Green : Development News

This year is the 200^th anniversary of the founding of College Hill, and to celebrate, the College Hill Historical Society and College Hill Gardeners are partnering for History in Bloom. The event includes a lecture by Ed Loyd, CHHS president, on May 14, and a tour of five College Hill gardens on June 15.
 
The lecture will include past and present photos of the gardens at the five homes, along with images of a few gardens that used to be in College Hill, Loyd says.
 
“College Hill is a natural fit to put history and gardens together,” he says.
 
College Hill got its name from Farmers’ College, which was founded in 1846. It was one of the first schools for agriculture in the United States, and was around almost a generation before other land-grant colleges were established. It was a research center for all types of scientific agricultural education, and predated the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Loyd says.
 
This year is the eighth year for the CHG garden tour, but the first year for the event to have a co-presenter.
 
“The agricultural significance in College Hill is noteworthy, and it provides a great backdrop for the gardens,” says Beth McLean, founder of CHG.
 
The gardens included on the tour are those of Twin Towers, Tanglewood, The Upson House, The Oaks and Laurel Court. All of the houses are along Hamilton Avenue, Belmont Avenue and Hillcrest Road (Old College Hill). The gardens feature beautiful landscaping and ornamental structures, plus a Japanese garden and parterre, which can be found at Laurel Court.
 
Tickets for the tour go on sale May 4 for $10. Tickets will be available at CHG’s plant sale May 4, at the College Hill Coffee Company and at the lecture. Day-of tickets are $12.
 
The lecture will be at the Campus Center at Llanfair Retirement Community; seating is limited. Please contact CHG at 513-681-1326 to reserve your seat.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Spring Grove Village, which is Northside’s next-door neighbor, has much more to offer than just a place to live. Spring Grove prides itself in being a green and sustainable community, where residents are invested in what’s going on around them.
 
“There are lots of young couples who live in Spring Grove Village who go to farmers' markets,” says Sam Gordon, owner of Bee Haven Honey. “They’re aware of what they can do in their own environment to help the greater environment.”
 
Spring Grove is home to several organic gardens, including Wooden Shoe Organic Garden and Keystone Flora, which focuses on local and organic plant sales. There are also several well-known greenhouses in the area, especially along Grey Road behind Spring Grove Cemetery, including A.J. Rahn.
 
Residents have planted two community gardens in the neighborhood; and many of Spring Grove’s residents, including Bee Haven Honey, sell their goods at Findlay Market.
 
Bee Haven Honey is green and sustainable, which means that they don’t use chemicals in their hives, Gordon says.
 
Gordon says she likes to be a resource for others who are interested in beekeeping, but she isn’t the only sustainable resource in Spring Grove. Evergreen Holistic Learning Center in Winton Ridge offers green and sustainable programming, and Homeadow Song Farm, an educational center, teaches kids about nature and art.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Did you recently buy a historic home and need help getting renovations underway? Or do you want to learn more about living green? Then NKY Restoration Weekend is for you.
 
The second annual Restoration Weekend is from 9 am to 5 pm on Feb. 23 at the Gateway Community and Technical College's Urban Campus in Covington. The event will feature many opportunities for historic home owners, including classes and demonstrations on how to make historic houses and surrounding property more energy efficient and sustainable; researching historic homes; utilizing the Kentucky homeowner’s rehabilitation tax credit; Rookwood tile history and maintenance; historic ironwork; window restoration; plaster; masonry repair and maintenance ask the expert.
 
There will also be a vendor fair with more than 20 booths featuring craftsmen and contractors that represent all aspects of the renovation process.
 
“The weekend is about combining sustainable and green practices with historic homes,” says Beth Johnson, preservation and planning specialist for the City of Covington. “The vendors are a huge part of the event, and helps connect homeowners with good products and contractors.”
 
But Johnson says the highlight of the event is the keynote speakers, Matt Grocoff. He’s a nationally known TV personality who turned a 100-year-old folk Victorian house into net zero, which means it’s historically sensitive, but doesn’t use energy.
 
“There’s such an amazing stock of historic homes in Northern Kentucky and the surrounding area, and people need to be responsible homeowners and be better stewards of historic homes,” Johnson says. “DIY is really big, and they need to know the proper ways to do things.” 
 
The event is partially funded by the Certified Local Government grant that’s given to the cities of Bellevue, Covington and Newport from the National Park Service and administered by the Kentucky Heritage Council.
 
NKY Restoration is an unincorporated association and collaboration of businesses, artisans and craftsmen, nonprofit organizations, cities and the Historic Preservation offices in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.
 
The event is free, but reservations are requested to ensure a spot at the keynote luncheon.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Looking for something "crafty" to learn, Chris Sutton took up jean-making nearly two years ago.

"I wanted to learn how to make something with my own hands. I'd been doing a lot of tech endeavors, and wanted to get my hands dirty," says Sutton, whose background is in live event production.

Once he began sewing jeans, Sutton found he had a real talent for it. He decided he wanted to make high-quality, American-made jeans, a rarity in today's clothing manufacturing sector. He sought out American sources for his material, thread, zippers and pocket materials. Yes, he found them all in the USA; and he created Noble Denim.

"I wanted to make my own rules around what could and couldn't be done. I wanted to make my jeans in America, and make them as sustainably as possible," he says.

Using his home in Over-the-Rhine as a sewing factory, Sutton began making and selling Noble Denim jeans. Twelve industrial sewing machines later, he moved the company into a space at Camp Washington.

Designer in style and quality, they're meant to have a longer shelf life than your average mass-produced jean. Materials come from suppliers in Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon and California.

They're made from raw selvage denim, made through a time-consuming process that makes the material thicker and more durable. This type of denim is supposed to better fit the wearer's body and resist shrinkage.

Sutton launched an online shop in November, where buyers can chose from two styles, Regular and Earnest Slim Straight. The jeans are pricey, $250 a pair, but all materials are 100 percent organic, reclaimed or responsibly produced. Currently Noble Denim sells jeans only for men; a women's line is planned for next fall.

Noble Denim is a young company, and Sutton still does most of the sewing. He does have interns who are learning the jean-making craft. Within the next year, he hopes to hire three or four employees, who'll make 3,000 pairs of jeans a year.

"I want to grow, but only as fast as I can stick to my philosophy," Sutton says. "So our mantra is grow slow, but do it well."

By Feoshia H. Davis
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The University of Cincinnati recently added four new degree certificates to the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. The Sustainable Landscape Design, Urban Agriculture, Urban Landscapes and Green Roofs certificates are in the horticulture department and focus on green living. The four certificates are available at the undergraduate level, but graduate students can arrange for credit.
 
A certificate in Sustainable Landscape Design focuses on the sustainability aspect of building and landscape design. The Urban Agriculture area of study examines contemporary issues in horticulture, urban design, livability and quality of life, food security and sustainability. A certificate in Urban Landscapes focuses on the role of plant life in a sustainable urban environment. The certificate in Green Roofs addresses contemporary issues in living architecture, while focusing on the environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable urban design.
 
The certificates give students the opportunity to add a specialized area of study to their overall horticulture degree. Plus, it allows them to enhance their skills and build their resumes, says Virginia Russell, associate professor of architecture at DAAP. She teaches a class on infrastructure and green roofs in the Urban Landscape realm of study.  
 
New courses in urban agriculture and ecology, living architecture and plant biogeography were added to the horticulture program in response to students’ passion for sustainable living. Many horticulture students have done service projects in the community to gain experience and enhance their skills, says Russell.
 
Students aren’t the only ones interested in green projects. The UC Master Plan, which was developed by Hargreaves Associates, a landscape architecture firm, includes different aspects of sustainable landscape design. These aspects have been incorporated into projects around campus, including the sub-grade retention basin near the student recreation center that uses recycled storm water for irrigation purposes. UC also installed two green roofs over the summer—one on Procter Hall and one on the DAA building of DAAP.
 
Russell believes that green living is important for everyone because so many areas of expertise are beginning to show concern for the environment. For example, professionals in medicine, the culinary arts and all fields of design should understand the importance of plant-based tools, such as new types of packaging, a food-secure supply chain and the therapeutic uses of plants and gardening.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Tucked amid concrete streets within the Westside neighborhood of Covington, KY just east of Interstate 71-75 lies an oasis of tranquility, and arguably the only viable green space in the city’s urban core.

The historic Linden Grove Cemetery and Arboretum was consecrated in 1843 and is the final resting place for more than 22,000 burials across a span of 22 acres.

Linden Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is at once environmentally and civically significant. The cemetery provides important green space, and comes with a built-in history lesson as the burial site of many important civic and community leaders, congressmen and important historical figures.

Soldiers from as far back as the war of 1812 and the Civil War are buried there, along with soldiers from every other American war since. Dr. Louise Southgate, early female physician and women’s rights activist in Covington, Thomas Kennedy, one of Covington’s original founders and land owners, William Wright Southgate and Brigadier General John W. Finnell, Kentucky’s Adjutant General during the Civil War are among the important historical figures interred at Linden Grove.

Over the cemetery’s 169-year history, the site has fallen into various stages of disrepair and neglect only to be brought back to life with the help of caring citizens and the local courts.

Although the site is now more like a 22-acre park, Pete Nerone, Chairman of the Board for Linden Grove, says that the grounds lost its pond in the early 1960s when it was filled in during the construction of Interstate 71-75.

The pond once supplied a local brewery and provided a self-sustaining water source to the grounds. Thanks to the work of people like Nerone and former board member John Dietz, the pond is about to make a comeback.

As a former Peace Corps volunteer serving in West Africa, Nerone was instrumental in securing a $30,000 environmental stewardship grant from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation for the reconstruction and development of the pond.

Why does the pond matter so much? Nerone says that according to studies, the City of Covington is actually 20 percent deficient in green space, permeable surfaces and adequate tree canopy.

A healthy tree canopy provides a filter for noise and air pollution resulting from the neighboring interstate highway. It also provides homes for various birds, wildlife and aquatic species. Water from the pond can be used to improve the tree canopy as well as provide much needed hydration for landscaping and ornamental gardens.

“Linden Grove is very important real estate from an ecological point of view,” says Nerone. “It sits in an old neighborhood in the urban core of Covington. The existence of a pond on the grounds is key to the site’s longevity.”

The new pond will be controlled with a safety shelf and controlled overflow. With the grant award and the restoration of Linden Grove’s pond, Nerone says, “We can enhance and protect our beautiful green space, making it more available as a place of recreation for the community.”

By Deidra Wiley Necco

When Stephanie Heeston and Emily Heeston-Chopelas leased their space on Hamilton Avenue—a consignment/designer/vintage goods hybrid called Market Side Mercantile—the native Cincinnatians didn’t know what to expect.

“We knew [Northside] was eclectic,” says Heeston-Chopelas, noting that “the population fits” the pair’s funky sense of style and wide variety of handmade wares.

But the mother-daughter team says the immediate community support has been a pleasant surprise. Right away, neighborhood residents streamed into the one-room shop, praising their choice to bring business to Northside and double-checking, “You guys are going to stay, right?”

Already, the two have grown their business from five to 46 consigners, a diverse group that includes “a man in Indiana who strips old barns” as well as a custom jewelry designer who makes earrings in the shape of boomerangs, or “boomearrings.”

There’s no sign of stopping soon. Currently, they have a more items waiting in reserve than they know what to do with. (Seriously. The surplus is so great that they’ve had to waitlist prospective consigners for now.)??

The merchandise they sell is one of a kind. With help from Heeston-Chopelas’ husband, they do much of the furniture restoration themselves, reviving unique and slightly distressed pieces with fresh, fun layers of paint and swatches of vibrant, repurposed fabrics.

Craftily recycled stationery, designer shopping bags and an assortment of Mason-jar creations punctuate carefully repurposed larger pieces, making for an inviting, upscale-yet-affordable feel.

“Keep it out of the landfill,” is Heeston-Chopelas’ mantra. She adds, “We’re not antique, and we’re not a thrift store. We just like what we like.”

Their unique style is making an impression, with newfound “regulars” stopping in several times a week to check out the shop’s almost daily deliveries.

“The store is completely different every time I go in,” says Clifton resident and frequent shopper Susie Kent. “The store is welcoming and unpretentious. The owners…share ideas, inspiration, and even tips on how to go home and repurpose things you already have.”

Heeston has ideas for future events to help celebrate the neighborhood and cement the Market Side Mercantile as a fixture, but for now she says the best thing folks can do to support the shop is to like them on Facebook and—of course—visit.

Store hours are Weds-Fri 12-6 pm; Sat-Sun 11 am-4 pm. Call 513-967-2026 for more info.

By Hannah Purnell
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If you’ve ever wandered down Bellevue’s Fairfield Avenue and thought, “This neighborhood could be really cool one day,” then you may have a future in fortune telling.

Bellevue’s tree-lined streets, award-winning historic preservation society and proximity to urban attractions set a sturdy stage for the thriving community. Nestled near downtown, the Levee, and the Party Source—which will soon house the area’s first bourbon distillery—Bellevue’s growing list of events includes outdoor concerts, family-friendly festivals and Shop Bellevue, which takes place the first Friday of each month.

Similarly popular, the city’s 11th annual Art in the Park is now seeking artists and craftspeople to exhibit and sell their wares at the eclectic celebration Sat., Sept. 8 at the Bellevue Beach Park. (Apply online or contact Jody Robinson at 859-431-8866.)

??Bellevue buzz attracted Circa, 400 Fairfield, set to open soon. “Behind the brown-paper-covered the windows they are busy at work creating a very hip vintage shop featuring furniture to clothing,” says Robinson, Bellevue assistant city administrator.

The shop joins nationally noted Virgil’s Café and the Avenue Brew coffee shop in a lineup of independent businesses breathing fresh life into a historic neighborhood that has been home to opera houses, boot makers, saloons, hotels, confection shops and more in its nearly 150-year history.

And since no transition from unsung treasure to trendy hotspot is complete without a healthy living/environmentally friendly angle, Bellevue boasts several. Last year, Soapbox told you about B-List owner Ben Haggerty’s interesting take on taking out bar trash.

This month, Robinson notes the geothermal and eco-friendly construction undertaken by Mackey Advisors in their new 601 Fairfield location, calling the renovation “transformative.”

Such individual efforts are bolstered by a bona fide farmers’ market, which sets up shop in the Party Source parking lot every Wednesday and Saturday, plus a brand-spanking-new community garden. Located between the 400 blocks of Foote and Ward Avenues, the urban gardening spot, nicknamed “Blossom Alley,” offers a welcome natural refuge for residents.

“We’re fortunate to have a great collection of locally owned, independent businesses [that contribute] far more than national chains,” Robinson says. “There are so many things people are doing and can do, from sensitively rehabbing historic buildings, volunteering, participating in events, sharing our story and thinking big while understanding our community character is essential.”

By Hannah Purnell
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Cincinnati's own "community charity with a green heart" enters into a new phase of growth and development as the city and the Mill Creek Restoration Project launch Groundwork Cincinnati/Mill Creek.

The initiative is dedicated to making the improvements along the Mill Creek sustainable as the group joins a network of Groundwork Trusts, which are chosen by the National Park Service via a competitive process.

In order to be declared a Groundwork Trust, a local group must demonstrate access to national and regional funding and training resources and agree to participate in a network of like-minded groups. Now that the local Trust has been approved, Mill Creek will join 20 other Trusts around the country that can use the Groundwork USA name, identity, national profile, reputation and influence.

There is no other Groundwork Trust in Ohio or Kentucky.

Community-driven restoration, fueled by countless collaborations and dogged determination of advocates led often by the MCRP's Robin Carothers, has continued to change not just the health, but the image of the long-beleaguered Mill Creek.

Once a polluted dumping ground for factories and sewers, the Mill Creek now boasts wetlands and a biking/hiking that connects neighborhoods and neighbors. Hundreds of volunteers of all ages, from school groups to neighbors, have cleared trailways and planted trees and gardens to soften the concrete walls that surround the Mill Creek as it winds its way toward the Ohio River.

As the city and the MCRP announce the creation of the Groundwork Cincinnati/Mill Creek Trust, officials also confirm a new Audubon/Toyota grant that will allow the restoration of a three-acre wetland and continued work on the edible forest garden along the Mill Creek trail.

A $3 million boost from a national foundation may soon help make local church pews and nonprofit offices a lot more comfortable, and a lot more energy-efficient.

It's an innovative new approach to making energy-efficient upgrades profitable for both loan recipients and lenders that local leaders hope illustrate that the market for conservation-minded upgrades is both robust and profitable. The effort is a partnership between three nonprofits: Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance, the Cincinnati Development Fund, and the Calvert Foundation, which typically invests in real-estate secured loans and has never before invested in Cincinnati.

The new initiative, called the Better Buildings Performance Loan Fund, leverages federal and foundation money to offer loans at competitive interest rates; the loans must support building investments that increase energy efficiency, says Al Gaspari, GCEA finance director.

While GCEA's focus to date has been on helping homeowners with energy-efficient upgrades, this new initiative expands its role in the region.

"We're initially targeting nonprofit organizations and multi-family dwellings," Gaspari says. Churches, arts organizations and schools rank high on the list of prospective loan applicants. He offers a practical example of how the program can work: An inner-city church with a 60-year-old furnace could apply for a loan, invest in a new energy-efficient furnace and save 20 percent on energy costs. In addition to the monetary savings, the new system could make existing spaces accessible year-round--even during hot summer and cold winter months--thus allowing for expanded programs and services.

"From our perspective, our grant is not dollar-in, dollar-out," Gaspari says. "The goal of our grant is to get people involved and lower their initial risks."

For lenders flirting with the idea of investing in energy-efficiency, the new fund provides a potential sustainable model. "Our overall goal is to show that there is a market for these loans and show that they do perform," Gaspari says.

While the new fund is not yet up and running, he says the GCEA expects to underwrite loans, which will be offered through the Cincinnati Development Fund, before the end of 2012.

As part of the fund, the GCEA will track the energy savings that improvements allow. For investors at the Calvert Foundation, the forward-focused program offers a chance to invest in a program that ultimately conserves energy, reduces pollutants and saves money.

Gaspari and his colleagues see this win-win-win approach as an opportunity to show financiers the wide-ranging benefits of planet-friendly investments.

By Elissa Yancey
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