Toms River Engineer Receives Honor for Parking Garage Design

Toms River's township engineer Robert Chankalian will be honored with a "Green Apple" award for the upgrades made to the municipal parking deck. 

Chanklaian is being recognized with the New Jersey Concrete Awards Committee honor because the roof design of the parking garage, located at Robbins and Water Streets, shows "an innovative use of a concrete structure" that also includes solar panels, according to the township. Upgrades to the structure were made during 2012. 

According to Chankalian, the township was able to complete the project through a $902,000 federal grant to make increase energy efficiency, which included the cost of the solar panels. 

"At the same time, we needed to fix the parking garage," Chankalian said in a statement. "We saved the $15 million structure by installing a roof on it. Then, we wound up using solar panels on the garage roof and turned it into a great energy-efficient project that is estimated to generate a savings of $30,000-40,000 per year."

Water leaks would cause cracking on all three of the parking garage's floors, which was not good for its structural integrity. 

"To conserve funds, we utilized the old structure and rehabilitated it for 25 percent of the replacement cost to build a new one," Chankalian said.

Now, according to the township, the garage doesn't stay wet from rainfall, meaning no leaks or ice formation. 

The "Green Apple" award will be presented during a May 9 dinner in New Brunswick. The ceremony is sponsored by the New Jersey Chapter of the American Concrete Institue and the New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association.