HomeMy WebLinkAboutPEC070063 NarrativeTOV Municipal/Police Emergency Generator
October 1, 2007
The Town of Vail is proposing to replace its existing emergency generator in the police parking structure as the existing generator
does not have enough capacity to meet the current electrical demands experienced during power outages. This generator provides emergency power to areas of the municipal building, police
building, the 911 system, and the dispatch center for Eagle County. The Town experienced a power outage in July, 2007, and the generator overheated and had to be shut down. This left
the dispatch center operating on battery power which only had enough capacity for 20 minutes. Luckily, the electrical power was restored just minutes after the battery backup was depleted
and a catastrophe was averted.
The Town looked at several options for replacing the generator. These included utilizing the space in which the existing generator is currently located,
relocating the generator to the northeast interior corner of the P.D. garage, or relocating the generator to the northeast exterior corner of the P.D. building.
We chose to relocate
the generator to the northeast exterior corner of the building for the reasons listed below.
The existing generator site has numerous issues.
The engine exhaust is routed up through
the police building and would be undersized for the new generator.
The fiber optic lines for the municipal building are routed right next to the generator and there are already signs
that the protective sleeves that the fiber optics run through are being melted.
The engine radiator is vented into the police parking garage and when the existing generator overheated,
it filled the P.D. garage with smoke (which made its way upstairs to the dispatch center and other offices) and required ventilating the parking garage.
The existing generator is located
next to offices (above and to the one side) and when the generator is running it creates a noise problem with the occupants of those offices.
The Proposed site on the outside of the
P.D. building has many benefits.
The engine exhaust can be vented directly out the side of the building as there are no offices or windows where the exhaust could enter the building.
The
engine radiator can also be vented to the outside and not into the parking garage area.
There are no offices or personnel that would be adversely impacted by the noise of the generator
running.
The new location does not take up any of the parking spaces in the P.D. garage.
The roof design on the existing P.D. building creates an ice problem in the winter. The new addition would address that problem by taking the water to the north and away from the outdoor
parking. The parking space that this addition would be built on is not usable now as the Town was forced to put jersey barriers to block that space off due to the ice problems.
The addition
will also have minimal visual impact.