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 From Pit to Park
Boone
County is a primarily rural and suburban area dotted with a number of
abandoned industrial sites. One such site is the 45-acre
Ellis
Mine gravel pit. AIA Northern
Kentucky is working with the
community to transform this inhospitable area into attractive parkland
available for recreational use.
Like many suburban communities in the United States, Boone County
development has resulted in few connections between places and with
little attention to sustainable growth.
The Ellis Mine site is owned by the Boone Conservancy, a civic-minded
nonprofit group who is an enthusiastic partner on the planning team.
In December 2006, AIA
Northern Kentucky held a community design
workshop. Participants addressed issues of sustainable
development including land use; storm water runoff; landscape water
use; yard waste; recycling; native plantings; and passive solar energy
generation.
AIA members joined with representatives of the Boone Conservancy, local
land owners, K-12 students and others to develop four redevelopment
schemes. The design team then presented a synthesized plan to
the
Boone Conservancy Board, drawn from the needs and desires of the
citizens and potential users of the park. With implementation
of
the plan, property values around the park are expected to rise.
Interest is building in Boone County to re-examine building codes and
ordinances to support sustainable design. The discussion
about
reusing the abandoned gravel pit has also stimulated community thinking
about the potential of turning other environmental liabilities into
civic assets through design.
Work at the Ellis Mine site has begun. All 45 acres have been
graded and seeded, and grass is beginning to grow where once there were
only rocks.
View
all Blueprint Initiatives
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