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Planting Roots and Sowing Green

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SAN DIEGO’S BEACHES are rated among the world’s finest, bolstering the enviable lifestyle here. Until it rains.

The bright yellow advisory signs dotting the coastline from San Onofre to Imperial Beach warn of toxic storm-water runoff gushing onto our shorelines with each major rainfall. It’s a serious quality-of-life issue many San Diegans are working to address. Proponents of “urban greening”—the preservation, enhancement and creation of city green space—are chief among them. Their strategy: Protect and invest in parks and canyons that absorb and break down pollutants in rainwater collected on city streets instead of spending millions on another stormwater management facility. It’s just one way they claim greening our urban neighborhoods can clean house—environmentally and fiscally.

Historically, among San Diego’s civic priorities, our parks and open spaces haven’t enjoyed much time in the sun. Gener ally regarded as a pleasant amenity, urban green space has been primarily valued for its aesthetic contribution to the otherwise concrete landscape.

Cities facing severe budget crises (sound familiar?) are slashing their park spending, threatening the health of existing parks and curtailing the creation of new ones. But as a growing number of urban planners, developers and policymakers awaken to the myriad benefits of urban greening— especially those yielding a substantial economic impact—the question becomes: How can we afford to not adopt a greening strategy?

Partners for Livable Places San Diego, a nonprofit that addresses quality-oflife issues around the county, defines greening as “those plans relative to large parks, pocket parks, canyons, greenways, parkways, community gardens, rooftop gardens, private gardens and building enhancements.” The watchdog group says it’s time to raise the issue of greening to a higher level and educate the public, city officials and the region’s urban planners on the many benefits of greening projects.

Nancy Hughes is a leading voice. As chair of the Community Forest Advisory Board for the past five years, Hughes advised former Mayor Dick Murphy, whom she calls a “fabulous advocate of urban forestry,” on the importance of maintaining and expanding urban greenery. She continues that effort with the new administration of Mayor Jerry Sanders.

“It’s difficult to get the funding you need when some of the benefits [of urban greening] can’t be put on a ledger sheet,” says Hughes, also an administrator with the California Urban Forest Council. “When we can say to an elected official that we are saving X amount of dollars for the city in—for instance— reducing toxic storm-water runoff, then we can be successful.”

In a 2003 study of the county’s urban ecosystem, researchers at American Forest analyzed the effects of the region’s changing tree cover between 1985 and 2001 to assign a dollar amount to the value of our urban greenery. The report focuses on two of the benefits that can be calculated for “bottom line” contributions: storm-water management and air-quality improvement.

As of 2002, the total storm-water retention capacity of San Diego’s urban “forest” was 82 million cubic feet; without these trees, the cost of building an adequate storm-water management infrastructure would be approximately $164 million. The region’s trees remove 4.3 million pounds of pollutants from the air each year—a benefit worth $10.8 million annually (costs that society would have paid in areas such as healthcare).

The study also determines the cost savings of greening by neighborhood. An analysis of Carmel Valley shows, as of 2002, tree cover provides $352,000 in stormwater management services and removes 9,494 pounds of air pollutants, valued at $24,030 annually (see the “Money Tree” sidebar). On a countywide level, increasing overall tree cover from 2002’s 13 percent to 25 percent would save $214 million in storm-water services and $22 million in air pollution mitigation annually.

REFLECTIVE OF ITS SHIFT IN FOCUS toward quality-of-life issues downtown, the Centre City Development Corporation, on behalf of the city’s Redevelopment Agency, is planning seven new neighborhood parks to strike a balance with the “building intensities” of recent development.

“There is a huge drive and support behind creating new downtown parks and open spaces by the city’s planning group,” says Nicole Haines, CCDC associate project manager. “The park component of our capital improvements plan is way up there on the list of priorities.”

Over the next decade, CCDC will unroll its Centre City Community Plan, which the agency says will “provide a system of small open spaces throughout downtown —vest-pocket parks, plazas, fountains, landscaped streets—to supplement the large open spaces of the waterfront and Balboa Park, to link the various downtown districts and to provide focal points for the various neighborhoods.” The project, which will enable virtually all downtown residents to live within a five-minute walk of at least one park, carries a $218 million price tag.

A combination of development impact fees (city-imposed fees on new development to defray costs of public facilities) and Centre City tax increment funds will finance the new parks.

CCDC is also developing a park-to-bay corridor from Balboa Park to the harbor (along Park Boulevard), a series of “freeway lids” aimed at reconnecting the city to Balboa Park, and Cortez Hill’s Tweet Street linear park and trail system to promote an appreciation for park and wildlife resources within urban San Diego.

According to Partners for Livable Places San Diego, there are “scattered” greening efforts in the works around the county. The East Village Association is looking at parks to alleviate the effects of increasing population; University Heights is working to preserve Buchanan Canyon; residents near Chollas Creek are trying to clean up that resource and create a park. City Heights, Logan Heights, Kensington/Talmadge and other communities are considering the addition of new parks, greenways and gardens.

As part of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan, five public agencies (the city, county, San Diego Unified Port District, the Navy and CCDC) are working to produce a master plan featuring a treelined, 1.2-mile waterfront esplanade.

The local chapter of the Sierra Club has turned its attention to a major natural resource in reducing storm-water runoff and the accompanying costs: urban canyons.

Canyon vegetation absorbs and filters pollutants collected in urban centers. Eric Bowlby, the club’s canyon preservation organizer, has helped coordinate 30-plus “friends of the canyon” groups to protect the more than 200 canyons from developers and from the construction of sewage access roads along canyon floors. The 150 members of the Friends of the 32nd Street Canyon group recently steered a school development away and raised $182,000 to restore the canyon’s streambed to better filter runoff before it enters San Diego Bay.

“The effort is a pilot for restoration projects around the city to help us get a handle on urban storm-water runoff,” says Bowlby, “and it could be a very important solution in improving water quality.”

Peter Harnik is the director of the Trust for Public Land’s Center for City Park Excellence and a leading expert on park development in major American cities. In his book, Inside City Parks, Harnik identifies a nationwide trend of urban revitalization, with park systems playing a greater role in cities’ renaissance.

“Urban parks have tremendous value— hard economic value—and cities that recognize this fact do better than those who do not,” he writes. “Fiscal benefits are reflected in adjacent real estate value, in associated retail and restaurant value and in tourism value.” He also credits parks for decreased crime, increased youth programs, vocational training and activities for the disabled.

HARNIK’S CURRENT RESEARCH hits closer to home. He’s conducting a study on the economic value of park systems in five major cities: Washington, D.C.; Boston; Sacramento; Charlotte, North Carolina; and San Diego. Working with economists and urban experts to determine six major variables that determine how much parks add value to a city or save money, Harnik can more accurately measure economic impact.

Considered in the study: direct use value (what you would pay privately to use a public park facility, such as tennis courts), property value (increases due to proximity to a park), savings in air-pollution mitigation, savings in storm-water reduction, reduced health costs (from a decrease in sedentary syndromes such as obesity and diabetes) and tourism benefits (increased commerce and sales tax revenue).

“It’s a very challenging, exciting project that has never been done before,” says Harnik.

“We wanted to look at a range of cities in the study, and [San Diego Park & Recreation] came to us saying they wanted to be a test city to get a better sense of whether the money they’ve been putting into parks is bringing in value.”

The city has offered to foot half of the $40,000 bill to participate in the study; Harnik is leading efforts to secure the rest from the private sector. “It’s critical for the city to not allow the park system to [degrade] so much that it becomes really expensive to build it back up,” he warns.

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On March 15, Partners for Livable Places San Diego hosts a symposium titled “Strategies for Greening our Urban Environment,” from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Naval Training Center in Point Loma. The symposium aims to “explore the concept of greening as a strategy for growth, sustainability and livability, identify its value, create awareness, and stimulate thought, action and influence design and planning decisions.” More info: 619-231- 9960; liveablesandiego.org.

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