The Upside of Green

By Kelly Novak

Along a city foot trail, an elderly man marvels at seeing an osprey nesting on a railroad bridge. A young boy perched on a wetlands viewing deck watches a long black snake slither over lily pads. On this trail, people like these have a chance to connect with nature.

The benefits of connecting with nature are not always directly apparent. As the legendary naturalist John Muir once noted, people often unknowingly absorb the presence of nature. “Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees,” he said.

Benefits like this might explain why more and more communities are incorporating green space into redevelopment visions. What community wouldn’t want a redevelopment with green space? It provides ecological restoration, a place for wildlife habitat, space for recreation and a quality of life asset that translates into economic gains. It just makes sense for a community to incorporate green space — it inspires public buy-in and fosters positive stakeholder cooperation.

Onward in Omaha

The City of Omaha, Nebraska, is a community that wants all benefits of green space and has made it an integral part of their redevelopment vision. The city received its first EPA brownfield grant in 1998 and a supplemental grant in 2002. The initial plan was to redevelop the downtown riverfront, a location that had been the site of heavy industrial activity for more than 100 years and had become an eyesore made up of three brownfield sites.

The generic plan blossomed into a visionary “Back to the River” campaign. The campaign’s overall objective was to connect the redeveloped area and new convention center, via trails, into the Heartland of America Park. There, residents could take a gondola ride and stroll around an illuminated fountain, then walk on to shopping and dining in the Old Town Market square or to work at the ConAgra campus.

The campaign laid out the vision of constructing 64 miles of recreational trails with funding from a 1998 federal transportation bill project authorization of $4.8 million. The trail would provide an alternative to commuter traffic, a path to recreational green space and improved access to the riverfront. In addition, a pedestrian bridge over the Missouri River was planned.

The redevelopment plan, according to project consultant Dale Jacobsen, P.E., from Jacobson Helgoth Consultants, garnered a great deal of cooperation between the public and private sector, in part because of the riverfront access and the trails.

Ted Huscher, coordinator of Nebraska DEQ’s Voluntary Cleanup Program and Brownfields, echoed Jacobson’s observation, stating, “The trails, and especially the envisioned foot bridge, are signatory for Omaha. Hence, it makes sense why both private and public stakeholders are trying to complete the vision.”
Today the National Park Service has a new office facility on one site. The Gallup Corporation’s headquarters and corporate campus occupy another, creating nearly 750 jobs. Omaha is proud of their brownfield success and the revitalization assets they have found in a redevelopment with green space.

In fact, they are considering applying to the Phoenix Award competition in the future. Bob Sink, the City of Omaha’s public works department manager, summed it up very nicely: “The more balanced and healthier the environment, then the more balanced and healthier the community, economy and people will be. In the long run, our redevelopment project and its green spaces will better sustain us.”

Kelly Novak is research manager at NADO Research Foundation in Washington, D.C.