UPDATE: Fred Profeta responded to this article and felt numbers were incorrect. According to Profeta, the cost to build the new building was approximately $19 million dollars. However, this amount would be reduced when the township sells the old police property on Dunnell Rd. Whatever monies the township collects from the sale will go towards the cost of the new building.
On Sunday, August 22nd, a delegation from Taiwan visited Maplewood to see how the town has embraced ecological sustainability. In other words, to see the “greenness” of Maplewood. The meeting was arranged by the U.S. State Department and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Maplewood was chosen because of the town’s participation in the Sustainable Jersey program. The highlight of the tour was the new police station (pictured here). Opened in 2008, it was the first LEED certified municipal building built in New Jersey. The police station also houses the municipal court and a firing range.
What is LEED? LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) created LEED as a rating system for green building. From the USGBC’s website:
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
The structure was built with sustainability in mind. Local materials were used to cut down on trucking pollution. Nontoxic wood, paint and cement were used instead of conventional materials. Special windows with reflecting window sills and inlaid glass blocks in the floor make the most use of natural light. Sensors in the meeting rooms only turn on the artificial light and ventilation when necessary for the people inside. The building has solar panels on the roof – you can see how much electricity they are currently producing here.
The building was not without dissenters. Some questioned why the town needed to spend the extra money on a LEED certified building whose cost would only add to the town’s burdensome property taxes. During the building process there were major cost overruns. The price of steel skyrocketed and the building would eventually come in over budget. In the end the building cost Maplewood between $22 to $24 million dollars. The original price tag was $17 million. All that aside, it replaces a 70-plus-year old cramped, leaking, asbestos filled old police station building on Dunnell Road that didn’t even have a separate women’s locker room for the female officers.
Fred Profeta, Township committee member and Maplewood Vice Mayor of the Environment said of the Taiwanese visit, “We learned a lot about their country’s environmental strategies. On climate change, they are very serious and have impressive targets, but have not implemented that much yet…but they liked our strategy of providing definite actions to follow, specific tools to assist, and financial incentives.”
Story and photos by Joy Yagid, a Baristanet contributor, photographer and Maplewood resident
While I applaud any attempt to make the world a better place, this building is not truly green. If it were, it would have only one story, so that people wouldn’t have to walk up the stairs, thereby expending greater carbon dioxide in respiration. Any truly green building would not have electrical wiring or plumbing at all. Why do we need lights when we have the sun? Why do we need heat when we have the sun? Why do we need toilets when we can dig a hole in the ground?
Mathilda, you are becoming a moderate in your old age. The greenest solution is not what you propose, but rather, no police building at all. They eat donuts in their cars anyway.
I wonder if they blog about Junket Jerry’s visits when he is in China…