By Shannon Lukens.
The trees along the 10th Street Parking Lot will all be removed for the new City Hall building and Fire Station. They are coming down Monday and Tuesday so the lot will be closed for a couple of days, until permanently closed on May 1. Trunks may be used for carving competitions and limbs will be chipped and mulched for compost. The new landscaping plan calls for a dozen new trees of various sizes to go in.
Here’s more from the City of Steamboat Springs; April 6, 2023.
City Hall Project Takes Sustainable Approach to Demolition
Sustainability Top of Mind During New City Hall & Fire Station Project
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO-April 6, 2023-The city is making every effort to keep City Hall construction and demolition (C&D) materials from reaching the landfill and instead recycle items at every possible opportunity.
“The City Hall building was constructed in early 60s and like a majority of structures from that time contains asbestos,” said Deputy City Manager Tom Leeson. “Even with the constraints of hazardous materials, the city is taking every step to divert as much of the C&D materials as possible.”
The City Hall, known as the Hunt Building, was built in 1961 and contains a significant amount of asbestos in weight bearing walls, flooring, caulking around windows, and window framing panels. The abatement process, which is entering its final stretch, must be completed consistent with state regulations.
The entire project to bring a new Fire Station & City Hall to life has sustainability at the forefront across the design, construction, and operations of the facility. The agreement with the demolition contractor sees much of the materials from City Hall recycled including:
• Metals, including structural steel, mechanical equipment, ductwork, HVAC, cabling, and fixtures
• Lighting (fluorescent tubes, ballasts, and other light bulbs), chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants, liquid mercury thermostats,
smoke detectors, and emergency light batteries.
• All concrete on the site including sidewalks, curbs and building foundation. Unfortunately, the foundation concrete slab that contains asbestos, which will be removed per state guidelines.
• All asphalt from the parking lots and 10th Street along with decorative stone will be recycled.
In addition to the demolition front, the city is also working to recycling much of the office supplies, furniture, and landscaping elements. Local schools and the Yampa Valley Housing Authority benefited by taking many of the un-needed three-ring binders. IT equipment went to the Steamboat School District.
Excess furniture was donated to more than 30 community non-profit organizations and the general public. In fact, 38 offices/workstations were either repurposed throughout the organization or donated. In all, furniture, cabinets, doors, trim wood, toilets, faucets, window shades, shelving, flat files, partitions, all found new homes.
Since the large Blue Spruce and other smaller trees on the two lots have to be removed in April, the city will be donating the large spruce trunks to Whittle the Wood for its annual competition. It’s anticipated that a carving could return as an art piece in the civic plaza.
The remaining landscape materials, including limbs and other trees will be chipped and utilized for mulch/compost across the city. The new landscaping plan will install nearly a dozen new trees of various sizes including deciduous and evergreen trees, as well as shrubs and plants to the new public plaza.
The 10th Street Parking Lot will be closed for two days on Monday, April 10, and Tuesday, April 11, for site mitigation and tree work before reopening on Wednesday. 10th Street (Oak to alley) will close permanently toward the end of April or early May with the start of building demolition. The 10th Street Parking Lot is anticipated to close permanently on May 1.
The move also provided the opportunity for Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue to conduct training, utilizing the old City Hall building. SSFR ran various fire scenarios primarily focused on a building structure fire situation that involved a victim.
Firefighters arrived on-scene, made entry into the building, advanced charged hose lines to the fire, performed a search via thermal imaging cameras, extinguished the fire, and extricated the victim. The department utilized a smoke machine that simulated live smoke and a 180 pound “dummy” as the victim. All three fire shifts were able to take part in this valuable ‘real-structure’ exercise before the building is removed.