Government Eco-Action Mon.: Groundbreaking of “Green Street” to Transform Tiny Town

Don’t let the tiny town of Edmonston, Maryland fool you. Despite its size, P.G. County’s minute municipality is on the cutting edge of environmental awareness – as evidenced by the groundbreaking of its new “green street” last week.

The $1.1 million Recovery Act project (issued through the EPA) will fund the reconstruction of Decatur Street, saving energy, reducing water pollution to the adjacent Anacostia River and Chesapeake Bay, and improving local air quality.

The project came about as the town’s main thoroughfare started approaching its “expiration date.” Edmonston’s Mayor Adam Ortiz, the city Council and residents began exploring alternates to just repaving or resurfacing the road – which had experienced years of devastating floods from the Anacostia due to poor environmental practices.

Plans for the green street include planting dozens of native trees, installing rain gardens and porous paving to filter rainwater and reduce flooding, building bike lanes, improving pedestrian safety, and using energy-saving, wind-powered street lights. The mile-long street will include an educational “walking tour” for residents and visitors that explains each of its eco-friendly features. Ortiz said the project will make Decatur Street the greenest in Maryland and possibly even the East Coast.

As he explained at the groundbreaking, “It may be unusual for a small, working class, majority-minority community like ours to build a sustainable street like this…Our main objective is that other towns and cities will ‘steal’ these ideas and replicate and improve on them.” The town will make its engineering plans and design concepts available online.

The “competition” to be green could be heating up, however, as a Southern Maryland developer draws up plans to create the greenest town in the state. As noted in today’s Washington Post article, the plans (for starters) include revamping an aging planned community in Waldorf with up to 11,000 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified homes and apartments.

While the Edmonston project is state-funded and the other isn’t, the real difference is the buy-in (literally and figuratively) from each community’s citizens. The former has it, and the latter doesn’t – at least not yet.

In any case, these two towns are certain to boost Maryland’s spot on the nation’s green map. We can only hope that other small towns – and large ones alike – follow in their footsteps.