In the heart of Charleston, West Virginia’s downtown is Slack Plaza. Located near the city’s main transit hub and Charleston’s central business district, the concrete-heavy plaza with more parking spots than park benches has attracted more crime than consumers.
But thanks to a Greening America’s Capitals grant from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, Slack Plaza will one day become a walkable green space that connects important business districts and downtown to transit.
The EPA recently released design plans for Charleston’s Slack Plaza that would make the plaza more inviting to pedestrians. EPA’s project team and landscape architects Origin 4 Design also came up with a design for the plaza that include more green space and permeable pavement; a projection screen for art, movies, or public gathering events; plenty of comfortable seating with ample shade; and LED lighting. See the image below depicting proposals:
“The Slack Plaza area is the main transportation hub for the region and serves as a connector for the mall and the central business district,” said Susie Salisbury, vice president of community development for the Charleston Area Alliance, and who played an instrumental in getting Charleston this grant. “This report will be used as a template for improving the plaza.”
Charleston isn’t the only capital benefiting from the assistance that the Greening America’s Capitals program provides. This project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities – a cooperation between EPA, HUD, and DOT – is providing design assistance for smart growth projects to help protect the environment, economy, and public health in Boston, Mass., Hartford, Conn., Jefferson City, Mo., Little Rock, Ark., Washington D.C., Phoenix, Ariz., Montgomery, Ala., Lincoln, Neb., and Jackson, Miss.
With economic benefits as a main principle of the Greening America’s Capitals program, Salisbury is excited about the positive economic impact an upgraded plaza will bring to the area.
“By reinvesting in the area, we will increase the private sector confidence in the downtown while providing a more accessible, safe multi-use transportation hub with greater access for all,” Salisbury said.
For now, though, the project is in the planning stages and the proposal has been released for official public comment. There have been some naysayers, but Salisbury says she has received a lot of positive feedback from the community.
In the mean time the city will look for other sources of funding to move the project from concept to reality. If it weren’t for Greening America’s Capitals, however, there would be no base to build from, Salisbury says.
Despite the upcoming work and time that will be need to make the Slack Plaza, nothing can hold back the excitement in Salisbury’s voice when she says: “We’ll finally have a town square.”
Read more about the Greening America’s Capitals program. And check out EPA’s report on Slack Plaza.
Photos: Origin 4 Design
