Green digs for the boys & girls in blue
The Village of Lemont, Ill., recently opened a new home for its police department, replacing its cramped downtown facility. The police force and the Lemont Emergency Management Agency now enjoy a 28,500-square-foot building designed to house the police department patrol division, enforcement operation, secure lock-up area and community outreach programs.
Designed and constructed by Darien, Ill.-based Wight & Co., the Lemont Police Facility reflects the department’s community-oriented policing policy and focus on community service. The building’s open floor plan welcomes the public to its multi-purpose community room that functions as a secure operations center in emergencies.
The single-story brick and stone masonry building showcases several green building practices, including the use of natural light in the most regularly occupied spaces, low-water consuming plumbing fixtures, a reflective white roof and occupancy sensors for lighting. Outside, a stormwater management system uses permeable pavers for a majority of the parking and drives. Rain gardens and vegetated bio-swales manage site and roof run-off, and a series of perforated pipes embedded in open-graded aggregate, in lieu of closed concrete pipes, encourages infiltration. The stormwater management features gained significant support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which permitted a nearby small wetland to be turned into a larger and more vibrant wetland stormwater management facility for the site and neighboring properties.
