WESTMINSTER —No, the construction activity at Westminster City Hall
The exposed section of land and construction equipment on the north side of the building at 4800 W. 92nd Ave. is part of a $760,000 project installing a that will serve City Hall.
And on the building’s south side, work is underway on a 3.5 million-gallon water-storage tank at a cost of just under $6 million, said Mike Happe, the city utilities planning and engineering manager.
“The newest tank we have was built in the 1980s and we’ve been doing a lot of renovations and repairs with the system,” Happe said. “This adds more storage to the system so we can take other tanks down and eventually replace them.”
is the city’s first foray into using technology that digs a 400-foot well and uses water circulated through the building to warm and cool the air.
In the summer, hot air is removed via water coursing through the series of wells; in the winter, the process is reversed, with hot air pulled from the ground and pumped back into the building.
When the installation is completed in early November, the landscaping will be returned to normal and almost no sign of the system will be visible to people traveling down West 92nd Avenue, said Tom Ochtera, the city’s energy and facilities project manager.
In the meantime, the sidewalk next to the project will remain closed and residents can expect the occasional delay driving near City Hall.
Even though it cost significantly more on the front end compared to standard heating and cooling systems, it’ll save about 550,000 gallons of water a year compared to evaporative coolers and will pay for itself after about 30 years of use.
With a life span of 75 years, it’s a good long-term deal, Ochtera said.
“It’s a closed-loop system because when we’re done, we’re not adding or subtracting any water,” he added. “It’s using passive energy that’s sitting in the ground everywhere.”
Wayne Arde, co-owner of Can-America Drilling, is the contractor overseeing the project.
“This system basically transfers heat instead of creating heat,” Arde said. “We’re seeing more and more of these on a commercial basis, especially for schools and other buildings that are going to be used for 50-plus years or more.”
While both projects are expected to be wrapped up around November, residents can still expect to see construction equipment at City Hall for the foreseeable future: A long-sought $1.2 million plan to improve the plaza area should begin in April, said city landscape architect Kathy Piper.
“We’re definitely moving forward with that,” Piper said. “The plaza has needed some TLC for quite some time … we’ll be making it more ADA-accessible, relining the streets, putting in less concrete, adding more planters and will create additional parking on the building’s south and east side.”
