Cardo's Farm Project, Other Local Produce, and Local Businesses Big Draw at Denton Community Market

Yesterday, the Denton Community Market had an exceptional turnout, with 23 vendors and hundreds of attendees.  It is increasingly becoming a weekly event to meet friends, buy local produce, and visit booths of local businesses and community organizations. There is also local music; with bands, musicians, and singers from the thriving Denton music scene.  The Market is a sustainable source of local food and products as well as an economic incubator for new businesses since it offers relatively low start-up costs and affordable vendor fees.  It is also in the downtown area and helps draw customers to the area as well as benefit from other activities, such as downtown festivals.

This Market is an example of how a farmers/artisan market can be a planning tool and economic development catalyst for downtown areas.

The Market is also getting publicity within the DFW area.

Edible Dallas and Fort Worth, in its Summer 2012 edition has a feature article on a farmer vendor, Cardo's Farm Project, from the Denton Community Market.  The Denton Juice Company is also mentioned in the article.

Sustainability Efforts Highlighted at a Seminar in Denton, Texas

The City of Denton just held the first preliminary public meeting last week on May 24th, 2012 to start the update of its Comprehensive Plan. The Plan update will be done in the context of recent sustainability efforts that are placing Denton on the forefront of sustainability and environmental stewardship.

On May 18th, the Midwest Texas Section of the Texas American Planning Association held a seminar at the University of North Texas on the City's sustainability initiatives. Sustainability is a major goal of the University of North Texas (UNT), the DCTA, and the City of Denton.

University of North Texas, Office of Sustainability

Planners from across DFW heard about UNT's Office of Sustainability's efforts on the Denton campus, with recent LEED buildings, wind turbines, recycling efforts, new vegan cafeteria, energy efficiency, office certifications, community outreach, and catalyst projects across the campus. The goal is not only to promote sustainability on campus and practice what researchers are finding, as related to the economic, social, and environmental benefits of sustainability, but to also create leaders on a world stage, as graduating students enter the workforce and bring sustainability to their jobs in a variety of fields.

The most visible UNT effort in campus is the Apogee Stadium, the first LEED Platinum stadium in the United States, just opened this year. Three large wind turbines power about one third of the stadium's power for 31,000 seats at capacity. There is also energy efficient lighting, low VOC materials, permeable paving, recycled construction materials, and a large effort for recycling of waste from stadium events.

One of the most interesting efforts by UNT is the Schneider Electric performance contract. Over a ten-year period, Scheider Electric guarantees that UNT will save 14 million dollars from energy-saving technologies. If UNT does not get the savings, they will receive a refund. Some of the energy technologies include replacements of the central plant chillers, lighting controls, and new HVAC systems.

UNT is also actively coordinating with national and local organizations and efforts, include AASHE (college and university organization), U.G. Green Building Council (LEED), Arbor Day Foundation (Tree Campus USA), and other local efforts.

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA)

The DCTA, founded in 2001-2002, recently opened the A-train regional rail line in June which now serves the I-35 corridor from Downton Denton to Trinity Mills in Carrollton and connecting to DART's Green Line. The DCTA, including a bus system which connects to the train stations, provides another transportation choice for commuting to work or traveling to activities in the DFW Metroplex.

Although ridership on the system has been increasing since the opening, the long-term population and ridership growth projections show corridors not currently served by the system, including East to Frisco, to a Carrollton transit hub, to Alliance Airport, the 380 corridor, McKinney, and Flower Mound.  There is a "doughnut" hole in connectivity among the transit services in the DFW area, and the DCTA will continue to plan for expansion. The UNT staff, faculty, and students currently make up about 75% of the ridership.
As new cities want to join that have not been contributing local taxes to fund the system, there will be challenges in how to address new cities versus "legacy" cities, those cities that paid over years into the initial development of the system.

The DCTA has promoted Transit Oriented Development, with the continued improvements and growth of Downtown Denton, the Hebron Station TOD, Old Town Station TOD, and Highland Village/Lewisville Lake TOD, all in different stages of design and development.

The City of Denton

The City of Denton currently has two major sustainability initiatives: the Downtown Implementation Plan (DTIP) and the passage of its sustainability plan, "Simply Sustainable."

Denton's Downtown has seen considerable growth of commercial developments and multifamily apartments over the past few years. The DTIP plan considers further improvements and incentives to promote more downtown development, particularly on the Hickory Street corridor from the Courthouse on the Square to the DCTA train station and eventually to the Denton County Courthouse on McKinney Avenue.

The City is focusing on street improvements on Hickory Street, with angled parking and eventually street trees, and shared bike lane, and further streetscape improvements. At the same time, staff in currently writing a Form Based Code for the area, which is expected to be completed later this summer and probably approved in the fall.

Parking availability has been a particular concern of local businesses, and the City expects to develop a parking garage or facility on city-owned property in the City. The City has been taking a proactive role in developing Solid Wast Pilot Project to talk with business owners and reduce the number of dumpsters in the downtown as well as increase recycling. Dumpsters currently are throughout the downtown, and there will be further efforts to consolidate and screen those that are needed.

In February, after a year-long process, the City of Denton approved its sustainability plan, "Simply Sustainable."  The plan will not be static, but will be a living document that will be monitored and improved through data provided by City departments to track indicators.  A unique tracking system is being developed with CDM to provide the City and the community a report card on plan's progress. 

The City held two community meetings with the public as well as conducted a survey with over 200 respondents to create a master list of 500 strategies to consider. Out of the 500 strategies, 70 were selected for review by the Advisory Committee (UNT, the Chamber of Commerce, DCTA, the League of Women Voters, Citizen Groups, and others) and the City Council's Committee on the Environment. These items were ranked by the financial implications, implementation time frame, and the sustainability of the item. Some particular items, such as bike lanes and the tree code, were added to the list as community priorities.  Six years of baseline data is available for every element being tracked. The sustainability plan will be considered in the update of the Comprehensive Plan, a two-year process that just started this month.

Presenters:  Nicole Cocco (UNT Office of Sustainability); Dee Leggett (DCTA), Ron Menguita (City of Denton, Planning), and Katherine Barnett (City of Denton, Environmental Services and Sustainability)

Cardo's Farm Project: Community Agriculture near Denton, Texas

Cardo's farm project provides sustainably-grown and local produce to the Denton Community Market each week, as well as to local restaurants.

They are in the midst of their Kickstarter campaign to raise $15,000 for new farm infrastructure.

Here is the link to donate and support local agriculture and education.

You can also watch this video

Urban Farm in Denton, Texas: Earthwise Produce Creates Farm for Denton Community Market in Subdivision

Earthwise Produce is currently preparing the soil at a vacant lot between two homes as a future urban farm or garden for produce to be sold at the Denton Community Market.

I was attending a Board meeting of the Denton Community Market, and Ryan Crocker of Earthwise Produce, a current vendor, was talking about his difficulties in finding a vacant lot in Denton for growing local produce. After thinking about it a few minutes, I realized that a vacant lot that I own in my subdivision next to my house could be the perfect spot.

The property is about 1/4th of an acre and has not had any application of chemicals since at least 1995. Ryan plans on producing chemical-free salad greens and other produce this fall to sell at the Market. This will be the most local produce that the Market will have, being a "farm" within the Denton City limits.

Sustainability Plans: Greening Entire Cities

I am very excited about the current trends in urban planning. Many cities across the United States are creating plans to promote energy efficiency, sustainable practices at the local government level, and sustainability in the private sector as well. Only a limited number of cities had sustainability plans prior to this, with some setting city-wide goals or reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Cities are now striving to overlay their comprehensive plans with these new sustainability goals. The implementation of these plans are in the initial stages and there is a great opportunity to make significant gains in green practices, green buildings, energy reduction, reuse of materials, environmental goals, and economic viability in the new economy. ICLEI is one organization promoting standards and training in this field. There are many other organizations as well, including ISO, USGBC (US Green Building Council), the American Planning Association, and others.

Local News Stations and the Green Living Movement

I've been noticing lately that green living is getting dramatically more attention in the media. The major national television networks have green living campaigns, such as NBC's recent "Green Week," which included green tips on commercials and shows throughout the week. The "Biggest Loser" even had a green show with challenges featuring green living topics, such as household waste.

I decided to investigate this further to see if local news stations around the country are also providing green living websites and news stories. My local station, WFAA, now has "Project Green," a Dallas guide to living more ecologically, saving energy, saving water, and saving other natural resources. The website even provides an online calculator for calculating one's carbon footprint.

I found several other sites as well. WGNTV in Chicago offers many videos on recent green living and green building news stories. I was surprised to find that the green fire station in my town, Denton, Texas, was also featured in one of their website videos. Charlottesville; Seattle; Washington, D.C; and El Paso were some other cities as well with green living videos, tips, links, and articles. I am sure there are many more, but it is refreshing to see that green living ideas are getting more attention and becoming more mainstream. A few years ago when I would mention green living tips and ideas, most people were not even aware of the concept or ideas.

Book Recommendation: Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken

In his latest book, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, Paul Hawken provides an optimistic overview of the environmental movement on a global scale. This movement has no particular leader or ideology, yet, as he estimates, there are between one and two million organizations worldwide working on environmental and social justice issues.

The participants of "the largest social movement in all of human history" come from all walks of life, from the farmer in Africa to the urban activists. He looks as some of the roots of the movement as well as indigenous cultures and organizations as they are related to globalization. He then defines this movement as related to two biological terms, "immunity" and "restoration."

He ultimately explores the connection between environmental and social justice issues. The strategy, for instance, of a "zero-waste society" cannot be achieved without reducing both environmental or material waste as well as "waste on a social level"--underemployment and the marginalization of human beings.

This book is timely, given the recent attention to global warming, green living, and green business practices.

"Eco-Tecture", the New Face of Green Building

In the New York Times Magazine of May 20th, Nicolai Ouroussoff discusses the great progress that Europe has made in designing and building green buildings. In fact, Europe is way ahead of the United States in commonly requiring and integrating green building elements, such as energy efficiency and sustainability.

As he says "By the mid-90s, all new construction in Europe had to meet basic requirements in energy consumption, and many European architects began to make sustainability a central theme in their work." Most of the green architecture shown does not "look" green at all, but just quietly integrates these elements into the overall functioning and design of the buildings. Examples are the Dessau, Germany headquarters of the environmental agency, with underground pipes that heat and cool the building as well as the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart that has thick concrete walls to store hot and cool air that is drawn into an atrium.

This Magazine issue has several articles that discuss "eco-tecture"- the design movement of green buildings, zero-energy, green cities, and sustainable living.

It is good to see that the concepts of green building and sustainability are finally getting some needed attention.