Birds & Bees: Green Roof Prep Begins At Windsor Terrace Library

Construction started today on the green roof at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Windsor Terrace branch, a project neighbors voted on through participatory budgeting in 2014.

The branch, at Ft. Hamilton Parkway and East 5th Street, will get a 7,500-square-foot green roof to improve the building’s energy efficiency, add life to the structure’s roof, keep stormwater out of the sewer system, improve air quality, and provide a wildlife habitat.

The roof will feature “extensive plantings, including shrubs, perennial groundcovers, and ornamental grasses like sedum, witch hazel, butterfly weed, and Carolina rose that will attract birds and other pollinators,” according to City Council Member Brad Lander.

This morning, construction crews began erecting scaffolding that already wraps around the entire building.

Neighbors voted to spend $250,000 in city funds to transform the roof during the 2014 Participatory Budgeting session from Lander’s 39th District. Check here for other District 39 PB budget projects in progress.

In the meantime, bookworms can visit the library’s Bookmobile truck on Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am–4pm beginning March 15 (though that may be delayed because of the forecasted blizzard starting tomorrow.)

While the library shutters for a month, take this opportunity to get to know nearby branches: the Cortelyou branch at 1305 Cortelyou Road, the Flatbush Library at 22 Linden Boulevard, and the Kensington library at 4207 18th Avenue.

The library is scheduled to reopen on April 10, according to the branch’s website, though the roof build could continue through the summer.