Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-21-24 Public Comment - A. Sweeney - Attention Sustainability Advisory BoardFrom:Alison Sweeney To:Agenda Subject:[EXTERNAL]Attention Sustainability Advisory Board Date:Wednesday, March 20, 2024 1:34:55 PM Attachments:Lizzie ba.png Katherine Merlino Rogers.pdf CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.Hello Sustainability Advisory Board members, May is national Historic Preservation Month, and the nominations for the City’s awardsare open. Historic preservation is not just about saving old buildings, though I will get into that in amoment. It has a lot to do with preserving culture; especially the culture of the overlooked ordisenfranchised. Bozeman was home to a thriving African American Community over 100 yearsago. Among their demographic were suffragists, architects, and small businessowners. Some of their homes still exist on both the north and south side of town, but arevery vulnerable to redevelopment because of their current zoning, which will beexacerbated if the new draft UDC is not altered to protect them. You see, they are mostlyvernacular structures that are not eligible for listing on the national register of historicplaces. The Chinese community in Bozeman wasn’t as large as Butte’s but they were here, andthe only remaining building that can remind us of their role in early Bozeman is theChinese brothel located in Bozeman’s former red light district. Just as the teepees set up annually at Pete’s Hill remind us to acknowledge the firstnations stewardship of this valley for millennia before euro-American settlement, thestories of these other minority communities are so much easier to relate and honor whenthere are still physical remnants of their time and contribution to Bozeman’s history. We do not have an updated architectural inventory survey for Bozeman. So we arelosing structures before we even fully uncover their history. One example would beLizzie Kincade’s house. She was a midwife and nurse who treated the prostitutes ofBozeman’s red light district. Here’s her house before and the same location afterredevelopment. https://bozemanmagazine.com/articles/2023/03/01/116696-women-of-bozemans-historic-northside We are 10 years too late to save Lizzie's house, but other reminders of Bozeman’sdiverse minority communities from the past still stand and an adaptive- reuse approach to historic preservation is both sustainable and culturally sensitive. I hope you will take the time to review Katherine Rogers Merlino’s powerpoint onBuilding Reuse. She gave this presentation last year during Historic PreservationMonth. And her book is fascinating! Since only 7% of our housing stock in Bozeman is from before WW2 (according to our own city staff report given to Commissioners in December 2023 during the hearing on whether or not to create a housing authority) it’s worth preserving! For the stories, butalso for the embodied energy in the structures, and the avoided impacts on our landfillwhen they are adapted for reuse or preserved as existing affordable housing. Historic Preservation and Sustainability = win win! Alison B. SweeneyBernadette's Handmade JewelryBozeman MT406-404-5740alison-bernadettes.com Building Reuse: Preservation, Sustainability and the Value of (Re)Design May 15, 2022 Bozeman, Montana Prof. Kathryn R. Merlino University of Washington, Seattle Building Reuse: Sustainability, Preservation and the Value of Design (University of Washington Press, 2018, paperback 2020) Cities need old buildings so badly it’s probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them. What is the future of preservation in the face of a building boom and increased density? Historic Preservation is important, but can only do so much. (and needs to continue to evolve in diverse and creative ways) Existing buildings matter. (Sustainability: exiting buildings are repositories of materials and energy) People love old buildings, historic or not. (Re)Design is the key. (updating, maintaining and supporting efficient, beautiful new rehabilitation projects promotes the local economy, and cultural continuity.) , What is historic preservation? Who is preservation for? Who does it benefit? Who decides what is “historic”? Is preservation un-American? Yellowstone National Park, 1872 First nationally site in the U.S. and the first nationally protected park in the world. An excerpt from the report's "Conclusions and Findings" reads, If the preservation movement is to be successful, it must go beyond saving bricks and mortar. It must go beyond saving occasional historic homes and opening museums. It must be more than a cult of antiquarians. It must do more than revere a few precious national shrines. It must attempt to give a sense of orientation to our society, using structures and objects of the past to establish values of time and place. “With Heritage So Rich” Introduction by Lady Bird Johnson Demolished in 1963, New York’s Pennsylvania Station became the poster child for the historic preservation movement. NYC’s Pennsylvania Station by McKim, Mead and White (19015) National Register Criteria (simplified) Must be at least 50 years old,retain its enough of it’s original character and integrity (different than its present condition) and be significant under at least one of four criteria: 1. Associated with an important event or series of events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of American history; 2. Associated with an important individual who was significant in our past; 3. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of an architectural type, period, or method of construction, or represents the work of a master or possesses high artistic value; or 4. has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. National Historic Landmarks National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. Today, fewer than 2,500 historic places bear this national distinction. Working with citizens throughout the nation, the National Historic Landmarks Program draws upon the expertise of National Park Service staff who work to nominate new landmarks and provide assistance to existing landmarks. Montana has 28 National Register of Historic Places The National Park Service administers the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the official federal list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. National Register properties have significance to the history of their community state, or the nation. Age and Integrity. Is the property old enough to be considered historic (generally at least 50 years old) and does it still look much the way it did in the past? Significance. Is the property associated with events, activities, or developments that were important in the past? With the lives of people who were important in the past? With significant architectural history, landscape history, or engineering achievements? Does it have the potential to yield information through archeological investigation about our past? Facts: ------The more than 80,000 properties listed in the National Register represent 1.4 million individual resources –buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects -------Almost every county in the United States has at least one place listed in the National Register Montana has 1,100 Is PRESERVATION UN-AMERICAN? In 1979,preservationist Clem Labine made the connection between historic preservation and conservation long before the concept of sustainable development was recognized: “America was built on the concept of the frontier. Land was limitless. Resources were never ending. The pioneer way was to use it up, throw it away and move on…. Preservationists oppose the conventional idea of consuming even more.We are actually the new wave of pioneer.We are struggling to reverse the ‘use it up and move on’mentality.We are moving in and picking up the pieces.We are taking individual buildings and whole neighborhoods that have been discarded and trying to make them live again.” Preservation can only do so much. In Seattle, approximately 0.5% of our buildings are protected from demolition by preservation legislation. “Old ideas sometimes can use new buildings; new ideas use old buildings.” -Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities Buildings are our largest manufactured artifacts. Buildings have inherent environmental value. http://www.happyplanetindex.org/public-data/files/happy-planet-index-2-0.pdf Resource Overconsumption “We cant build our way out of climate change” -The Sustainability Initiative, National Trust for Historic Preservation In the United States,the construction and operations of buildings account annually for: 39%of total energy consumption 65%of electricity consumption 55%of natural gas consumption 43%of carbon emissions 30%of greenhouse gas emissions 30%of raw materials use 60%of all materials use 40%of all nonindustrial solid waste in landfills 12%of fresh water Energy Consumption for Commercial Buildings (non-malls) (US Department of Energy Administration, 2003) •Construction and demolition (C&D) debris currently accounts for an estimated up to 43% of the municipal waste stream nationally. •According to the EPA the US has about 1,800 active municipal solid waste landfills, 1,900 operating C&D landfills, and more than 10,000 old municipal landfills. •Waste generation per person has almost doubled since 1960, from 2.6 pounds per person to 4.6 pounds per person, per day. •C&D amounts add another 2.2 lbs per person, per day, to domestic waste streams. Landfill Waste It would take an ONE PERSON to throw away: 46 aluminum cans 365 days a year for 80 years to create the same volume of landfill one average ten story commercial building measuring approximately 25 feet by 100. (Hotel Baxter is close!) A 2004 report from the Brookings Institution projects that by 2030, we will have demolished and replaced 82 billion square feet of our current building stock. Since it is estimated that there are about 300 billion square feet of space in the United States today, at this rate we will have demolished and replaced at least 1/3 of our buildings between 2005-2030. Most of this will go into landfills or down-cycled into lower-quality by-products. . Just the energy to demolish 1/3 of all existing buildings = 10 years of powering the entire state of California, our largest population. Historic building being demolished Building demolition permit applications in Seattle 2005-2009 (left) 2010-2015 (right) Embodied-energy (or embedded energy) is the sum of energy required to extract or harvest a raw material, manufacture and fabricate that material into a useful form, and transport it to its place of use. Embodied Energy The average embodied energy in existing buildings is five to 15 gallons of gasoline per square foot.The average embodied energy in a 250,000 square-foot office building is 3.75 million gallons of gasoline. . Preservation Green Lab of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2012 In other words: RE-USING AND ‘GREENING’ AN EXISTING BUILDING CAN PREVENT 10-80 YEARS OF NEGATIVE CLIMATE IMPACTS THAT AN EQUAL NEW, GREEN BUILDING WOULD CREATE IN ITS CONSTRUCTION. Such as: carbon emissions energy expenditure in demolition, extraction, transportation, construction landfill waste and raw material extraction, to name a few. (plus it supports the local economy!) = the recycling efforts of 1,972,830 aluminum cans = the gasoline consumed driving a (fuel efficient) car every day, 365 days a year, for over 200 years =carbon sequestered by either 427 tree seedlings for a decade or 3.8 acres of pine forest annually =1212 tons of construction and demolition (c&d)waste in a landfill = YOU landfilling 4.6 pounds of trash per day for 1,444 years Durability Repairability Adaptability Cultural continuity How Big Data Supports Adaptive Reuse in Cities [B7] building score average B1-B6 divided by 6 for an average score. The building blocks for an inclusive, diverse, economically vibrant city, Boise’s older, smaller buildings are irreplaceable assets. For more information about Boise's high-character areas, please see reverse. Boise, ID 79.4 mi2 | Pop: 218,281 | 99th Most Populous U.S. City | Est. 1864 The Atlas of ReUrbanism | A Tool for Discovery Developed by the Preservation Green Lab, the Atlas of ReUrbanism is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s ReUrbanism initiative. Explore the buildings and blocks of Boise and other American cities further by visiting: www.atlasofreurbanism.com Blocks of older, smaller, mixed-age buildings play a critical role in fostering robust local economies, inclusive neighborhoods, and sustainable cities. The Preservation Green Lab report, Older, Smaller, Better, leveraged the ideas of Jane Jacobs to show why preservation and building reuse matter for successful communities. The Atlas of ReUrbanism expands this research to 50 U.S. cities, demonstrating that Character Counts. In Boise, compared to areas with large, new structures, character- rich blocks of older, smaller, mixed-age buildings contain... 96% more women and minority-owned businesses 45% more jobs in small businesses 2.5 times as many units of affordable rental housing The building blocks for an inclusive, diverse, economically vibrant city, Spokane’s older, smaller buildings are irreplaceable assets. For more information about Spokane's high-character areas, please see reverse. Spokane, WA 59.2 mi2 | Pop: 215,973 | 101th Most Populous U.S. City | Est. 1881 The Atlas of ReUrbanism | A Tool for Discovery Developed by the Preservation Green Lab, the Atlas of ReUrbanism is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s ReUrbanism initiative. Explore the buildings and blocks of Spokane and other American cities further by visiting: www.atlasofreurbanism.com Blocks of older, smaller, mixed-age buildings play a critical role in fostering robust local economies, inclusive neighborhoods, and sustainable cities. The Preservation Green Lab report, Older, Smaller, Better, leveraged the ideas of Jane Jacobs to show why preservation and building reuse matter for successful communities. The Atlas of ReUrbanism expands this research to 50 U.S. cities, demonstrating that Character Counts. In Spokane, compared to areas with large, new structures, character-rich blocks of older, smaller, mixed-age buildings contain... 87% greater population density Twice as many jobs in creative industries; 72% more jobs in small businesses 83% more women and minority-owned businesses A final thought….. Jane Jacobs, 1961 Old ideas use new buildings; New ideas use old buildings.