To curtail sprawl we need to refocus on our inner cities, and make these spaces more livable.  As gas prices increase from $3 to $4 to $5 dollars a gallon and more, people will have financial incentives to rethink the American city - including Spokane.

The Kendall Projects provides a unique opportunity to “do it right” -- potentially providing a model for the Inland Northwest that integrates environmental sustainability into everything from sidewalks to building and condominiums, public transportation that is affordable

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Kendall Yards provides Black Rock Development and the City of Spokane a unique and wonderful opportunity to create a world class SUSTAINABLE development.  Including principles of sustainability in the design and construction of Kendall Yards will put Spokane on the maps as a progressive city, highly livable, and in DEED (not just in ironic “hype”) “Near Nature, Near Perfect”.   

First of all, Black Rock and the City of Spokane should be commended for already fulfilling some major principles of low impact sustainability:  reclaiming and in-filling an urban brownfield, for mixed use development!  Now, imagine building this development with certifiable, sustainable, “human friendly” (as opposed to “car friendly”), and environmentally friendly practices, that are energy efficient and cost effective.  What a success story!

Here is a brief overview of some basic principles of sustainability – and some examples of how these could be incorporated into Kendall Yards.  In a nutshell – Sustainability = the 3 E’s.  It protects the Environment, is Economically viable, and protects social Equity.  Some people call it a “triple bottom-line.”  We propose that Kendall Yards integrates the following sustainable principles into its development (1) preserving and strengthening the quality of the natural environment, (2) including affordable housing units and ensuring strong connectivity with the existing W. Central neighborhood and its residents, and (3) prioritizing local businesses for development contracts and in the future for occupancy in the Kendall Yards commercial centers.  

Specific examples include:

Neighborhood Diversity

♣Incorporate a mix of affordable housing units into the development for low- and middle-income people (apartment units and houses)

♣Encourage mobility of Kendall Yards residents and existing West Central residents across neighborhood boundaries 

Construction

♣Balance cut and fills. 

♣Use recycled, renewable, and/or local materials.  How about using the art-deco panels from the soon to be leveled Rookery building? Please!  And the wonderful boulders and conglomerate slabs, now already on site, could be beautiful landscape features, used as check dams in bio-swales.

♣Use local contractors – favor contractors with “Green” certification and/or experience.

♣Passive solar design

Stormwater Management 

♣Collect stormwater in mosquito free cisterns, for reuse in watering landscaping and habitat plantings

♣Using bio-swales to filer percolating stormwater on site

♣Appropriate use of permeable paving and porous asphalt

♣Eliminating some curbs to allow sheet flow runoff into bio-swales

♣Green roof construction

♣Include alternative energy - photovoltaic options in residential and commercial  zettings.

Landscape

♣Maximize xeriscaping and native landscape plantings to enhance habitat (birds, etc.) AND for reduced use of water, fertilizer, pesticides

♣Use drought tolerant turf, native plants,  and clump plantings by drought tolerance for efficient water use

♣Use recycled stormwater for irrigation

♣Plant many street trees!  Use some older/larger trees – keep at least SOME indigenous trees that  pre-date Kendall Yards

♣Create public green spaces for gathering, recreation, and bike and pedestrian trails within the development (accessible to all community residents)

♣Minimize light pollution while providing adequate lighting for transit stops, walkways (check out: http://www.scn.org/darksky/code/wa/redmond.pdf)

Getting Around

♣Incorporate traffic calming such as traffic circles, neighborhood scale streets matching the neighborhood grid pattern (600-1,000 feet blocks), and…more street trees

♣Promote similar traffic calming principles in all parts of W. Central Neighborhood

♣Have frequent transit stops, protected from weather, with art and/or plantings

♣Create covered and secure bicycle parking

Please include support of certifiable Sustainable Design and Construction for Kendall Yards in your comments!!!

This is just a short list of suggestions we hope Kendall Yards will incorporate into its plan.  This is a wonderful opportunity for Black Rock Development and the City of Spokane to lead the way in creating a model sustainable neighborhood.