May 14, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Midland Park Bolger Community Center gets green building award When the Bolger Foundation set out to convert the abandoned barn at the ITT Marlow property on Godwin Avenue in Midland Park into a community center and headquarters for the Midland Park Ambulance Corps, it also wanted to do it in an environmentally-friendly manner. That effort paid off recently as the building has been honored with a LEED Gold Award, the second high- est achievable rating. Leadership in Energy and Environ- mental Design (LEED) is a rating system for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings. All LEED-certified projects are required to include certain elements or strategies to qualify for con- sideration. Beyond the practical uses of the building, foundation trustees David and JT Bolger wanted to provide the town a facility with minimal maintenance and the lowest pos- sible utility bills while striving to be a role model for the Welcome! Midland Park Mayor Patrick ‘Bud’ O’Hagan presents a welcoming proclamation to Michael Serventi and Catherine Freebody, owners of Provi- sions Home and Garden, a new storefront at 42 Central Avenue, across from Veteran’s Park, as Sage Janjigian, Nina Janjigian, Kaelyn Sharkey, Livia Jangigian, Christine Lynch, and Michael Lynch look on. The shop car- ries vintage modern sofas and tables, modern decorating ele- ments, lighting, specialty non- perishable food items such as gourmet olive oils and spreads, fine textiles, and more. All are welcome! borough by reinventing an existing building as a sustain- ably designed community building. According to project Architect Peter Wells, these goals were achieved by focusing on three factors: social, eco- nomic, and the environment. Reusing an existing building to serve as a community/ambulance corps center satisfied the social criteria. Wells satisfied the financial criteria by incorporat- ing into the design high insulation, water reducing fix- tures, geothermal heating and cooling, and LED lights and occupancy sensors to enable the building to have low maintenance costs and minimal use of natural resources. To provide the staff, volunteers, and visitors with an environmentally friendly, healthy environment and opti- mal indoor air quality, low VOC paints and operable windows were used. The design reused materials from the original building, including wood siding and wood beams, and specified locally sourced materials with high recycled content. On the exterior of the building, permeable pavers were used to reduce runoff, drought-tolerant plants that require less water were used for landscape, and high reflective roofing material was installed to reduce heat island effect and thermal gains. A bike rack and preferred parking spaces for fuel efficient cars were provided to encourage environmentally-friendly modes of transportation and help reduce carbon emissions. The building conversion is nearly completed. The ambulance corps has already begun to move into the facility, and a ribbon cutting is expected next month.