New HPD HQ features 'green' infrastructure

The new multi-million-dollar Homer Police Station is now occupied. The compound, behind the U.S. Post Office and across the street from the Homer Public Library, consists of a main structure and several out-buildings. It also features green -- as in environmentally conscious -- touches to the landscaping.
    City Engineer Cary Meyer gave a brief description of the landscaping on a video published by the city last week.
    “The purpose of green infrastructure is to reduce the peak runoff off of a site,” he said. “The city acquired a grant from ADEC, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The funds helped pay for the green infrastructure.”
    On the video, Meyer explains how features like a rain garden can keep pollution and costs down.
    “So we're, we're looking at the rain garden, one of three components on the site that retains and filters runoff from the site. Of course, all this water that runs off of our city ends up in Kachemak Bay. So everything that we can do to keep that water on site, even if it's just for a short period of time, reduces the infrastructure that the city will need to pay for the storm drainage infrastructure,” Meyere says. “And the point being, if we can save the Bay from contamination, and ourselves a lot of money by installing the types of green infrastructure that we've installed here at the police station.”