Summary
Charleston Gateway Greenspace is transforming an ordinary asphalt parking lot across from Charleston’s Clay Center into a slice of West Virginia natural heritage. It will center on providing an attractive entrance into the City of Charleston and will feature educational programming opportunities and relevant links to historic, transportation, environmental and cultural related aspects of the community. The project will also serve as an educational and interpretive site on native plantings, the formation of the valley, trailhead for the greater greenway initiative and a staging area for visitors to the Clay Center.
The stacked terraces that create the backdrop to the park resemble the rugged sandstone cliffs of the southern Appalachian Mountains. A rocky stream fed by recycled rooftop storm water tumbles down the cliffs into a small pool at the foot of the terraces. A small forest of native plants – oak, hickory, maple, beech and birch – shades an understory of shadbush, mountain laurel, dogwood, redbud and flame azalea. The groundlayer is rich with Allegheny spurge, wood asters, lady ferns, wood ferns, Pennsylvania sedge, foam flower and columbine.
The sustainable design features of the greenspace are numerous:
- Reuse of an urban site and restoration as open space
- Using Best Management Practices, such as tree trenches that allow the tree root zone to expand under the sidewalk, and a cistern that captures rainwater that would otherwise flow to the storm drains
- Capturing and reusing rain water to supply the stream and pool features with water with no additional inputs from city water
The concept for the project was developed from a community planning process in the mid 1990’s called the CENTRAL Plan. CENTRAL stands for Commerce, Environment, Neighborhood, Transportation, Recreation And Living. Charleston has been challenged with providing high quality downtown open space. It has been designed by an internationally known landscape architecture firm out of Philadelphia, Andropogon Associates along with the assistance of Charleston based firm Potesta and Associates.
Funding sources thus far include Federal Highway Administration Transportation Enhancement grants, Charleston Urban Renewal Authority, City of Charleston, Charleston Area Alliance. Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, Wal-Mart, Kanawha Garden Club, Briar Hills Garden Club, Kanawha County Master Gardeners, family of Mary Price Ratrie and about 15 other private donors.
Construction began the week of May 26, 2009 along the site. The general contractor is Order’s Construction of St. Albans West Virginina.
