Johnson County Sustainability Program

Building design and construction

In 2006, Johnson County became the first local government in the Kansas City metropolitan area to construct and operate a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Gold certified building. This facility, the Sunset Drive Office Building has been recognized with 17 local, regional and national awards ( include list?). More importantly, it has hosted over 10,000 visitors who have come to learn how buildings can be designed, constructed, maintained and operated in a way that reduces environmental impacts and economic costs.

County Communications Center

In May 2009, the new County Communications Center opened. The 47,000 square foot, $21 million facility was built to accommodate dispatch operations for natural disasters and other emergencies. The CCC is a secured, structurally hardened building designed to remain functional even if hit by a tornado with winds of 240 mph. The new facility features redundant systems that would allow emergency communications for fire, emergency medical, and law enforcement services to continue during a utility outage. The county anticipates receiving a LEED® Silver certification from the United States Green Building Council for the facility. Once certified, the CCC will be only the third Silver-level building in the State of Kansas.

Johnson County is planning to construct three new facilities that are expected to be LEED® certified. A juvenile detention facility, scheduled for completion in 2011, will incorporate a geothermal heating system and is expected to be certified LEED® Gold. The new Sheriff's Office Crime Laboratory, currently in the design phase, is expected to achieve LEED® Gold and may become the first county building to be certified LEED® Platinum. A public works facility currently in the preliminary design phase will incorporate an alternative fueling station for county vehicles and is also expected to achieve LEED® Gold.

The benefits of constructing a LEED® certified building can be undermined by improper maintenance and operation. Johnson County is committed to ensuring that building mechanical systems are operated and maintained regularly and in a manner that maximizes their efficiency. Green Seal™ certified cleaning products are used to clean county buildings, eliminating a source of environmental contaminants that could impact the health of employees and visitors to county facilities.

During the construction of both the Sunset Drive Office Building and the CCC, strict recycling guidlines were set in place and followed by the contractors. All waste was sorted and disposed of in appropriate recycling dumpsters. The Sunset building's construction generated less than ten dumpsters of waste that went to the landfill - a project of that size not employing recycling would normally have created close to one hundred.

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CONTACT US
Johnson County
Sustainability Program
111 S. Cherry Street
Olathe | KS | 66061
PH: 913-715-1100
FX: 913-715-1130