July 30th, 2009
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
In the journal of green urbanism, you don’t find much about Detroit, Birmingham, Salina or Stockton. These cities have proud histories, but they’ve not eco-agitators, like say, San Francisco.
Movers and shakers in Stockton, though, say they’re ready to step up to the plate. Developers there just announced a large, green development called The Preserve which they say will make the mid-sized city east of the Bay area an authentic player in the green space. The Preserve, conceived of as a large, but nature-loving mixed use development, should become a magnet for businesses and residents that might not otherwise consider the city a green destination, its developers say.
“The Preserve will demonstrate to all that Stockton has a bright future, a future that benefits from forward thinking about our environment,” said David Nelson, Executive Vice President of A. G. Spanos Companies, the national developer, which is based in Stockton.
Spanos says The Preserve will have half the carbon emissions of a similarly sized conventional development and will preserve a large swath of the cities wetlands. It is being designed by San Francisco office of Gensler, a widely known architectural firm, in accordance with the guidelines of the One Planet Community, a global outreach that.
One Planet Community encourages “true sustainability” by guiding developers and cities to consider public transit, economics, natural habitats, energy and water, jobs, education and human health.
“The Preserve is on track to be endorsed as an official One Planet Community, joining a prestigious network of the world’s greenest neighborhoods,” said Greg Searle, executive director of BioRegional North America, the environmental organization that developed the ten principles that make for a sustainable community.
Among The Preserve’s features:
- An area of protected farmland that will extend to neighborhoods, allowing for residents to grow local produce and with a goal that the community will produce 3 to 10 percent of its own food.
- A permanent greenbelt on the city’s north side, connecting parts of The Preserve to help keep driving to a minimum. Nearly half (45 percent) of the development will be devoted to green spaces or lakes.
- Higher density development with housing for all sizes of families and a community hospital.
- All of the communities non-potable water will be from recycled systems or harvested rainwater.
The developers hope that The Preserve will support 12,000 jobs on-site, linking work spaces with housing to reduce commutes and generating $2 billion in investment and new jobs. A Gensler spokesman said the firm expects The Preserve to be “a model of responsible development.”
Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
