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The
Green
Coast
Northampton
County
on the Eastern
Shore
is reinventing itself as an environmentally and economically
sustainable community.
The
Eastern Shore of Virginia, its economy devastated
by the decline of its agricultural and seafood
industries, is one of the poorest regions of Virginia.
But it is a leader in putting into practice the
theories of the sustainability movement. As a
laboratory for a radical new way of thinking, the Eastern Shore
may have much to teach Virginia,
and the nation, about harmonizing the goals of
economic development, environmental
protection and
social stability.
In
the counties that make up
Virginia’s
eastern shore – Accomack and Northampton
-- an unusual assortment of sustainability
interests co-exist.
The
last intact coastal-barrier island ecosystem on
the Atlantic coast runs along the seaside of Northampton County.
In 1979, the United Nations designated this chain
of islands as a World Biosphere Reserve. The
islands are habitat for over 260 species of birds.
The Nature Conservancy has invested heavily in
preserving this international resource, purchasing
outright property that it could not get donated.
The Conservancy helped protect first the islands
themselves, then the marshes on the landside, and,
then, when it appeared that the farms adjoining
the wetlands might be developed, took a risk and
purchased the farms as well. The organization has
led the region in the preservation of key
resources necessary for sustainability.
The
preserve hosts and supports an annual migration of
huge flocks of song birds – not to mention
scores of hawks that follow along snacking on them
– as well as an eco-tourism business based on
bird watching. The Annual International Migratory
Bird Celebration (May 10-11) draws people into the
area’s many bed and breakfasts, hotels and
restaurants. Regional artists prosper, including
decoy artists and bronze artists extraordinaire,
Dr. William Turner and his son David, who supply
their wildlife bronzes to the world from their
foundry in Exmore.
Meanwhile,
the town of Cape Charles is undergoing a rebirth.
Stimulated by Bay Creek, a 1,729-acre development
that wraps around the historic town with both a
Palmer and a Nicklaus golf course, the town is
seeing significant investment for the first time
in decades. The rich stock of beautiful old
buildings is being mined for the new center of a
town with a more sustainable economy. As Bay Creek
developer Dick Foster redevelops one of the
town’s two old harbors, the other springs to
life as well.
Ecotourism
and the Bay Creek/Cape Charles revitalization help
build an economic base for the region. While these
developments should be celebrated, they are
neither perfectly sustainable nor are they
sufficient in and of themselves. Both could be
significantly “greened.” And, while both
provide jobs, they are not enough to bring
prosperity to the entire region.
The
Eastern
Shore’s
geographic isolation has been both a blessing and
a curse, putting its economy at a competitive
disadvantage but preserving a rural way of life.
The region has a love/hate relationship with the
onerous toll of the Chesapeake
Bay
Bridge,
which inhibits commerce with the nearby metropolis
of Hampton Roads but also slows the sprawling
development seen in other parts of Virginia’s
Tidewater.
The
Eastern
Shore
has been defined by farming and water-dependent
businesses since it was settled. It once supported
numerous agriculture-related industries such as
catsup bottlers, tomato canners and crab pickers.
Most of these are gone, leaving one of the most
impoverished regions in Virginia.
In
1993, Northampton
County
took the lead in creating a different kind of
industrial development, one that would address the
needs of a people living in a special,
irreplaceable, fragile landscape. Led by Tom
Harris, the then County
Administrator,
and Tim Hayes, the then project manager, the
county joined the town of Cape
Charles
to form an industrial development authority to
create the Commonwealth’s first eco-industrial
park. The concept was to create a location that
would encourage “industrial symbiosis” that
would maximize manufacturing efficiency while,
ideally, minimizing the impact on the environment.
Industrial
symbiosis describes a set of relationships in
which one industry or craft consumes what
otherwise would be the waste – barley hulls,
waste heat, sulfur-filled air – of another. In practice, this can be seen in a paper
plant saving investment in a boiler because it
uses steam from a power plant, agricultural waste
being converted into a diesel oil substitute, or
artisans taking wood waste and using it for local
crafts.
An
eco-industrial park facilitates such symbiotic
relationships and creates other shared
efficiencies as well. These may include sharing
personnel, such as safety consultants and human
resource directors, or sharing shipping pallets or
warehouse space. The industries that participate
in eco-industrial relationships do not necessarily
have to be “green” themselves; they may be
heavy, smokestack industries, or any operation
that could improve its environmental and economic
performance through such relationships. It is,
however, common for the discussion of
eco-industrial relationships to lead to a
reexamination of other aspects of building and
system operation to increase efficiencies and
reduce waste.
The
hoped-for result of an eco-industrial park is that
businesses improve both environmental and
economic performance. The Cape Charles Park sought
to include increased social sustainability in its
design as well in order to achieve a business
design that supported all three sustainability
elements; environmental, economic and social.
On the "social" side, the
Cape
Charles
model measures such things as employee health
benefits, “living” wages, daycare and car
pooling.
In
December of 1994, President Bill Clinton
designated the Cape
Charles
Sustainable
Technologies
Industrial
Park
a national enterprise community, giving it
priority consideration for technical and financial
resources. In 1995 Gov. George Allen designated
the area a Virginia Enterprise Zone. William
McDonough, a University
of
Virginia
architecture professor internationally known for
his work on sustainability issues, then
led a team of private firms, local, state and
federal government officials, as well as local
stakeholders, in designing the park’s master
plan.
The
project attracted funds from the Environmental
Protection Agency for brownfields remediation,
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration for planning, from the Economic
Development Administration for community
involvement, and from numerous other state and
federal agencies for other elements from
photovoltaics to the purchase of oceanfront for
protection. The list of local, state and federal
heroes who helped make this park happen is long.
Prominent among these is Northampton
County,
which invested its precious financial resources in
the land and building and the Town of Cape
Charles, which was willing to innovate.
Northampton
received the National Association of Counties
Presidential Leadership Award for strategy in
creation of the park. The Sustainable
Technology Industrial Park
was selected by the President’s Council on
Sustainable Development as one of four parks to
demonstrate ways the industrial facilities might
be designed. The County and Town of Cape Charles
were winners of the First Annual Joint Center
Sustainable Community Awards for the Northampton
County Sustainable Development Plan.
Today
the first building in the park, a 30,930-square-
foot
industrial building is erected and two-thirds
leased. One of the tenants is about to begin
construction of five power-producing windmills,
each costing more than a million dollars.
A
future column will deal with more details on the
park as well as how and whether it works. Today, it is important to stress that a
region in Virginia has already put into place what others only talk
about. Despite the typical pressures of local
politics, in Northampton
County,
key natural areas are being preserved, new
development is stimulating in investment in
historic buildings, eco-tourism
is taking root and
a new way of thinking about industry is
blossoming.
--
April 21, 2003
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