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Pasadena's City Hall
Photo: Leigh Grapentien
Courtesy City of Pasadena |
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Thinking Green
Pasadena Keeps the Faith
Near the end of the 19th century, William Morris, a founder of the British
Arts and Crafts movement, gave a lecture on the "lesser arts" of life,
those arts that supply our material needs. He insisted that the "ruling
spirit" for the creation of household items should be "love of nature in
all its forms."
As one of the hubs of the American Arts and Crafts movement, Pasadena has
a long association with this perspective, one of the roots of what we now
call "sustainable design." And thanks to a commitment that is shared by
citizens, elected officials, city management, and staff in the city
government, Pasadena is ensuring that
sustainability remains a core value in
the 21st century.
While it may be physically small at 23 square miles and 133,000 citizens,
Pasadena is thinking big, forging policies with enough scope to encompass
the future.
Consider Pasadena's response to the
Urban Environmental Accords (UEA),
developed in 2005 during a weeklong observance of UN World Environment Day
in San Francisco. The majority of the world's people now live in cities,
and these cities consume 75 percent of the world's resources. The UEA
outlines 21 action areas, from energy efficiency to reducing waste and
fossil fuel emissions, that can help cities achieve sustainability.
"The City Council and City Manager asked a task force composed of
employees from several departments to evaluate existing policies and
provide recommendations for incorporating sustainable practices into the
city's daily operations," recalls Mauricio Mejia, a program manager for
the Department of Water and Power. "The process took six months, and at
the end a
sustainable action plan
was developed for the council to consider."
Council members learned that the city had already achieved seven of the
goals of the UEA, with eight more attainable by 2012. The council agreed
to adopt the proposed plan, and the 71 action items that it included. In
September 2006, the city became a
signatory to the UEA, as well as the U.S.
Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
"Our environmental commitment requires Pasadena to cultivate superior
standards that promote sustainable municipal development," said Pasadena
Mayor Bill Bogaard. Within months of adopting the UEA, the city took a
stand that made the depth of this commitment clear.
Pasadena purchases about 65 percent of its power from Utah's Intermountain
Power Plant (IPP), a coal-fired facility that also supplies power to other
cities in Southern California. In November the city council voted not to
renew its contract with IPP, hoping to force the facility to come into
compliance with California's newly passed Global Warming Solutions Act.
The city has also attracted national attention for its aggressive actions
to spread the use of green building practices in the private sector,
passing an ordinance requiring all commercial construction over 25,000
square feet to follow LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
guidelines.
"We were one of the first cities in California to pass an ordinance aimed
at the private sector," recalls Mejia. "But we were the first city in the
state – and one of the few in the country – to pass an ordinance with real
teeth."
In his 2005 "state of the city" address, the Mayor asked city staff to
assist the Council in considering green building design, stating that the
city intended to "take a fresh look at our procedures to achieve
thoughtful and aesthetic building design and quality architecture."
As the year unfolded, this included a decision to make the retrofit and
restoration of Pasadena's historic city hall a model of green design.
Bridging between the historic and the green future, Pasadena's Fuller
Theological Seminary has commissioned the visionary Cradle to Cradle
author, architect William McDonough, to design a
new chapel and worship center, as well as
a residential complex.
With assistance from the city, commercial developers are also implementing
green building concepts. Jaylene Moseley, who develops commercial real
estate projects in Northwest Pasadena and nearby Altadena, recently earned
the city's first
LEED Gold certification for a project that transformed a former
industrial building into an energy-efficient, healthy and aesthetic work
environment.
The building shell, site and systems promote energy efficiency and
conservation, including an Energy Star rated cool roof; insulation on
exterior walls, a 32KW solar array, high efficiency lighting and more. In
addition to natural light, solar powered faucets, waterless urinals and
dual flush toilets, the building's restrooms include showers and lockers
for those who choose to pedal their way to work.
"It's exciting to live and develop in a community that embraces a more
responsible way of developing," said Moseley. "The leadership coming from
the city of Pasadena is unusual – beyond taking efforts to green its own
facilities, Pasadena is establishing a new standard for development."
"We need to make drastic changes in the way we use our resources and in
the impact of buildings on health and the environment," she adds. "But the
best way to approach this is on a project by project basis. I can be
responsible for what I do, and if we all think that way, we can tackle the
big problems."
Mejia observes that such projects are possible as result of "enacting
citywide policies while at the same time making incentives available," a
two-pronged approach that is helping Pasadena achieve economic and
environmental balance.
Other steps by the government include the creation of a new
Environmental Advisory Commission, to
oversee progress on the city's environmental action plan, and an
innovative "Think Green" campaign.
The Think Green initiative involves education and outreach efforts to all
city stakeholders - the residential sector, the development community, and
city staff.
RBF Consulting, a West coast firm
providing services for planning, design and construction of the built
environment, will be delivering series of workshops tailored for each
group. Topics range from an introduction to the city's green building
ordinance to green landscaping.
In his 2007 State of the City Address, Mayor Bogaard recalled an
observation by urbanologist Joel Katkin, who wrote that, "Urban areas, in
the end, must be held together by a consciousness that unites their people
in a shared identity." From all indications, sustainability is firmly
established as an element of Pasadena's "shared identity," opening the
door to new expression of the ideals that have contributed so much to the
city's character.
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