North Charleston – South Carolina’s Most Sustainable City?
The year 2007 will likely go down as the year that sustainability finally entered the American consciousness. The philosophy of Sustainability, defined as fostering a culture that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, is becoming a topic in daily conversation. Without interruption, sustainability as a major political and environmental topic is discussed on the World Wide Web, as major news magazines and television networks file reports on efforts to curb carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.
As South Carolina’s universities and municipal governments weigh their options for sustainable building, a living laboratory for green development has been emerging in North Charleston. The highly-publicized Noisette Community Master Plan, adopted by the City of North Charleston in 2004, set the guidelines for establishing a sustainable community in the wake of the Charleston Naval Base closure in 1996, forecasting a diverse, mixed use community embracing eco-friendly development and environmental restoration in one of the most heavily industrialized cities in South Carolina. In 2005, the master plan won the American Society of Landscape Architects top honors for urban redevelopment and design, which cited Noisette as a national model for municipal revitalization efforts.
Since 2001, the City has adopted civic guidelines to put sustainable into practice. City Council has adopted the Night Skies Ordinance, part of the International Dark-Sky Association’s efforts to encourage cities to adopt quality outdoor lighting to prevent light pollution to offer breathtaking views of the stars on clear nights. Some 1,000 cities worldwide have adopted similar laws within the past five years.
The City has also implemented the Ashley River Scenic Corridor Overlay, on the historic Ashley River corridor, in an effort to avoid encroachment of new housing developments near historic plantations like Middleton Place and Drayton Hall. Elsewhere, practical solutions abound – Mayor Keith Summey’s government was pivotal in promoting private efforts to recycle abandoned ocean shipping containers from port terminal operations into building materials for affordable housing. Pragmatic applications abound with simplicity of use, as the City adopts the use of energy-saving Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for stoplights along its streets.
Another spectacular example of a growing community acceptance for sustainable building is Oak Terrace Preserve, the City’s 55-acre eco-friendly redevelopment, currently in first phase construction on the site of a former World War II housing for shipyard employees. On build-out, Oak Terrace Preserve will feature 374 homes and town homes, built to the stringent standards of Earthcraft House and the Noisette Quality Home Standard, developed under the guidelines of the Atlanta-based Southface Energy Institute.
Some 400 trees were meticulously preserved on the Oak Terrace Preserve site, including many centuries-old grand oaks – a departure from housing developments which raze trees in favor of new homes. The neighborhood features pedestrian-friendly streets, and an interconnected network of alleyways, gardens, and walking trails.
Arguably, with these impressive gains, North Charleston is fast becoming the state’s most sustainable city. With a past dominated by heavy industry and military bases, just how has North Charleston positioned itself as a statewide leader in sustainability? “I believe there is a vision guiding North Charleston for sustainability,” says Rick DeVoe, executive director of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. “The vision is to transform North Charleston into a livable city, with a high quality of life, that embraces its history, traditions and environment.
“The human and natural resources necessary to making this a reality are in North Charleston,” adds DeVoe. “So far, the key has been networking, and developing public-private efforts that will make that vision a total reality.”
DeVoe added that entrepreneurial efforts, and the focus of the Charleston County School District, have also made contributions. The North Charleston Elementary School, located just off Park Circle, is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Design) certified school in South Carolina. Elsewhere, companies like Half Moon Outfitters, which located its headquarters on East Montague earlier this year, have recently received Platinum LEED certification, the highest designation offered by the United States Green Building Council.
Innovative companies – like Fisher Recycling, Southeast Biodiesel, Flexe-Pave, and the new Coast Microbrewery – were recruited by the Navy Yard at Noisette, in an effort to create a critical mass of sustainable businesses in North Charleston, part of the Noisette Community Master Plan.
However, the greatest innovations have yet to come, according to retired pastor Paul Pridgen, who, for decades has served as a civic leader in North Charleston. Last January, seed funding for the Clemson University Restoration Institute was approved by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board – a project that could potentially revolutionize the economy of the entire Lowcountry with application of its restoration and sustainability research projects.
Earlier, in 2006, the Michaux Conservancy, a 135-acre wetlands restoration project for Noisette Creek Preserve, under the tutelage of the Noisette Foundation, was formally announced.
“The Clemson University Restoration Institute and Michaux Conservancy are the two signatory developments that point to North Charleston as the statewide leader in sustainability,” observes Pridgen. “Without question, both will bring new innovations to North Charleston, generating employment, revitalizing the City, while putting the City on the national map.
Pridgen added, “With the support of the business community, and the beginning of green construction with projects like first phase development at the Navy Yard’s Powerhouse Basin, the future of North Charleston has a brilliant future as a sustainable city, a leader in South Carolina.”
