Multicare Steam Plant Drawing and Fact Sheet (23. February 2007, 10:37 by Derek Young) ~ Opinions?
Since we’re working with conceptual drawings today, I thought we’d start into the steam plant discussion that’s been spinning about for the last two weeks. The general idea is that Multicare is looking to replace an aging boiler facility with a new one next to Wright Park. The News Tribune and a couple of blogs have voiced concerns about the plan. Details seem to be trickling out, but here’s the official fact sheet:
Overview:
MultiCare Health System needs to replace an aging and inefficient boiler facility currently in operation on the Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital campus. The facility currently in operation dates to 1964 and is located within the confines of the hospital near J Street. This facility produces steam for linen and equipment cleaning and sterilization, in addition to providing heat and other energy needs. The facility will also include three emergency generators to power the MultiCare campus during interruptions in utility service.
Location:
The site for the replacement facility is located at the corner of Third and South I Streets on property currently owned by MultiCare. The site houses an office building, a parking lot and the central oxygen supply area. The oxygen supply area will become part of the new facility and the building and parking lot will be removed.
MultiCare chose this site for these reasons:
- The vast majority of our property is occupied by current care facilities. These facilities have grown out to the edges of the property to optimize space for providing care.
- The new site is located near existing utilities and other infrastructure that support the current steam facility.
- The current facility is too small and antiquated to supply the campus’ current and future energy needs.
Design:
The Boiler and Emergency Generator Facility will meet or exceed the City of Tacoma’s aesthetic standards. It will be similar in look to the Mary Bridge Children’s Health Center, which also had to meet those new city standards. The front of the building will contain glass that will reflect the trees and colors of Wright Park, across I Street.
The building will be approximately four stories and have three venting stacks 90 feet off street level and 45 feet above the roof of the building. These venting stacks will be about 100 feet west of Wright Park and will be shorter and smaller than the current brick stack that is visible on our campus. The venting stacks will be made of stainless steel, which will reflect surrounding environmental colors.
Potential Impacts:
The emergency generators will be diesel fueled and they will produce some emissions, but only when they are running for monthly tests and power outages. These generators have stringent clean air standards to meet as well. The emissions that will be produced will be far less than what is currently emitted near Wright Park. The emissions will vary depending on the demands of the facilities, so they will not be continuous. The current facility can produce up to 60,000 pounds of steam per hour, but the new facility will have the capacity to produce up to 100,000 pounds. The three boilers will be natural gas fed, which is a very clean burning fuel.
Stringent standards, both from the EPA and the city, limit noise impacts. Sound suppression is part of the building’s design. The emergency generators will produce some noise, but only when run for short, monthly tests and during power outages. These generators will be located at the rear of the facility and will not be visible. We are determining what the noise impacts might be when these generators are in operation, but they will meet or exceed the standards for such systems.
Construction is expected to begin in April 2007.
Previously mentioned on The News Tribune’s Inside The Editorial Page Blog
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The little silhouetted kid in that drawing seems to want to pull away from the steam plant and back into the park.
I also appreciate how the three huge steam stacks are barely visible compared to the building itself. Seems to me that’s the real blight, not the building.
1 | Posted by KevinFreitas | Feb 23, 11:02 AM
Not that the building is ugly, but the design doesn’t seem to “speak” to historic Wright Park and the nearby historic churches.
Considering Multicare just paid $8M to tear down a significant historic church, I would like to see them put more resources into the design of their campus extension.
2 | Posted by morgan | Feb 23, 11:44 AM
Good issue. This is a one time decision that needs to be made carefully. Fortunately, the Tacoma City Council, Metro Parks and the New Tacoma Neighborhood are looking into the matter.
Multi Care is apparently going to give a presentation at the next New Tacoma Neighborhood meeting.
Unfortunately, Multi Care has not responded to the question of how much pollution will be emitted. Here’s some information I found.
Carbon Dioxide 117,000
Carbon Monoxide 40
Nitrogen Oxides 92
Sulfur Dioxide 1
Particulates 7
(pounds of pollutants per billion BTU – British Thermal Units)
The 90 foot smoke stacks are not on the plant for nothing. They are required to attempt to disburse the pollutants.
We still do not know how much natural gas is expected to be burned at the facility. Without that information, we cannot calculate the pollution generated.
Yes, natural gas is the cleanest fossile fuel that can be burned. I am sure that the plant will meet the EPA standard.
The problem here is the very close proximity to Wright Park.
Pollution disburses as a function of distance away from the source. If there was little wind, the pollution could be more concentrated. Tacoma knows this scenario only too well.
No doubt that if the plant was located a good distance away there would be no problem.
Another question that was not answered was the difficulty of locating the steam plant in a locationt that was no adjacent to Wright Park. Multi Care owns a great deal of land in the area.
Are there other locations which would not have such a large impact? How about the location of the current steam plant which is as near to the park?
Also, I see that the “artist rendition” of the plant above is drawn so as to make the smoke stacks almost non-existent.
A more realistic view of the plant is found in the engineering drawings attached to the
City Managers Report Pages 31 – 39.
The report from city staff report indicates that there will be three 90 foot stainless boiler stacks.
According to the city, the current design apparently does not meet the design requirements of the city so far as the deisgn would have a large “shear wall” and would not meet the cities’ “transparency requirements.”
While we are in the design phase, let’s see how we can allow a reasonable facility to be built while reducing the impacts.
I haven’t read anything about how many “people ovens” this new facility will have, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
5 | Posted by RR Anderson | Feb 23, 03:07 PM
And if I recall correctly, one of RR Anderson’s skills is in animation and graphic design.
I’m scared…
8 | Posted by morgan | Feb 23, 07:32 PM
I see beauty in the conglomeration of different architectural esthetic and styles in cities. The contrast of this modern building with its stainless steel spires against the natural beauty of the park with its wooded greens will cool. One of my favorite buildings in Seattle is the Zymogenetics lab in Westlake with its smokestacks clearly visible from the freeway and Lake Union. Why are people on this blog so concerned when a building, light post, what ever doesn’t mesh with there idea of a pleasing esthetic. The medical establishment in Tacoma is second rate, and the existing hodgepodge of buildings on I street is hideous. I see this as progress towards rectifying both of those problems. So what if it doesn’t look like a turn of the century what ever. By the way the Methodist church was overrated as far as churches go.
9 | Posted by Hill Top Guy | Feb 26, 05:07 PM
The Zymogenetics buildig is cool, but it’s actually quite old.
For what it’s worth, I think that the stainless steel stacks on the Multicare proposal look pretty nice. In fact, the steam plant design generally impresses me more than the emergency room drawing that was posted here. Maybe it’s the color in the steam plant picture, or maybe I just don’t like the square honeycomb thing tacked on the near edge of the emergency room drawing.
10 | Posted by Erik S | Feb 26, 05:45 PM
I changed my mind. I’m going to call the part of the emergency room design that bothers me the most the “Hollywood Squares wing”.
11 | Posted by Erik S | Feb 26, 05:46 PM
Construction is expected to begin in April 2007.
!?
First, Multicare tears down a perfectly fine historic church and now this?! What are they thinking?! Is this the best they can do?
Why has there been a complete disregard for the community in Multicare’s design “process”?! Their behavior is completely without merit. What a way to completely miss an opportunity to engage the community and end up with a better design because of it. How very short-sighted.
It was pointed out to me while strolling my son through Wright Park today that those three 90 foot (!) towers will be visible from nearly every spot in the park.
Why isn’t Metro Parks voicing concern about the millions they are about to spend in beautifying Wright Park become wasted because it will be in the shadow of three 90 foot venting stacks! If instead of a park, there were privately owned companies or residences, do you think they would look at the plans and say, “Looks great!” I don’t think so! They would raise some serious hell!
I can’t believe that the city’s zoning code is encouraging this to happen.
12 | Posted by morgan | Mar 5, 12:28 AM
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