Virginia Economic Development Association: Integrating LowImpact Development Stormwater Management T

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Virginia Economic DevelopmentAssociation
Integrating Low-Impact DevelopmentStormwater
Management Throughout the Process
Presented by J. Chris Earley September 24, 2008
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Greening Urban LLC

• Years of civil engineering experience in
  building-scale and neighborhood-scale projects
• Low-impact development strategies from the Master
  Plan scale to single building projects
• Green building advocacy training
• Facilitating green development
• Participating in green building projects,
  including those pursuing LEED

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Greening Urban, LLCChris Earley, Principal

• City of Richmonds Green Building Commission,
  Chairman
• Councilman Grahams Washington D.C. Stormwater
  Management Taskforce, Member
• Sustainable Design Working Group for Building
  Code Advisory Committee (BCAC) for the District
  of Columbia, Member
• James River Green Building Council, Board Member
• Virginia Downtown Development Association, Board
  Member

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Stormwater Management Trends

• Statewide Regulations and National Initiatives
• VA Requirements
• MD/D.C. Requirements
• Other Cities
• Innovative Stormwater Management Solutions
• Low Impact Development
• Sustainable Sites Initiative
• Greening Urban Example Project
• Airport Square

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Virginia Stormwater Regulations 2008 Updates

• Center for Watershed Protection ? Updated
  Stormwater Quality and BMP Performance Data
• Following changes made to 2007 stormwater
  revisions
• More research on BMP performance
• Combination of conventional LID BMPs
• Runoff Reduction as a unifying approach
• SWM integrated with sizing/design
• Designed for a broader range of pollutants,
  including Total Phosphorous (TP) and Total
  Nitrogen (TN)
• Develop serial approach to utilizing runoff
  reduction methods
• Integration with water quantity standards

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Virginia Water Regulations 2008 Updates

• Center for Watershed Protection ? Updated
  Stormwater Quality and BMP Performance Data
• Focus on Good Design Better BMPs
• Integrate Structural, Non-structural, LID
• Incentives to Preserve/Restore Forest Reduce
  Disturbed Soils
• Quality Quantity Play Nice Together
• Feasible/Achievable Across Range of Sites
• Meets Water Quality Goals

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Virginia Water Regulations

• Water Reclamation and Reuse Regulation
  (9VAC25-740)
• References six reuse categories (urban
  unrestricted access, irrigation - unrestricted
  access, irrigation restricted access, landscape
  impoundments, construction, and industrial),
  and specifies the required treatment standards
  and allows for the approval of other reuses and
  associated treatment standards commensurate with
  the quality of the reclaimed water and its
  intended reuse.  
• The regulations stated purpose is to promote
  and encourage the reclamation of wastewater, here
  after referred to as water reclamation, and water
  reuse in a manner that is protective of the
  environment and public health, and as an
  alternative to discharging treated effluent to
  state waters.
• Will become effective October 1, 2008

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Wetland Riparian Buffer Initiatives

• In 1998, the Virginia General Assembly passed
  legislation that permits localities to grant
  tax incentives to encourage landowners to protect
  wetlands, riparian buffers and to develop erosion
  control structures, all of which will have a
  positive impact on water quality.

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Maryland Stormwater Requirements

• Stormwater Management Act of 2007
• Became effective in October 2007
• The act requires that environmental site design
  (ESD), through the use of nonstructural BMPs, be
  implemented to the maximum extent possible
  previously ESD was merely encouraged
• Incorporated updates to the 2000 Maryland
  Stormwater Design Manual

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Maryland Stormwater Requirements

• Stormwater Management Act of 2007
• 13 Core Principles
• 1Increase Onsite Runoff Reduction Volumes
• 2 Require a Unified Early ESD Map
• 3 Establish Nutrient-Based Stormwater Loading
  Criteria
• 4 Environmental Site Design Applies to
  Redevelopment
• 5 Integrate Erosion and Sediment Control and
  ESD Together at Construction Sites
• 6 Provide Adequate Financing to Implement the
  Act and Technical Assistance and Incentives for
  Early Adopters
• 7 Develop an ESD Ordinance that Truly Changes
  Local Codes
• 8 Strengthen Design Standards for ESD and
  Stormwater Practices
• 9 Ensure that all ESD Practices can be
  maintained
• 10 Devise an Enforceable Design Process to
  Require ESD
• 11 Establish Turbidity Standards for
  Construction Sites
• 12 Craft Special Stormwater Criteria for
  Sensitive Waters
• 13 Develop a Statewide ESD Training and
  Certification Program

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National Low-Impact Development Practices

• Seattle Washington
• Street Edge Alternatives Program
• Chicago Illinois
• Green Alleys Program
• Green roof incentives
• Portland Oregon
• Green Streets Program

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Seattle Washington High Point

• Seattles Street Edge Alternative (SEA) program
  in design and in practice
• Program began in 2000
• City also utilizes flow through planter box
  garden to slow rainfall and promote infiltration

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Chicago, Illinois Programs

• Green Alleys Program
• Began in 2001
• Used GravelPave2, a porous gravel structure, for
  alley surface
• Can handle up to 3 of rainfall/hr.

• Green Roofs Program
• Chicago has more green roofs than any other city
• Leading by example green in image is atop City
  Hall

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Portland, Oregon Programs

• Portlands Green Streets Program
• Reduce polluted stormwater entering Portlands
  rivers and streams
• Improve pedestrian and bicycle safety
• Divert stormwater from the sewer system and
  reduce basement flooding, sewer backups and
  combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Willamette
  River
• Reduce impervious surface so stormwater can
  infiltrate to recharge groundwater and surface
  water
• Increase urban green space
• Improve air quality and reduce air temperatures
• Reduce demand on the citys sewer collection
  system and the cost of constructing expensive
  pipe systems

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Seattles Street Edge Alternative (SEA) Program

• Program was completed in Spring 2001
• Designed to provide drainage that more closely
  mimics natural systems
• Features
• 11 less impervious surface than traditional
  street engineering and construction techniques
• Many native and adapted trees and shrubs
• Two years of project monitoring discovered that
  runoff volume was reduced by 99

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How LEED Relates to LID (Low Impact Development)

• LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC)
• Sustainable sites and Water Efficiency Categories
  (30)
• LEED ND
• Supports density, green space, storm water capture

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LEED for Neighborhood Developments (LEED-ND)
LEED-ND is a rating system that integrates the
principles of smart growth, new urbanism, and
green building into the first national standard
for neighborhood design. It is being developed by
USGBC in partnership with the Congress for the
New Urbanism (CNU) and the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC). Timeline for developing
LEED-ND 2007 LEED-ND pilot program
launches 2008 Public comment periods begin for
post-pilot version of LEED-ND 2009 LEED-ND (full
program) ballot and launch For more information,
visit www.usgbc.org/leed/nd or e-mail
leedinfo_at_usgbc.org.
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LEED ND Smart Location Linkage
Prerequisite 1 Smart Location Prerequisite 2
Proximity to Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
Prerequisite 3 Imperiled Species and Ecological
Communities Prerequisite 4 Wetland and Water
Body Conservation Prerequisite 5 Agricultural
Land Conservation Prerequisite 6 Floodplain
Avoidance Credit 1 Brownfield Redevelopment
Credit 2 High Priority Brownfield Redevelopment
Credit 3 Preferred Locations Credit 4 Reduced
Automobile Dependence Credit 5 Bicycle Network
Credit 6 Housing and Jobs Proximity Credit 7
School Proximity Credit 8 Steep Slope
Protection Credit 9 Site Design for Habitat or
Wetland Conservation Credit 10 Restoration of
Habitat or Wetlands Credit 11 Conservation
Management of Habitat or Wetlands
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Innovative Stormwater Management

• Conventional Stormwater Management
• Designed to collect, convey and discharge runoff
  as efficiently as possible
• Low Impact Development (LID)
• Achieves stormwater management controls by
  fundamentally changing conventional site design
  to create an environmentally functional landscape
  that mimics natural watershed hydrologic
  functions (discharge, frequency, recharge and
  volume).

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Conventional Stormwater Management Techniques
Traditional engineered stormwater management flow
in suburban developments focuses on transporting
water from the site
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Conventional Stormwater Management Practices

• Completely closed storm drain systems
• Empty pit in the corner of the site
• Direct, single source discharge

Civil Engineer Typically works in a Vacuum
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Bioretention/Infiltration Technology

• Basic Principles
• Technologies sized for a calculated volume of
  stormwater runoff.
• Stormwater will either be reused, infiltrate or
  through evapo transpiration go back into the
  hydrologic cycle.

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Innovative SWM Ideas _at_ the Planning Level

• Bioswales Bioretention Areas
• Eliminates need for expensive underground SWM
  systems
• Reduces streambank erosion and pollutant levels
  in runoff
• Permeable Paving
• Exhibits similar performance to traditional
  materials
• Can enhance safety by reducing the amount and
  effect of standing water
• Rain Gardens Flow-Thru Planter Boxes
• Can capture and infiltrate stormwater, thereby
  lessening environmental impacts downstream
• Tree Trench Technology
• Provides attractive and functional method of
  slowing stormwater
• Green Roofs Screens
• Becoming more prevalent in municipalities
  throughout U.S., including Seattle, Chicago, and
  New York
• Cisterns
• Offer the potential to capture and reuse
  rainwater, thereby reducing dependence on, and
  cost of, municipal water use
• Offers possibility of landscape irrigation during
  times of drought

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Bioretention

• Promotes Infiltration
• Can count towards Landscape costs
• Usually sized for water quality credit
• Underdrain critical
• Plant and soil selection critical
• Multiple studies on performance underway
• Multiple diverse applications on projects

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Pervious Pavement

• Reduces stormwater runoff
• Requires less land for retention basins
• Replenishes groundwater
• Reduces pollutants in runoff
• Available as concrete or asphalt pavement
• Interlocking Block systems can alleviate concerns
  about loads and freeze/thaw

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Pervious Pavement

• Provides stormwater detention
• Greatly increases infiltration
• (2-yr. storm)
• Reduction in pollutant loadings
• Utilizes unused volume below parking areas (WQV)

Note Always under-drain!
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Flow-through Planter Boxes

• Planter boxes receive stormwater runoff from the
  buildings roof
• Water temporarily stored above the soil then
  slowly filters down
• Water not absorbed is collected in perforated
  pipe routed

Note Flow through planter boxes, pervious
pavement, rain gardens, etc all have to be sized
to meet stormwater management requirements.
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Rain Gardens

• Promote infiltration directly into the ground and
  often, though not always, require under-draining
• Water temporarily stored above the soil then
  slowly filters down
• Improves water quality and decreases runoff
  volume and speed during storm events

Note Flow through planter boxes, pervious
pavement, rain gardens, etc all have to be sized
to meet stormwater management requirements.
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Tree Trench Technology

• Similar to rain gardens and flow-through planter
  boxes in stormwater treatment methods. Promote
  infiltration directly into the ground and often,
  though not always, require under-draining
• Water temporarily stored above the soil then
  slowly filters down
• Improves water quality and decreases runoff
  volume and speed during storm events
• Creates shade for sidewalks and a safety barrier
  between pedestrians and vehicles

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Tree Trench Technology Filterra System
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Green Roofs

• A powerful tool in dealing with dense urban
  imperviousness
• Helps tremendously with stormwater issues
• Municipalities love them!

(4/12 x roof area sq. ft.) x .4 WQv (District
of Columbia Combined Sewer Area
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Living Walls Green Screens

• Benefits
• Air Quality Improvement
• Temperature Regulation
• Reduction of Stormwater Runoff
• Improvement of Building Performance
• Habitat and Ecological Benefits
• Hides sides of parking decks, buildings in
  floodplains etc.

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Cisterns

• Not your fathers rain barrel!
• Cisterns can come in a variety of shapes, sizes,
  and materials
• Can be integrated into building design, or hidden
  from view
• Top Philip Merrill Environmental Center,
  cisterns integrated with building design
• Bottom Underground system at the NRDC building
  with plantings above

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Airport Square

• Airport Square, Linthicum, MD
• Mixed-use project near BWI Airport featuring
  hotels, retail and office commercial, and
  residences
• Stormwater management techniques integrated with
  site design at master planning stage reduced
  cost made implementation easier
• Developer needs to try and plan for
  implementation of new Maryland stormwater
  regulations as Prince Georges County phases them
  in

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Airport Square Master Plan

• Existing conditions feature vast expanses of
  surface parking and many impervious surfaces
• Proposed stormwater management techniques would
  follow site contours and utilize existing
  drainage basin

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Airport Square Master Plan

• Proposed LID technologies
• Pervious asphalt and pavement
• Green screens on multi-story parking garages
• Rainwater cisterns for collection of rooftop
  runoff
• Bioretention Infiltration swales
• Green roofs on some structures

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Its all Connected

• Building
• Site
• Neighborhood
• Community
• Planet

Greening Urban LLC 1606 West Grace
Street Richmond, VA 23220 804-937-6633 www.greeni
ngurban.com J. Chris Earley, LEED
AP Principal chris.earley_at_greeningurban.com