Salty Brine State Beach
The 2-story bathhouse includes restrooms, showers, a snack bar, handicapped-accessible decks on the upper level, a lifeguard station and storage space.
The project also includes a 10kW residential-scale wind turbine and solar panels. The solar panels will heat hot water while the wind turbine will provide electricity.
The new 2,478 s/f facility replaced a bathhouse constructed in the 1950s. The state re-named Sand Hill Cove Beach in 1990 as a tribute to a local radio personality Walter "Salty" Brine.
Funding for the project included $900,000 from R.I. capital funds, $100,000 from the governor's Commission on Disabilities, and $900,000 from the National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund. The R.I. Economic Development Corp. provided a $32,175 grant for funding construction of the wind turbine.
BH&A of Boston designed the facility and oversaw construction. Iron Construction Group, LLC of Providence handled the construction. SGE provided the wind turbine.
The project was designed to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED silver certification for energy efficiency.