completion of the building, the commission voted to OK only $150,000 worth of immediate additions to the existing design, raising the number of LEEDS points to 19. Those changes include energy optimization plans, techniques to reduce ozone depletion, the use of local materials, and the installation of measuring equipment to verify the systems capabilities—all of which can be implemented without delays in construction schedule for the new jail.
"We dealt with time-sensitive issues in order to not delay, rather than monitoring issues which take up after the building is finished," Bowman said.
