Developing Marlinton, WV

Proposing Green Design

By Shelbe West | 2019 | West Virginia University | Director Butler

Table of Contents Introduction

Alleys into

Marlinton has potential to be a prospering Forest Town like Thomas and Davis.

Surrounded with rich nature tucked away within the Appalachian Mountains. Marlinton offers outdoor recreation and an opportunity to delve deeper into the West Virginian Mountain Culture. Its location is particularly ideal for those headed toward the Snowshoe area, being the only stop for 60 miles.

Starting projects within town that bolster the context and culture will be most successful.

The area highlighted in purple is a possible location for a 4-H Equestrian Center while the green highlighted area is an opportunity for an overlook deck. Two other possible projects will incorporate a wetland (yellow) as well as green alleys integrated into town. These projects will connect residents with nature and help to bring in revenue.

Equestrian Center Case Study

Project: Evergreen State Fair Equestrian Park

Location: Monroe, Washington

Landscape Architects: Lynn Long

Client: Evergreen Fair

Project Background/History: The Evergreen Fairgrounds were established in 1949, in 2009 a Redevelopment Initiative was published and later set into motion. The redesign concept focused on sustainable development and maximization of space throughout the grounds and safety precautions.

Program Elements: (The Equestrian Park Exclusively) 60,000 sqft Indoor Arena

and Bleacher Seats, Covered Outdoor Arena, 3 Outdoor Arenas, Lunging Areas, 402 Box Stalls (4 Barns on Site), Wash Racks, 3 Restroom Facilities, and Trailer/RV Parking

Significance/Uniqueness of Project: This project integrates this often rural activity into a more urban area, allowing for those who want to participate in the activity to do so without having to travel out of their way,

This Equestrian Center was a redevelopment project, the grounds needed updated and redesigned to be more sustainable and meet more safety precautions as well as draw people in as they were losing clients to private barns. Within the entirety of the fairgrounds, there are several programs that feature a speedway, camping area, equestrian park, and other facilities. These fairgrounds not only host the Evergreen State Fair, it features other events throughout the year like rodeos, races on the Evergreen Speedway, and concerts. This area was designed to be flexible and versatile while keeping safety in mind, connecting these different programs into one large area. Enhancing safety precautions was one of the biggest factors going into creating the equestrian park.

Site Plan:

This design was created with stakeholders, equestrian individuals and others who had a hand in the facility. Designing equestrian centers heavily relies on the conditions of the site and which functions are going to be surrounding the center. Having both indoor and outdoor facilities are necessary, as well as barns to house horses. Other facilities will be necessary but they will depend on the extent of 4-H activities wanted.

These fairgrounds host 4-H, a foundation focused on educating kids about agriculture and related activities. Integrating a small scale camp and equestrian park within Marlinton could heavily benefit the younger generation. This could help influence kids to be interested in these activities that surround them and could inspire career paths.

Green Alleys

Green Alleys are a low-impact urban design solution that can be of multi-faceted use; environmentally and socially these are highly functional spaces that help to enhance the aesthetics and culture of a given area. Marlinton has the Greenbrier River Trail cutting through the town, an existing green connection. Expanding the green network through the town will have many positive impacts and may be relatively easy to achieve due to the setting/context of the town and its natural appeal. Restoring natural vegetation and softening the overwhelmingly hardscaped town will help to draw the natural beauty back into town.

Developing connections through town with a network of green alleys will cause residents to reconnect with the environment and help draw the community closer; however, this is also an opportunity to develop zoning regulations to help build a unique and consistent character within Marlinton. Zoning regulations could include use of similar paving throughout the town, making alleys wide enough to accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists, correct grading/draining solutions and making building set-backs further to encourage vegetation within alleys and in all areas of the town.

Since Marlinton is looking to become a part of the National Mountain Biking Association and with the Greenbrier River Trail running through town, developing a bike path network would help to bolster traffic within town and encourage more tourism; in addition to providing alternate routes to businesses, schools and other establishments in town rather than driving to these places. This will push for sustainability within town in a myriad of ways.

Socially, these connections should help to promote a tighter-knit and healthier community as it will reconnect residents to their natural surroundings, inspiring them to be a part of and upkeep the local community. Getting people outside surrounded with vegetation has a number of positive impacts like relieving stress compared to driving and being surrounded by hard/melancholic spaces. Green alleys provide connections, positive environmental and social impacts, and allows community character to develop further to name a few of their results.

Retrofitting existing alleys and developing other green connections will allow for planners to develop features that play into the character of the town as well as offer space for functional design solutions like planters, benches, lighting, and many other design aspects that can make up the character and culture of a town.

Integrating native planting, whether its vegetables, wild flowers, street trees, even fruiting shrubs will inherently educate locals about their native surroundings, as well as, providing other positive benefits like encouraging pollinators with wild flowers, drawing the community together with gardens, or reducing run-off by planting species that absorb water.

Simple changes in hardscaping, using permeable pavers, throughout alleys will help to make a difference in groundwater quality as well as reducing run-off. Permeable pavers also allows for flexibility of design, these can be used to strengthen the character of a neighborhood/town.

The Greenbrier River Trail

Green Alley; Amsterdam

Multi-User Green Alley; Montreal

Green Alley; Montreal

Goals:

Wetland Plan

Wetland Area

4

3 Water Source + Quality

Wetlands help to improve water quality; however, if the water supply to the site is heavily contaminated it will overwhelm the wetland and inhibit the natural systems from functioning. If levels of salt are too high (due to proximity of roads and pollutions) it could kill off the necessary vegetation for wetland filtration and absorption. Utilizing water surveys to find what is in the Greenbrier River and their watershed and finding the sources of the contaminants within Marlinton’s water will help us make decisions during the next few steps to ensure success of a wetland in this area. Additionally, this data will help us to figure out how to best approach cleaning the water supply in this area since there has been water quality issues in the past.

Substrate Augmentation + Handling

Action Plan:

1 Appropriate Site Selection

Choosing the appropriate site will be imperative to the success of a native wetland, land-uses surrounding the wetland must not impede on its health or the conditions of the land. The site must be the correct conditions or have the potential to have the conditions for a wetland. There must be adequate space for the wetland as well as for a buffer. Present and future land-uses must be considered as the presence of humans and lack there of heavily impacts how the wetland will function in addition to the location and environmental conditions. Within Marlinton, this potential wetland could be located near the water tower in town as this site has adequate space.

2 Hydrologic Analysis

Elements making up the site hydrology are determinants of inflow and outflows of ground water and surface water, resulting water levels, and the timing/duration of soil saturation or flooding. Special attention needs to be paid for basins within wetlands as they impact the factors mentioned, The hydrologics of a site impacts the natural systems that can function within that specific location. The configuration of the basin of the wetland will determine the functionality of the site; the slope of the basin will determine the plant community it will support. According to the USGS, “In a properly constructed freshwater marsh, the lowest point of the wetland will be inundated to a depth and for a period long enough that emergent vegetation can persist, but not so long as to destroy the plants,” (Kentula). Thus carefully choosing a site and designing with the environment is crucial to restoring a native and functional habitat.

Creating the correct soil conditions in relation to the hydrologic conditions on site will impact the overall ecological function of the wetland. Mimicking natural wetlands within the region will help to establish substrate conditions that are appropriate for native vegetation. Since chemical storage and reactions mainly occur within the substrate layer of the soil, these conditions will impact the plant community that will flourish in the site. These hydric soils (saturated) must have organic matter present, whether its pre-existing or other solutions like mulching are needed, in order to support plant growth. Creating the correct soil conditions will go a long way with the growth and functionality the wetland will have.

5 Design + Grading of the Wetland

Depending on the desired functions and type of ecology, this will impact the design of the basins and its grades. Smaller pools will result in more diversity, while larger pools will result in stronger populations. Small gullies and other aspects of wetlands will matter due to the nature of the species that will do well in this area. Grading the wetland to have appropriate sinuousities and velocities when filling or draining will matter, especially for the plant life and to prevent any erosion or other factors that make up this delicate community. Taking a survey of local vegetation will help to determine the best solutions.

Small Urban Wetland in Auckland, NZ

Selection of plant materials will majorly impact the success of a wetland, they must be carefully selected based on the conditions and goals for the wetland long term. Additionally, creating a natural and organic community of plants will create a more aesthetically pleasing scene as it should mold into the surrounding vegetation.

Using herbaceous species that help to rapidly stabilize banks will ease erosion and slow water flow down. Layering vegetation will increase diversity and further stabilize the wetland area and help to filter water.

Using hardy species that are low maintenance will pay off in the long run as they will be more likely to establish. Using native trees will help to establish canopy within town amongst other benefits, they should be particularly used as buffers. Species should be adaptable to a broad range of water conditions as well as diverse, mixing edible, flowering and other species.

7 Buffer Zone Placement

Buffers are essential to creating a successful wetland, they increase the stability of land, slows the velocity of water, helps to maximize absorption and prevents erosion. Buffers offer habitat and protection of the area from urban related conditions since these created wetlands are vulnerable in their first stages, they help to clean water of urban pollutants before it enters the main wetland area. Buffers also keep predators from entering the wetlands. which often act as nursing and feeding grounds to many species. For buffers to be successful, composition and width are the most important characteristics. These characteristics are influenced by surrounding land-uses, the requirements for local species to thrive and the potential functions of the site.

For Marlinton, a vegetated buffer that surrounds the wetland should feature native species such as maples, birches and sycamores amongst other shrubs, grasses and wildflowers. Since there is existing forests on one side of the potential site, using this as a base for what species to incorporate into the rest of the buffer will help

8 Long Term Management

Keeping track of the progress and growth of a wetland is key to making it a successful project. Since plants can be temperamental, not all are going to survive and when they die this is useful information to determine more about the site’s characteristics and conditions. Water quality tests and recording any changing conditions like signs of erosion or presence of any invasives will help to keep up with maintenance and set up the wetland to be successful long term.

This diagram was created by The Nature Conservancy to break down the functions of a wetland and their processes.

Other urban wetlands.

Overlook

Creating a sceneic overlook at the top of the mountain in town will provide many benefits and may open other opportunities like an area for events or so on. Utilizing this space for a scenic overlook will create a new landmark within town and may inspire other low-impact designs throughout town to help engage residents and tourists with the area.

Integrating an overlook could inspire hiking and mountain biking trails to pop up around the mountain as well as additional overlooks and/ or other activities up on this mountain. Additionally, this project could help bolster a sense of community throughout the town since it will make the surrounding valley a focal point. Lastly, there are several directions to take this design, it could be a simple deck with refuge or more complex depending on the specific goals for the overlook.

ConclusionRedeveloping parts of Marlinton and reconnecting its identity and residents back to the outdoor/natural aspect of this area is the main goal of these projects. Integrating green design and sustainability will benefit this town and inspire greener design for future projects. These low-impact design solutions will enhance and maintain the natural qualities found in Marlinton and help to engage the people with these qualities as well as with other residents,

The people, particularly the children, of Marlinton need a greater sense of community and need to pull together to become a forest town, which is completely doable as Marlinton has an array of aspects that will draw in tourists and new residents. However, these designs will go further than temporary tourism attraction, this could lead to permanent changes that could influence policy, economy, the future generations and the longevity of this town.

This specific overlook is from an animated tv show; however, the lights and the design of the deck itself could be interesting if integrated into Marlinton. Establishing character with materials and form of the overlook will be key; as these projects not only want to enhance use of outdoor spaces but also strengthen the character of Marlinton to help reinforce the unique culture found here. Going with classic details and wood help to exemplify many of the key elements that create Marlinton’s identity.

Sources

Evergreen Equestrian Center

“Evergreen Equestrian Park.” The Evergreen State Fair, The Evergreen State Fairgrounds. https://www.evergreenfair.org/101/Equestrian-Park

“Redevelopment Initiative.” Snohomish County, Snohomish County Department of Parks and Recreation, August 2009, https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/9790/FairgroundsRedevelopment-Initiative?bidId=

Lynn Long Planning and Design LLC. https://www.lynnlongplanninganddesign.com/barn_design/default.htm

Green Alleys

Daley, Richard M. “The Chicago Green Alley Handbook.” CDOT, The Chicago Department of Transportation, 2001, https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/cdot/Green_Alley_ Handbook_2010.pdf

Wetland Plan

Kentula, Mary E. “Restoration, Creation, and Recovery of Wetlands.” Wetland Restoration and Creation, U.S. Geological Survey, 29 Jan, 2002, https://water.usgs.gov/nwsum/WSP2425/restoration.html

“Principles of Wetland Restoration.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 14 June 2018, https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/principles-wetland-restoration

Overlook

Monroe, Lea. “11 Scenic Overlooks in New York.” Only in Your State, 25 August 2017, https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/new-york/scenic-overlooks-ny/