Lenexa City Hall

Lenexa City Hall is located at 17101 W. 87th St. Pkwy. and is home to several city departments including Executive, Legal, Finance, Community Development, Communications and Human Resources. City Hall offices are open Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The building also houses the Lenexa Public Market, a 250-seat auditorium known as the Community Forum, public meeting space, an art gallery and Park University classroom.

Committed to Excellence: Lenexa Civic Campus Green Efforts

Opened in July 2017, the Lenexa civic campus embraces environmental responsibility. The campus consists of the Lenexa Rec Center and a City Hall building which includes a Public Market and higher education classroom space and isLenexa City Hall and Commons pursuing LEED Certification. The City’s commitment extends beyond the new buildings and encompasses healthy living which impacts the community at large. 

The City of Lenexa ensured sustainable design and construction practices were a priority early on by pursuing the US Green Building Council’s LEED© Rating System. The following are some of the sustainable high performing features that were incorporated into the new campus. 

The Lenexa civic campus is located on a sustainable site that provides residents and visitors with a host of convenient benefits. Just steps from multi-family housing, restaurants, a park and many other nearby services for in the community, the campus is easily accessible to pedestrians. Bicyclists are encouraged to ride to the campus and park in one of several bike racks located throughout the site and a new bus route brings riders to the civic campus. Combined with walkability, this promotes healthy living and lessens dependency on vehicles. The campus also encourages low-emitting, fuel-efficient vehicles and has dedicated 5% of the total parking spaces in the new garage to these vehicles by providing preferred parking spaces located near the building entrances for these drivers. 

There are a variety of ways in which the campus has been designed to minimize heat absorption from the sun. Two ways this was achieved include that a majority of parking is located under cover (rather than on surface asphalt) and light-colored pedestrian walkways are found throughout the campus, providing a more natural thermal benefit. 

A light-colored, thermally insulated roof also helps to mitigate heat absorption for the buildings. By providing ample open space, building occupants and visitors can enjoy the green space which also helps with stormwater management and urban heat island effect. The City of Lenexa views stormwater as a priority and this site is no exception. The rate in which stormwater run-off leaves the campus is slower and run-off is treated by natural best practices. Lenexa has adopted best management practices in accordance with NPDES Phase II stormwater provisions.

In a concerted effort to conserve precious water, low-flow plumbing fixtures were installed in both buildings. These fixtures will save 238,902 gallons of water annually at the Rec Center making it 40% more water efficient than a building with conventional fixture. The City Hall building will conserve 123,654 gallons of water annually, which is more than 38% more efficient than conventional buildings.  Additionally, by selecting more native drought tolerant landscaping, there is less need for irrigation.

Buildings are the single largest consumer of energy in the United States. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), building usage accounts for 50-75% of all electricity produced nationwide. Much of this energy is wasted due to inefficiencies and human behavior. Therefore, special attention was given to energy performance at the Lenexa civic campus and was prioritized in design strategies. Each building was modeled to project the energy performance based on the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 Standard. Energy efficient lighting systems, low-E windows, an efficient pool pump and energy conserving ventilation systems were all utilized. 

The buildings were designed to take advantage of orientation, operating hours and best practices for managing use. The need for electric light is minimized by installing occupancy sensors and large glazed windows to take advantage of natural daylight throughout both buildings. The City Hall building was calculated to be greater than 30% more efficient than standard buildings and the Rec Center is projected to be greater than 20% more efficient. The City is tracking the energy and water usage of each building over time to ensure optimal performance. 

During construction, building materials that reduce the negative impact associated with processing raw materials was prioritized as much as possible. Additionally, recycling of consumables such as glass, paper/cardboard, plastic and aluminum is encouraged by all building occupants and visitors. 

Materials and resources were tracked closely during design and construction. More than 75% of all construction waste was recycled rather than sent to the landfill. More than 25% of the materials used to construct the buildings contain recycled content and were manufactured regionally to lessen the greenhouse gas emissions associated with manufacturing and transporting materials. Examples of materials that contain recycled content are steel, carpeting, insulation, acoustic ceiling tile and drywall. Materials that were sourced within a 500-mile radius of the building include concrete, landscaping and some building finishes.

According to the EPA, people spend more than 90% of their time indoors. We paid close attention to the quality of building materials to optimize the health of building occupants through indoor environmental quality components. Low-emitting paints, sealants and flooring were used to protect the health and well-being of occupants from airborne toxins that are typically in these products and harmful to breathe. Such products were carefully tracked to ensure they do not exceed strict VOC limits. 

The Rec Center and City Hall buildings are non-smoking with a strict policy to smoke only in the designated location which is beyond 25 feet of either building. Additional measures to improve the indoor air quality include active ventilation bringing in outdoor air, monitoring the air and heightened MERV filtration to improve air quality. Further comprehensive construction IAQ management practices were employed during the construction process to minimize dust and air pollutants from being trapped inside the buildings. Green housekeeping that uses less toxic cleaning products is another way in which the City of Lenexa has committed to maintaining healthy occupants over time. 

We encourage our workers and visitors to learn more about the benefits of sustainable design and construction. The Lenexa civic campus is proud to pursue green building certification under the LEED Rating System to ensure that the healthy, resource efficient qualities that were employed at the site are recognized through third-party certification. 

More information about LEED can be found at www.usgbc.org