“We Noticed” Program

Heritage Park at Crane Creek, an affordable housing development in south Melbourne, was honored on April 12 with the distinguished “We Noticed” Beautification Award by Keep Brevard Beautiful (KBB) for its commitment to native and sustainable landscaping practices.

Keep Brevard Beautiful’s (KBB) South Action Team presented the “We Noticed” Award to the recently-completed expansion for Northrop Grumman’s (NG) Melbourne campus on May 18. Dozens of local companies plus hundreds of NG employees spent the past six years planning and constructing this expansive project. Seeing a need for parking and offices, NG employees created a plan to minimize their environmental footprint while delivering solutions by incorporating over 24,500 feet of walkways, 29 benches, and Florida native plants across the campus. As part of the sustainable practices, employees identified over 130 trees to keep protected from the construction and are still thriving in the landscape. By utilizing plants like Live Oaks, Slash Pines, Florida Elms and magnolias alongside reclaimed water and low-flow sprinklers, water usage is low. Not only does this provide beautiful habitat for wildlife and reduce environmental impacts, but the shade and aesthetics promote their “walking campus” concept to encourage employees to stay healthy and happy with outdoor exercise in a park-like setting at work. “Northrop Grumman is proud to showcase the improvements made to our Melbourne site,” said Janice Zilch, Vice President, Multi-Domain Command & Control Programs and Melbourne Site Leader. “This impressive undertaking represents the growth we’re experiencing, with a keen eye for improvements to our sustainability efforts. We sincerely appreciate all of our community partners that helped us get here.”

No one completes a project on this grand of a scale on their own and NG had a great team and supportive community partners. Key leadership included recently-retired Bill Trillo, Michael Lattari and Daniel Schroeder as Managers of Facilities Engineering and Planning, Kevin Mills as Facilities Project Manager, Jake Wise as Construction Engineering Group’s Civil Engineer, and Susan Hall from Susan Hall Landscape Architecture, Inc.

Attending the “We Noticed” presentation were NG Janice Zilch, Vice President, Daniel Schroeder, Facilities Manager, Steve Campbell, Program Director, and Lisa Waters, Environmental Safety, Health, and Medical Manager; City of Melbourne employees; and Keep Brevard Beautiful South Action Team members.

The South Action Team recognizes property- and business-owners throughout the southern part of Brevard County year-round for their efforts to beautify the area and environmentally improve their landscaping. The program has been in operation since the 1990’s and has recognized dozens of properties throughout the County.

Keep Brevard Beautiful’s (KBB) South Action Team presented the “We Noticed” Beautification Award to south Brevard’s Harbor City Dental. This beautiful and unique facility is located in Melbourne and received the award on April 10. The dental facility has been operating for over ten years in another location, but recently decided to move their operations onto a permanent lot with a more aesthetically-pleasing structure and vegetation along Babcock Street. The need for a place of her own to include personal touches motivated Dr. Braille Watson, DMD to design an upgraded facility that could offer the employees amenities such as a break room, back porch and walled offices as well as windows in every treatment area for patients.

We wanted the outside and inside of our facility to reflect the amount of care we give to our patients,” said Dr. Watson. After months of planning and construction, the new facility opened June 2018 and the landscaping, with palms, flowers and bushes surrounding the parking area, matches the beautiful look of the building. A special touch included by Dr. Watson was installing the high ceiling with her father. To help with customer service, she added Dr. Sara Lopez, DMD as an additional dentist, and together they service patients with issues from cleanings and orthodontia work to cosmetic and oral surgeries.

Attending the “We Noticed” presentation were City of Melbourne Vice Mayor Debbie Thomas, Dr. Braille Watson, Dr. Sara Lopez, City of Melbourne employees, a City of Melbourne Beautification and Energy Efficiency Board member, KBB staff and KBB South Action Team members.

Throughout the year, the South Action Team recognizes property and business owners from the southern part of Brevard County for their efforts to beautify the area and environmentally improve their landscaping. The program has been in operation since the 1990’s and has recognized dozens of properties throughout the County.