Reston Community Center (RCC) will update its Hunters Woods facility this summer, requiring some reductions in programming and a temporary closure of its swimming pool.
Starting on July 22, contractors are slated to replace the elevator and install solar panels, among other energy improvements, in the nearly 50-year-old flagship building at 2310 Colts Neck Road. The Terry L. Smith Aquatics Center will be closed during construction, which is expected to last through Sept. 6.
RCC Hunters Woods will otherwise remain open and continue offering services, such as dance classes and summer camps, but events and room rentals will be limited.
“Programs scheduled at RCC HW will take place, albeit with occasional interruptions possible due to the two projects,” RCC said in a press release. “Staff have limited rentals during this period to avoid booking events or uses for which such interruptions would be difficult to tolerate.”
Because of the disruptions, RCC won’t be issuing any new monthly or annual passes this July and August. Members with a pass that expires in August or later, in the case of annual passes, will get a one-month extension.
Work on the new elevator will be conducted overnight during the first couple weeks of construction “to avoid demolition activity noise and disruption,” RCC said.
That scheduling increased the project’s cost, which is currently estimated to be $303,864, but it’s necessary to ensure that summer camps and other programs can run smoothly, according to RCC.
The energy project will upgrade the facility’s hot water and energy-related systems with new rooftop solar panels to help generate electricity, LED lighting, updated hot water plant boilers and pumps, and controls system modifications, per the press release.
Projected to cost approximately $1.49 million, the changes will offset the building’s current carbon emissions by 260 metric tons.
The energy upgrades were recommended by an audit that RCC commissioned last year from the consulting firm CMTA. With many of the Hunters Woods facility’s utilities nearing the end of their useful life, the report proposed three options for improving the building’s energy efficiency, ranging in scope from just the addition of a rooftop solar panel to an electrification of the central hot water plant.
The community center ultimately decided to pursue a mid-level option that would add a solar panel and renovate the hot water plant by replacing the existing boilers with more efficient, gas-fired ones.
According to the audit, the new hot water plant will produce 60 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide than if RCC replaced the boiler with the same kind that it’s currently using. It will also save $924,343 in energy costs over 30 years.
“Given the age of the building and scale of cost differences compared to possible future savings arising from potential innovations, the middle option of three was selected to provide the greatest energy utilization improvement at the most reasonable cost,” RCC said in its 2024 annual report, which anticipates that the project’s cost will be recovered in 26 years.
Coinciding with the energy project and elevator replacement, the aquatics center will also undergo standard pool maintenance done from late August into the beginning of September.
