NorthParkMainStreet

The Sustainability Challenge:

In 2009, Wayne Donaldson, California’s State Historic Preservation Officer, challenged North Park Main Street to become the state’s first Sustainable Main Street program. Community leaders embraced this challenge and later that year convened a group of local stakeholders to develop the framework of a sustainability plan in North Park. Working in partnership with volunteer professionals at Platt/Whitelaw Architects, OBR Architecture, and Zagrodnik+Thomas Architects, NPMS drafted a set of goals & objectives for a Sustainable North Park Main Street Program:

• Maintain the cultural and historic integrity of the built and social environment;
• Increase resource efficiency and conservation within the District;
• Increase internal community connectivity;
• Provide a setting for a sustainable green economy.

The Implementation Plan: (Download 18 MB PDF)

A volunteer effort over eight months enabled North Park Main Street to secure a grant from the State Office of Historic Preservation to develop the Implementation Plan, which is to be used in a number of ways:

• Using individual buildings as precise case studies, this Plan is intended to be used as a handbook for Main Street Sustainability Program Staff to educate and inspire building owners and business operators about how they can participate in the broader vision of a green North Park.
• By demonstrating the discrete components of a sustainability program, the Plan can be used by North Park Main Street to generate interest in potential funders to implement the various components of the plan.
• By illustrating the vision of coordinated public investments in the right-of-way, the Plan serves as a handbook for the public agencies and community advocacy groups who oversee and implement public works.  
• Designed with “open architecture”, the publication is intended to be a living, growing document that can be augmented with additional digital building models, completed projects, or community proposals.
• The appendices serve both as technical manuals and as on-going records of the accomplishments of the district toward meeting its sustainability goals.