Parking will be tight at the YMCA in Santa Rosa for the next few weeks at the nonprofit health facility as solar panels are installed over its north parking lot.
The payoff will be an estimated $250,000 in energy cost savings over the next 15 years. What's more, the project is costing the YMCA nothing.
Heavy construction began Monday, reducing the lot's parking spots by half. A cyclone fence has blocked the middle spots, leaving some Y members out of luck during peak hours.
Additional parking is available directly west of the building, and David Brown, the Y's president and CEO, said staff went door-to-door informing neighbors that street parking by club members would likely increase.
Construction is expected to be completed by the beginning of next year. Trees in the parking lot have been removed and construction has begun on a structure that will eventually cover the lot.
"There will be no loss of parking spaces when it is completed because it will be a carport," Brown said.
The solar project involves a unique leasing partnership between the YMCA and a group of alternative energy investors. SolarCity, a national solar energy builder, is providing the panels and solar installation, while the financing is coming from TerraVerde Renewable Partners of Larkspur.
The investors' companies will lease the property from the Y, which in turn will buy energy from the two alternative energy companies.
The project will make the Y a greener operation, Brown said in a statement on the nonprofit's website.
"Over a 15-year period, this translates into a reduction of over 3 million pounds of carbon in our air, as well as a reduction of 2,000 pounds of NOx (a leading cause of smog), 500 pounds of SO2 (a leading cause of acid rain) and 600 pounds of particulates (a leading cause of asthma)."
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