North Charleston Mayor, Keith Summey Honored:
South Carolina Chapter of US Green Building Council Honors Summey with Public Sector Leadership Award
North Charleston Mayor R. Keith Summey receives ‘Outstanding Leadership in the Public Sector’
honors, for advocacy and commitment to sustainable urban revitalization
North Charleston, SC (October 15, 2008) – The City of North Charleston announced today that Mayor R. Keith Summey is the recipient of the 2008 “Outstanding Leadership in the Public Sector” from the South Carolina Chapter of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC-SC). Summey received the honor based on his “outstanding advocacy and commitment to sustainable urban revitalization”. The award recognizes the City’s bold leadership in the dramatic turnaround in the 3,000-acre Noisette Community, along with fostering sustainable approaches across the City. Mayor Summey stated, “I am humbled to receive this award, but it truthfully belongs to the entire City Council. It is an honor to serve alongside these men and women that have the foresight to promote sustainability in the interest of tomorrow’s generations.”
Summey will receive the award at the USGBC-SC Leadership Awards Dinner on October 16, at the Magnolia Room within the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden in Columbia, South Carolina.
Bryan Cordell, executive director of the Sustainability Institute of South Carolina, nominated Summey for the leadership award. “Mayor Summey’s support of the sustainable revitalization of the city’s historic neighborhoods is unequaled,” injects Cordell. “Projects like Oak Terrace Preserve, the Navy Yard at Noisette, Mixson, Garco, and Hunley Waters have blossomed under the City’s commitment to the master planned area. Entrepreneurial efforts like the LEED Platinum Half Moon Outfitters corporate headquarters, and the first-ever LEED certified school in the state, North Charleston Elementary School, have been built during Mayor Summey’s administration. Plus, non-profit organizations, like the Sustainability Institute, and Noisette Foundation, fulfill community needs while building a sustainable culture in the region.”
Nationally, the media is recognizing the transformation of North Charleston into a sustainable community. Last July, Cottage Living Magazine, a Time, Inc.-Southern Progress Corporation publication, named North Charleston’s Noisette Community as one of the nation’s “Top 10” developments for urban infill and adaptive reuse of older neighborhoods in a sustainable model. In January 2008, the Navy Yard at Noisette was awarded another “Top 10” listing by Natural Home Magazine. Earlier, in 2005, the North Charleston Noisette Community Master Plan was awarded the American Society of Landscape Architects top honors for urban renewal design and planning.
Under Mayor Summey, the City’s vision has yielded a variety of sustainable projects to its boundaries, including the Clemson University Restoration Institute (CURI) on the former Navy Base. This 86-acre advance research campus was made possible by the City’s gift of land to Clemson University.
Other notable ventures in the City include the East Montague Avenue Streetscape, a half-mile corridor with streetscape improvements, including native landscaping; Horizon Village, a 68-acre, 482-home redevelopment project of the North Charleston Housing Authority that incorporates marshland which is part of the Noisette Creek Restoration; and, Oak Terrace Preserve, a 55-acre, EarthCraft ® certified development owned by the City of North Charleston, and managed by The Noisette Company, LLC, projected to have 374 homes and town homes upon completion.
Statewide, there are 23 LEED-certified projects, with three of these buildings located in the City of North Charleston. It is the City’s goal to attain LEED certification for the new city hall, according to the USGBC, promoting a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
The City is working with the Michaux Conservancy, an environmental education non-profit, to accomplish the multi-year restoration of more than 135 acres that constitute the Noisette Creek Preserve.
First elected to the Mayor’s Office in 1994, Summey took the reins of city government in the wake of the closure of the Charleston Naval Base in 1996. Summey was first elected to Charleston County Council in 1988, and served as chairman in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
For more information on the City of North Charleston, please visit http://www.northcharleston.org.
