Officials advance $2.58 mil idea to link Tiburon Town Hall, library as public emergency hub

Green overlays show potential solar panel placements at the Belvedere-Tiburon Library (left) and Tiburon Town Hall as part of a $2.58 million proposal to link the two Tiburon Boulevard buildings as a joint emergency hub. The library plan calls for panels on the rooftop and over an expanded parking lot carport; Town Hall’s existing rooftop solar system would be replaced with a larger array. (BayRen via town of Tiburon)

Draft plans to convert Tiburon Town Hall and the Belvedere-Tiburon Library into a joint emergency hub carry a $2.58 million price tag, officials revealed last week, as the joint Emergency Preparedness Council voted unanimously to support the concept.

The proposal would outfit both Tiburon Boulevard buildings with new solar panels, a shared battery system and satellite internet to keep them operational for at least 48 hours when disasters cut power to the peninsula. Residents would be able to charge devices, refrigerate medications, access heating or cooling and receive official information at both facilities even if surrounding infrastructure is down.

The plan was presented at the Library Agency board meeting March 16 and a special Belvedere-Tiburon Emergency Preparedness Council meeting March 17. It was developed with guidance from the Bay Area Regional Energy Network, or BayREN, a program led by the Association of Bay Area Governments and funded by utility ratepayers through the California Public Utilities Commission that provides energy-efficiency programs and technical assistance to local governments across the nine Bay Area counties. BayREN engineers visited both buildings in September to conduct an energy roadmap assessment.

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