Sustainability : Development News

GoBurgh, a coalition of organizations with a shared mission to promote vibrant and sustainably funded transportation infrastructure in Pittsburgh, hosted the city’s first-ever Transit Day last Thursday.

“Transit is big here,” says Chris Sandvig of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, which manages GoBurgh.
“Transit Day’s point is to call attention to the fact that there are a lot of people who rely on the system. We don’t generate tax revenue without transit, and it’s costing us employers.”

Transit Day arose out of PCRG’s efforts toward advocacy fundraising. The proposed 35 percent transit service cuts that were narrowly averted last year thanks to state assistance would have cost more than $300 million to Allegheny County taxpayers.

“We’re starting a conversation locally about what sort of transit system we want,” Sandvig says. “We’ve had no vision of a transit system of the future since Skybus. We have all these great ideas about light rail and commuter rail, but what comes first? That’s the conversation we need to have.”

The Transit Day celebration, which took place in Market Square, offered attendees free Eat’n Park smiley cookies and entertainment from comedian Gab Bonesso and Meeting of Important People’s Josh Verbanets.  

Additionally, commuters who used the Carnegie, Wilkinsburg and Showcase Cinema Park and Ride installations were treated to free coffee and Transit YES! buttons.

Writer: Matthew Wein
Source: Chris Sandvig

The initiative to get Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) rolling between Downtown and Oakland has been given another boost with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The grant will support research, communications, and community outreach efforts to engage and educate the public on the benefits of BRT.

GetTherePGH, a BRT Stakeholders Advisory Committee, facilitated by Sustainable Pittsburgh, welcomed last week’s announcement as well the opportunity to continue working with the community to raise awareness about the BRT project.

Though specifics of the grant are yet to be determined, Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Court Gould says the Rockefeller Foundation has shown an interest in enabling citizens to have a voice in determining what BRT projects should look like, let alone whether they should be implemented at all.

BRT is a form of bus transit that operates similarly to a rail system—though less expensive to implement—with dedicated stations, route priority, and platform fare collection, among other efficiency measures.

The Rockefeller Foundation has awarded $1.2 million to be split among four cities: Nashville, Boston, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. The funding initiative is part of the foundation’s Transform Cities effort.

“Rockefeller having competitively identified Pittsburgh in the echelon of the other three is a significant validation of several years of concerted effort here to study the benefits of Bus Rapid Transit,” Gould says.

Pittsburgh’s BRT effort is an outgrowth of recommendations from the Port Authority of Allegheny County’s 2009 Transit Development Planning Process, a comprehensive review of the agency’s entire system.  BRT served as a key component of serving Downtown to Oakland, and to the East End, Gould says.

The Bravo Group, a public relations firm, has been selected to lead the outreach effort in Pittsburgh.


Writer: Andrew Moore
Source: Court Gould

One of the Pittsburgh region's leading construction companies has a new headquarters that's now among the "greenest" in the world.

Sota Construction Services Inc. achieved LEED Platinum Certification recently for its own office building, in Bellevue, earning the most LEED points ever awarded to a project in Pennsylvania, and the fifth-highest score in the entire LEED system worldwide.

The office building includes passive and high efficiency active radiant slab heating and cooling; natural ventilation; use of natural materials including straw bale and cob wall construction, reused and recycled materials; day lighting; rainwater harvesting; and low water use fixtures.

Ernie Sota, President of Sota Construction Services, says that while many new LEED structures are criticized for high energy consumption, this building is actually performing better than energy models had projected. "We focused on energy here very much from the original design," he says.

In addition to having an efficient thermal envelope, rooftop solar panels are producing up to 70 percent of the building's energy needs.

Sota says the building's use of cob wall construction—an ancient building method that is a mixture of sand, clay, and straw—demonstrates the viability of it and other "self-assembled" materials in Southwestern Pennsylvania. "Those natural building materials," he says, "[are] possibly a pathway to a kind of unlimited green future for all of us.”

Design and construction was done by a large local and international team, including evolveEA, Studio d’Arc , ARUP International, Building Science Corporation, Iams Consulting, Tudi Mechanical, Greenweavers, and Construction Junction.

The Green Building Alliance will offer tours of the building during its Earth Day at Ernie’s event on Thursday, April 18^th, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information and to register, visit the GBA’s website here.
 

Writer: Andrew Moore
Source: Ernie Sota

A new bike sharing program is in the works for Pittsburgh, a service that will enhance the city's ever-growing bicycle culture.

The 500-bike system planned for Pittsburgh is expected to debut in summer 2014. The service will give users unlimited "free" 30 to 60 minute rides through annual or 24-hour memberships. Bikes, which are available 24/7, can be returned to any of the 50 solar-powered stations in the system.

Bike Pittsburgh's Scott Bricker says the service will be a game changer for cycling in the city, and will help to mainstream bikes as a mode of transportation. "It'll be much easier to integrate bicycling into daily life for regular people," he says.

A preliminary map of potential bike-share stations shows locations throughout Downtown and Oakland, as well as in the East End, North Side, and South Side.

Bike sharing systems typically involve making bicycles available throughout a city, with corrals located at strategic transportation centers. They allow users to ride without owning a bike, and are ideal for visitors as well as residents making quick one-way trips.

The Pittsburgh Bike Share Partnership (PBSP), a newly formed non-profit, announced plans for the system on Monday during an event at Bakery Square. At that facility a smaller-scale bike-share program is available to commuters between Carnegie Mellon University and Google.

A $1.6 million grant from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program will help fund the $4 million bike share project.

Bike share programs already exist in over 200 cities worldwide, including Paris, with 20,000 bicycles, and the Hangzhou Public Bicycle program in China, which at 66,500 bicycles is the largest in the world. And several American cities, including Denver, Minneapolis, D.C., Boston, and Miami Beach have also launched bike shares.

PBSP is an alliance of the City of Pittsburgh, Bike Pittsburgh, and Walnut Capital.

Two upcoming public information sessions will allow residents to learn more about the proposed system: 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 2nd at CMU, McKenna-Peter-Wright Rooms; and 12 p.m., Wednesday, April 3, 2013, at Point Park University’s Lawrence Hall Ballroom, 201 Wood Street.


Writer: Andrew Moore
Source: Scott Bricker

Mark your calendars: the final segments of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) will soon be complete.

On June 15th, a celebration will be held to mark the opening of the new trail segments, currently under construction at Sandcastle Waterpark and Keystone Metals.

The event, titled Point Made!, will take place in West Homestead and at Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The GAP trail is a 141 mile car-free route for cyclists and hikers running from Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, Maryland.  In Cumberland the GAP joins the C&O Canal Towpath, which together creates a continuous, 325-mile long trail from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C.

Allegheny Trail Alliance President Linda Boxx says the idea for the GAP trail was first discussed over 40 years ago in 1973. Since then, the project has chugged along with trail segments built over time, occasionally just a mile at a time.

And in the Mon Valley, the Alliance didn’t have access to railroad properties. “We were basically negotiating with individual property owners piece by piece to put that alignment together,” Boxx says.

The event will begin a ribbon-cutting near Sandcastle, followed by a bike ride to The Point, where the party will take place. Boxx says the ride will be a bicycle parade party.

Construction of the final segments, which began last October, will actually be completed ahead of the event, by late May.

Point Made! will be preceded by a week-long bicycle ride from Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh, as well as a 24-hour relay that will leave D.C. on Friday and arrive Pittsburgh on the 8^th. 

“There will be a lot of opportunities for communities to jump in and help us celebrate this great accomplishment,” Boxx says. “So many hands over so many years.”
 
Writer: Andrew Moore
Source:  Linda Boxx

As urban gardening continues to gain momentum, the City of Pittsburgh is now sponsoring a targeted edible gardens program.

Part of Green Up Pittsburgh, Mayor Ravenstahl’s new Edible Gardens program seeks to transform vacant lots into food producing spaces that not only feed the community but beautify it too.

The funds will enable neighborhood volunteers to purchase materials for constructing raised beds, purchase tools, seeds, or even fruit trees and shrubs. The program is targeting 10 to 15 low-income neighborhoods where access to fresh produce is limited.

For several years the City has supported neighborhood organizations and allowed gardening on city-owned properties. Through Green Up Pittsburgh, more than 125 green spaces have been created, says mayoral spokesperson Joanna Doven. And existing garden groups can also apply for funding.

Edible Gardens is made possible by a $100,000 Cities of Service Impact Volunteering Fund grant, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The funds were awarded to support two of the administration’s servePGH initiatives.

The grant also funds a city “cool roofs” initiative, where city-owned buildings are topped with reflective white paint, keeping facilities cooler and offering savings on summer energy costs. 

Of 60 applicants, Pittsburgh is one of 19 cities to receive the Cities of Service grant. Partners in the project include Grow Pittsburgh and The Penn State Center.

Applications are required, and those received by February 22 will be given priority.  Applications will continue to be accepted throughout the growing season. The first gardens are scheduled for planting in March and April. 

 
Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Joanna Doven

One of the Pittsburgh region’s greatest challenges is a long-term solution to transportation funding.  And it’s one of three major topics to be addressed at tomorrow’s 12th annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Smart Growth Conference.

The conference is a gathering of business leaders, local government, and other professionals and non-profit groups.  According to Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Court Gould, the region’s challenges—including transit—are issues that can only be solved by cross-sector coordination.

“The solution for public transportation funding won’t just be found in Harrisburg,” Gould says.  “Rather, it has to be shouldered by our region.”

At the conference, Barry Schoch, PennDOT’s Secretary of Transportation, will give a talk titled Beyond quick fixes.  According to Schoch, transportation funding has historically involved short-term infusions but not long-term solutions. 

“As we look at this to the future, for all modes, we’re looking at solutions that we believe will grow in time, that will be fair and user-fee based,” Schoch says. 

Specifics of the plan will be announced early next year.

This transit conversation comes just days after Governor Corbett’s recent pronouncements that his administration is committed to finding a plan for funding transportation in Pennsylvania.

Although Secretary Schoch won’t be providing specifics on the plans being developed by his department and the governor, he intends to use the conference as an opportunity to hear from the audience about local transportation priorities.  He says this information will help shape those future plans.

The Smart Growth Conference, created by Sustainable Pittsburgh, is co-presented this year by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and Local Government Academy.  Other conference topics include green infrastructure and urban redevelopment financing. 

The Smart Growth Conference will be held tomorrow, Thursday, December 13th, from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.

 
Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Court Gould, Sustainable Pittsburgh; Barry Schoch, PennDOT

A Pittsburgh institution has again been lauded for its leadership in green design and sustainability.  Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens was recently recognized at the International Green Awards in London.

The conservatory was awarded the bronze level of honor in the Most Sustainable NGO category.  Organizations were judged in eight key performance areas, including energy, water, waste, resources, carbon, supply chain, transport and social.  Phipps was one of five finalists selected to demonstrate the globe’s most innovative approaches to sustainable leadership.

“It adds further validation of all the work that we’re doing at Phipps to make our organization be as green as possible,” says Richard Piacentini, Phipps executive director.  “We also think it’s great for our city.  It’s another feather in the cap for Pittsburgh and all the great things that are going on related to green buildings and operations."

The new Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL), which was unveiled to the public earlier this year, certainly drew attention from the green community.  It is billed as one of the greenest buildings in the world.

The CSL complex was built to meet the three highest green building standards: The Living Building Challenge; LEED Platinum; and the SITES landscape rating system.  It is expected to be the first building in the world to achieve all three ratings.

Other noted achievements include a green campus expansion effort that has resulted in the first LEED visitor center in a public garden; a tropical forest conservatory that is the most energy-efficient structure of its kind; and the first-ever LEED Platinum greenhouses.

The International Green Awards were established in 2006, and are judged by eco game-changers from various public sectors.

 
Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Richard Piacentini

At this year’s Commonwealth Awards, the 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania’s signature event, the theme of “Building Healthy Communities” will be emphasized in honor of the late Mark Schneider. 

A former Chairman of 10,000 Friends, Schneider was a leader in smart growth and sustainable development in the region.  In recognition of his impact, the organization’s highest individual award, the “Friend of Pennsylvania” Award, will be presented to Mark posthumously and will be renamed the “Mark C. Schneider Memorial Friend of Pennsylvania” Award.

And this year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Richard J. Jackson, co-author of the book and host/narrator of the public television series, Designing Healthy Communities.  Dr. Jackson is a recipient of the 2012 Heinz Award for the Environment.

Regional Director Grant Ervin says Schneider’s numerous projects in Pittsburgh are great examples of Dr. Jackson’s message—that the built environment has a direct correlation on public and individual health.

“Projects like Summerset and Washington’s Landing have set the bar high and have provided recognition that people want these types of products,” Ervin says.  “They were trailblazers at the time.”

10,000 Friends will also honor several southwest Pennsylvania awardees from the first round of the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative (PCTI) funding.  Schneider also helped develop the vision for PCTI and was one of its chief advocates.

Founded in 1998, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania is a statewide advocate for smart growth.  It has operated a Pittsburgh office since 2004.

The 2012 Commonwealth Awards will be held at Point Park University, Lawrence Hall 201, Wood Street, Downtown Pittsburgh.  For more information, and to register, click here.

 
Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Grant Ervin

The first Passive House in Western Pennsylvania is now complete.  A project of ACTION-Housing Inc., the home is a prototype for affordable housing that drastically cuts energy consumption by 85 percent.  An open house celebration will be held tomorrow, November 1st, at the newly-constructed home in Heidelberg.

Passive House design was first developed in Germany as a performance-based standard which limits energy consumption to 4.75 KBTU per square foot, per year.  According to Linda Metropulos, sustainability and development consultant with ACTION-Housing, that amounts to just 10 to 15 percent of what a typical house uses.

“It’s a very ambitious, but very possible standard to reach,” Metropulos says.  “We wanted to be able to demonstrate how that standard could be applied to a house in Pittsburgh.”

The Heidelberg Passive House is built with minimal ductwork and no furnace.  Instead, the home achieves its energy performance through super-insulation, by eliminating thermal bridges, maximizing air tightness, and features high-performance windows and doors, among other techniques.

ACTION-Housing hopes to replicate this house, or versions of it, throughout the region.  But Metropulos hopes it will also inspire other developers and contractors in the region to take-on the Passive House challenge.

“We would like other people to recognize that this is possible in Western Pennsylvania,” she says.

Although the home’s Passive House certification is still pending, a quality control consultant oversaw the construction process, and conducted performance tests using robust modeling tools, Metropulos says.

ACTION-Housing has been a weatherization assistance program provider for the past 30 years.  Additionally, it does renovation and new construction of houses that are for sale to moderate income households.  The Heidelberg Passive House is for sale to a household that is at 80% area-median income or less. 

The project is a partnership between the Allegheny County Economic Development and the Borough of Heidelberg, among others.  The home was designed by Thoughtful Balance Architects.

ACTION-Housing is also in the process of conducting a Passive House-standard retrofit of the McKeesport YMCA, built in 1922.

Tomorrow’s open house will be held at 1606 W. Railroad Street, Heidelberg, PA, from 3 to 6 p.m.  Speakers include County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Heidelberg Mayor Kenneth A. LaSota and Katrin Klingenberg, executive director of the Passive House Institute US.


Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Linda Metropulos

The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg is celebrating a new green building on campus, a 16,500 square-foot sustainable classroom and office building.  It was designed to achieve 30 percent annual energy savings and reduce water usage by 50 percent.  A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held last week.

Cassell Hall, named after Pitt Greensburg’s third president Frank A. Cassell, expects to achieve Silver LEED certification, and would be the first of its kind on the Westmoreland County campus.  The university anticipates the U.S. Green Building Council completing their review by the end of this fall.

The building was designed by Forty Eighty Architecture.  Landscaping around the building is part of  demonstrative rain gardens and storm water bioswales for on-site storm water management.

The building features numerous efficiencies which the university expects will allow for 28 percent less energy usage in heating and cooling, and 50 percent less water consumption

In other green building news, the South Side branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh reopened on Saturday following a $2.7 million renovation.   The project followed guidelines for LEED renovation standards and is in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The renovation also marks the first time in the library’s 103 years that it will have air conditioning.

"As part of our system-wide pledge to make our library buildings accessible as well as comfortable, it was very important for us to update the South Side to include air conditioning, and we incorporated the geothermal heating and cooling system," says Communications Manager Suzanne Thinnes.  "It’s the first of its kind in any Pittsburgh library."

And even with the new comforts, the library expects substantial energy savings through the reconditioning of existing windows; building envelope upgrades; geothermal heating and cooling; installation of low water usage plumbing fixtures; and the use of recycle and regional materials. 

Thinnes says that renovating libraries in the system as sustainably as possible is part of the library's commitment to the community.

The South Side branch was originally built in 1909, and was one of the first neighborhood branches.


Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Suzanne Thinnes

Today is the grand opening of the Phipps Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL), a building that promises to be one of the greenest in the world.  The CSL is a research, education, and administrative complex, and meets the three highest green building standards: The Living Building Challenge; LEED Platinum; and the SITES landscape rating system.

The complex is the centerpiece of the latest phase in a $20 million, multi-year expansion project underway at Phipps to upgrade and expand its facilities with an emphasis on green and sustainability.  While planning the project, Phipps accepted the Living Building Challenge issued by the U.S. Green Building Council, an attempt to raise the bar and define a closer measure of true sustainability in the built environment.

“In a way this building marks the end of a journey we've been on to really discover and learn about the most effective ways to build and operate our buildings, to be more in harmony and in tune with the environment,” says Richard Piacentini, executive director at Phipps.

According to Piacentini, the Living Building Challenge is a new benchmark that goes far beyond LEED Platinum, requiring that buildings are net-zero energy; that all water is captured and treated on site; and that many commonly-used but toxic materials are not used in construction.

The SITES system, a LEED-style rating for landscapes, is also new.  The CSL is a pilot for that program, and the center is expected to be the first in the world to achieve all three ratings.

Piacentini says the opening also marks the beginning of a new journey, as the center is developing a research program to understand how people learn about the environment and what motivates changes in behavior, based on environmental psychology.

While planning and developing the center, Phipps prioritized working with Pittsburgh- and Pennsylvania-based architects and engineers.  It was their goal to celebrate the talent and leadership of the region.

“It’s one of the greenest buildings in the world and we're going to be able to say that it was designed and built by people right here in Pittsburgh,” he says.

Today's gala is the official grand opening, and the center will be open for public tours in June.  Click here for a Pop City slideshow of the newly completed CSL.

Phipps Conservatory, One Schenley Park, 15213, 412-622-6914.


Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Richard Piacentini

Construction of the Environment and Energy Community Outreach (EECO) Center has finished, and the project’s supporters hope it will soon be offering East End residents a new way to go green and save money. 

When it opens in June, the center’s goal is to help low-income residents in the East End make their homes more energy-efficient through education and resources, to promote household water conservation, and to raise awareness about utility assistance programs.

And the facility itself will be a living demonstration of all the green technologies it advocates, such as rainwater harvesting, LED lighting, low-water use plumbing fixtures, geothermal walls, solar panels, urban gardens, and more. 

The current EECO Center project grew from State Senator Jim Ferlo’s vision for a vacant lot in Larimer that had been the site of a BP gas station.  In 2009 the site was donated to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and after several years of revisions and collaborations, the project’s building is complete.

Senator Ferlo says he hopes the ECCO Center will be a cornerstone for the ongoing efforts to redevelop Larimer on the principles of sustainability, and a greener neighborhood environment. 

Pittsburgh Community Services, Inc. (PCSI) is currently using the building for its neighborhood safety programs, as well workforce development, and nutritional assistance programs, among others.  After the grand opening, PCSI will continue to staff and manage the facility, directed by a programming advisory board.

In the coming weeks, the site is set for perimeter tree plantings by Tree Pittsburgh, an adjacent storm water management installation, and sustainable landscaping, all of which will work toward the vision for the EECO Center as a hub of all things green.
 

Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Senator Jim Ferlo; Shad Henderson

Sienna Sulla Piazza, an upscale-casual Italian restaurant and wine bar, opened last week in Market Square, replacing the former Bella Serra Urban Trattoria.  The previous restaurant was sold to its news owners in February, and the name change reflects the transition to Chef Matt Porco's new menu and aesthetic.

The new menu is built on smaller, less-expensive plates intended for multi-course dining.  Antipastos include mozzarella stuffed veal meatballs and chicken liver mousse; pastas such as parsnip ravioli with short ribs, house-made gnocchi with braised pork ragu, and wild mushroom risotto; and meat and seafood dishes include braised lamb osso bucco, chicken marsala with mascarpone polenta, and prosciutto wrapped Atlantic salmon.

Chef Porco's previous restaurant, Mio Kitchen & Wine Bar, garnered many accolades, including a 2010 Chef of the Year award from Pittsburgh Magazine.  Poroco says this new endeavor is a home-coming of sorts, as some of his earliest cooking experiences were in Market Square, where is family owned bars and restaurants in the '70s and '80s.

Yet while the menu and name have changed, fans of the former restaurant's intimate setting will find the familiar rustic-chic decor, which features plenty of exposed brick, dark woods, and intimate lighting.

And like its predecessor, Sienna is certified by the Green Restaurant Association,  which means it maintains environmental standards in seven categories, including water efficiency, waste reduction, and recycling, sustainable furnishings, and sustainable food and energy.

Sienna will continue to offer seasonal outdoor dining on the square, and is open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.  For more information and reservations, call 412-281-6363.
 

Writer:  Andrew Moore

Green living options are growing again on the South Side. Riverside Mews, which includes the city’s first net-zero home, is expanding with phase II of its townhome development.  

This latest phase will bring 18 new homes to the former-brownfield redevelopment site, located south of East Carson Street between 18th and 19th Streets.  Known for blending quality urban design with energy efficiency, developer Ernie Sota says homes at Riverside Mews actually perform 40% better than Energy Star requirements.

Phase I of Riverside Mews opened in 2007, and was one of the first energy-efficient residential developments in Pittsburgh.   It debuted with 14 units, some of which featured “sky room” rooftop decks, and were designed by the team of Perkins Eastman and Strada.

Sota says a few of the original homes have resold with appreciable gains in value, which speaks to the quality of the residences.  He cites earlier neighborhood developments, such as Fox Way Commons, New Birmingham, and South Shore Place, as important efforts to which Riverside Mews has built upon.

“We’ve taken the for sale housing on the South Side to the next level…taken what those products offered to another level of quality and size and space,” he says.

Sota says each home is customized for the buyer.  Initially, only the building’s shell is constructed, and once sold, homeowners choose from a floor-plan layout that meets their needs.  

Fourteen homes are complete in phase II, and eight have been sold.  The third and final phase, to be built nearest the river, will bring 16 additional homes to the site, with an anticipated completion date of early 2013.


Writer:  Andrew Moore
Source:  Ernie Sota