Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon’s Community Plan for the Groves Park Commons, a Traditional Neighborhood Development, Receives the “Outstanding Green Community Award”.

9/25/2008

Oak Ridge, TN. September 25, 2008: The engineering firm of Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon (BWSC) received the "Outstanding Green Community Award" from the Tennessee Chapter of the American Planning Association (TAPA) in Johnson City, Tennessee. BWSC received the award in recognition of their community plan for the Groves Park Commons, a Traditional Neighborhood
Development (TND), that utilizes a macro-green planning approach by focusing on an overall mixed use of land development and conservation. The awards ceremony was held on Thursday, September 25th and was the culmination of TAPA's
annual three-day conference. Other awards presented were: Outstanding Award for a Plan, Outstanding Planning Award for a Project, Program or Tool, Outstanding Planning Award for Implementation, Planner of the Year, and the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Outstanding Green Community Award is the first "green" award presented by TAPA. The judging panel selected BWSC as the recipient because, "The Groves Park Commons plan is a leader in green initiatives in Traditional Neighborhood Developments. It serves as a benchmark and sends a
message to other developers that you can have a quality development and still preserve as much as Page 2 Groves Park Commons, TAPA "Outstanding Green Community Award" more possible." said Angie Charles, a TAPA representative. Groves Park Commons developers Walter Wise, Bill Kennedy, Christos Christopoulos, and Terry Wheeler selected BWSC to partner with them in
developing this project because of their reputation of outstanding design... "As the developers, we are extremely proud of this award and feel like everyone's hard work has really paid off. This award emphasizes the exact reason we selected BWSC; they are the best at what they do." Located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the Groves Park Commons is a mixed-use development utilizing TND design principles in an environmentally sensitive manner. The plan includes a total of 300 single-family detached homes and town homes and provides a wide array of amenities: a community pool, a 67-acre common park area, two regulation sized soccer fields, and retail space. "There is a real movement in construction where energy conservation is paramount in the design. Components such as the use of bio-swales, a natural rainwater drainage system that keeps run-off out of storm drains and
away from local rivers and water sources, site selection and orientation of the homes on the site to facilitate energy focus, converting a landfill into a park, being within a mile to shopping venues and allocating trails and sidewalks for pedestrian traffic and alternative transportation methods made it possible to win this award." said Daniel Boutte, BWSC representative and landscape architect on the project. "We visited several developments similar to this across the southeast in order to see what
worked and what didn't. We're not original thinkers, we're just good copiers." added Wise. "I've heard it said that the theme of the TND is to take the best aspect of the site and give it to the public-- so everybody can enjoy it." said Kathryn Baldwin, Community Director for the city of Oak Ridge. "Groves Park Commons does that. It's an innovative new product that is full of fresh ideas. To be a successful community, you have to have something for everybody. A healthy community serves
everyone's needs. GPC is going to move us a long way towards meeting the needs for our diversified market. I'm proud of the planning profession in that they recognized something that had become a tidal wave trend and wanted to recognize a good job when they saw it." Groves Park Commons is now actively selling homes. For sales inquires please call Sharon Power, REALTOR® of Realty Executives at (865) 482-3232.
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