Some great ideas in this article, “pervious paving that allows rainwater to seep into the earth”? I love that one.
An excerpt.
Plan to Turn San Luis Obispo Farmland Into Green Mall to Go Before Voters
Owner hopes monarch preserve, organic farm and other amenities for a proposed mall will win favor in San Luis Obispo County.
By Steve Chawkins, Times Staff Writer September 12, 2006
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Ernie Dalidio knows all too well that lots of folks in this progressive little college town don't want to see a Target and a Lowe's sprout on his old family farm. But after more than 15 years of futile attempts, he figures he may have found the key to winning their approval for his bitterly contested shopping center: Bring on the butterflies!
Dalidio wants to start a "natural habitat preserve and viewing area" so shoppers can stroll to a eucalyptus grove and gaze out at the fluttering monarchs. He also plans to set aside 13 acres for an organic farm.He wants to carve out a mile-long bike path. And open a seven-day-a-week farmers market, landscape with native grasses, install some waterless urinals, use earth-friendly paving in some of the parking areas — in short, to do what it takes to paint a collection of big-box stores pleasingly green.
"It's become a will-of-the-people kind of thing," said Dalidio, whose plan goes to a countywide vote in November.Dalidio's proposed shopping center might be the only one in the nation garnished with organic veggies, but he's hardly the only developer who sees political and commercial value in going green.
Over the last few years, green building has outgrown its Birkenstocks. To curry community favor and save on skyrocketing utility costs, mainstream retailers have been pouring millions of dollars into once-exotic energy-saving measures.
In McKinney, Texas, a 200,000-square-foot demonstration Wal-Mart store comes complete with wind turbine and wildflower meadow.
In Chicago, Target has experimented with "green roofs," replacing vast expanses of concrete and asphalt with plants to trim heating and cooling costs.
In Savannah, Ga., a renovated shopping center called Abercorn Common offers choice parking spots to hybrid vehicles and irrigates its greenery entirely from collected rainwater. This year, it became the first shopping center to earn certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, which sets standards for environmentally sustainable construction.
"A large number of retailers are on the verge of making very large commitments to building green," said Rick Fedrizzi, the council's director. "Where you've got good daylight, nontoxic smells, good ventilation, good thermal comfort — that's a place shoppers will linger."
…The center as a whole would offer a smorgasbord of green features. Solar panels would serve as eye-level educational displays on bus-stop shelters. The parking lot would be broken into four sections crisscrossed by walkways and dotted with hundreds of trees. In some areas, "pervious" paving would allow rainwater to seep into the earth. All buildings would exceed the state's energy efficiency standards by 10%.
Outdoor lights would be muted, keeping the night sky as dark as possible. Drought-resistant native plants would thrive in "demonstration gardens," composting toilets would be installed in restrooms at the farmers market, and the two planned soccer fields would be irrigated with recycled wastewater from an on-site treatment plant.
