During the early design discussions for the Community Center remodeling project we gave some serious consideration to including a “green roof” dimension to the project. We built specifications for a “green roof” into our bid documents hoping that we could attract a reasonable bid for one. Alas, the additional cost to add a relatively small green roof to our Community Center project came in at over $140,000 more than a conventional roof design.
For those out there unfamiliar with the concept of green roof, a Green roof is essentially an exterior roof treatment in which plants are used on the roof of a building. The plants help absorb heat coming into the building and provide some insulation to keep heat and cooling in the building. The plants are also beneficial to the initial treatment of storm water before sending it down a gutter and into a storm sewer system.
We thought our opportunity to add a green roof to our project was done, until this past Monday. A green roof contractor came forward and offered his product to our Construction Manager, but we had to act on the offer quickly as the construction at the site would soon zip past the stage where we could make this decision. Price tag for the green roof now had dropped to about $80,000. City staff prepped the necessary documents to seek a Council approval on the proposal just in time to have the Council consider it at their August 7 meeting.
But, alas, due to push of the construction timetable and the short decision making timetable, there were too many unanswered questions at the Council meeting and the proposal was not accepted. There will be no green roof at the Community Center this time.
Maybe next time.
