'GREEN' TRANSIT HUB CAMOUFLAGES ITS COLOR.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff writer

SANTA CLARITA - Its building materials sound like a snack for squirrels but the grand unveiling Tuesday of the city's state-of-the art $30 million transit maintenance complex - which is anything but humble - drew local luminaries.

The city's first environmentally friendly facility is designed to conserve water, power and materials and to guard the health of employees who work within.

The building favorably impressed a national organization that devised a "green" building rating system - with its alternative fuel station and a heating and cooling system that takes advantage of daylight and cool night air.

"The entire function of the facility is related to environmental concerns," said Nellie Reid, vice chairwoman of the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council. "One of the biggest surprises to me when I heard about this straw bale building, I was expecting something outrageous. It looks like a standard building. Green building doesn't have a certain look to it."

Stormy skies bogged down construction and rain conspired to hamper

the opening ceremony, but city, county and federal officials and community members packed into a storm-drenched tent refused to allow rain to dampen their spirits.

Project manager Kris Markarian touted the city's first green building and hopes it will inspire copycats.

"We're very proud of that - we get to lead by example."

Heather Merenda, the city's sustainability planner, praised officials who got past their initial skepticism and "took a leap of faith."

Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts, who sits on the board of a transit agency that helped fund the project, got stuck in a rainy day traffic jam on his way to address the crowd. He later commended city officials for their persistence with the project.

"It will show off the transit system (and) they will be the envy of local transit agencies," he said. "Agencies are (generally) reluctant to bring that kind of effort to the table."

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority helped launch the project with a $1.7 million grant.

An energy-saving transit center may seem like an oxymoron, but the facility proves it is no.

Rice straw insulation lining the shell of the administration building packs twice the shielding power of traditional materials, and with its lime plaster coating it is highly fire resistant.

Some cleaning and building products emit chemical compounds indoors, which can pose a health risk. The facility's cabinets, paint and carpets release low levels of these substances.

Decorative reddish wall panels are made from wheat grains, and up close the soybeans, sunflower seeds and recycled paper products imbedded in the cabinetwork are visible.

A band of windows close to the ceiling and skylights flood offices with natural light, the building is sited to take advantage of seasonal changes, maximizing winter sun and deflecting summer heat. An underfloor heating-cooling system heats the lower 7 feet of inhabited space.

The entire facility - which houses the city's fleet of 94 buses, a bus wash, bus fueling station and maintenance building and a public compressed natural gas station - can be monitored from inside the copper-clad dispatching area, which nighttime dispatcher Marty Basham likened to an air traffic control center.

Dispatchers could soon be able to pinpoint the whereabouts of all buses when a global positioning system arrives later this year.

As older buses are replaced, new buses powered by CNG will join the current fleet of 14. Space is available for 150 buses.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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