The Charlottesville Transit Service broke ground Monday on its new Maintenance and Operations facility. The building, which is projected to be finished in 2010, will help generate jobs in the construction sector and contain many environmentally friendly features.
Among those present at the ground-breaking ceremony were Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris; Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Charlottesville; three City Council members and two representatives from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, CTS Transit Manager Bill Watterson said.
The old CTS facility did not have enough space to accommodate the organization’s current operations, Watterson said, noting that the new facility will include maintenance shop space to work on vehicles, space for drivers and additional office space. Housing 30 vehicles, the old building is currently past its capacity. The new building, though, will easily accommodate up to 50 percent more vehicles, Watterson said.
The department and the Federal Transit Administration are both helping fund the project, Watterson added. CTS Marketing Program Coordinator Kristin Gleason said the city is only funding 8 percent of the project.
“We have a great deal of support for the project from sources from the state level and federal level,” Gleason said, noting that more than $14.2 million of the project’s $15.6 million pricetag was awarded in state and federal grants.
“We’re getting a beautiful new green facility that’s going to save city taxpayers’ money and we didn’t have to put up a lot of our own money to build it,” Norris said.
In addition to saving money for the city, the project also has the potential to generate income for local businesses.
“This is a time when a lot of our construction companies are really hurting,” Norris said, adding that the project “is going to keep people working [and] some money flowing into the construction sector.”
Watterson said he expects the facility to be 32 percent more energy efficient than the current facility, which will translate into cost savings of about $14,000 annually.
“They’ll see some savings in utilities and operations by combining onto a site,” University Transit Service Director Rebecca White said.
The CTS facility will differ from UTS’ current facility by way of modern features like water collection and processes allowing for geothermal energy use. The new facility will employ ground source heat pumps, which are tied to a series of wells 300 feet deep in the earth to heat and cool the building, said Steve Davis, director of sustainable design at VMDO Architects, the firm designing the building. Additionally, VMDO aims to use 30 percent recyclable content among the total building materials, Davis said, adding that this construction technique should make the new CTS building greener and more energy efficient.
Another benefit is that the new building will save more than 1.55 million gallons of water each year by making use of more efficient water fixtures. The facility will recycle water from the vehicle wash system and harvest rain water to flush toilets, he said.
In addition to water recycling, water cleaning will be another important feature, Watterson said. Not only will efforts be made to capture storm water runoff from impervious surfaces on site, like asphalt, but biofiltration systems also will be added to clean collected water as it makes its way back into the local area’s water system. This treatment of rain water likely will have a less negative impact on the environment, Watterson said.
“This is a project that combines green building and support for transit and to me that’s a great combination to see,” Norris said.
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