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YRA ‘green' terminal stirs crowd
By Carole Cloudwalker
This document was published online on Friday, February 08, 2008
“Green” or environmental issues interested members of Cody Club who Monday turned out to see a public unveiling of plans for the new $12.5 million terminal to be built at Yellowstone Regional Airport.
Airport officials said they would seek a minimal Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) level when building the terminal.
Cody city council member Nancy Tia Brown asked YRA manager Bob Hooper if the budget would permit seeking a higher-than-minimum LEED rating.
But Hooper said that while the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is paying the majority of costs for the new terminal, approved LEED certification in concept, the agency allocated no additional money to pay for it.
Seeking more than the minimum LEED level would be cost-prohibitive, Hooper said.
Architect Steve Scovel of CTA Architects/Engineers in Billings said many energy-efficient concepts were planned into the terminal even if YRA does not seek higher LEED certification.
“Because we are a ‘green' company, we don't build buildings that are energy hogs,” Scovel added.
One LEED amenity in the new terminal is an abundance of light from high windows in the single-story, 29,000 square-foot building, which will be at mid-field on YRA property.
The windows do not represent passive solar planning, but merely allow natural sunlight into the building, Scovel said.
He added that other ideas that were rejected because of high cost and low return on investment included a ground-sourced heating and cooling system.
Scovel said the expense of installing such systems for the relatively small terminal building would not pay out for many years and could not have been justified.
He added that the YRA terminal could earn about 27 of almost 70 LEED points the highest rated energy-efficient buildings might receive.
The new terminal will also have a grey or white roof, not black, which absorbs more energy from the sun. It will feature a durable type of “indigenous sandstone” from a Billings-area quarry as well, Scovel said.
Hooper said the airport's 1995 Master Plan identified the need for a new terminal, and subsequent applications to the FAA for funding proved successful.
He said the current terminal is crowded, has no room for expansion because of other development around it and has become awkward for people to use since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Since then, air terminals were required to impose security standards not planned for when the present buildings were constructed, such as “secure areas” for passengers built in spots where no restrooms could be added, he said.
The FAA and state aeronautics division will provide about 98 percent of the cost, leaving about $250,000 for the local match, That will be paid, Hooper said, from Passenger Facilities fees, or the $4.50 (the amount may be increased soon) per boarding passenger who utilized YRA.
The terminal is scheduled to be finished by 2011.
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