sustainable site design

The Earth Is Not Green

It’s Blue

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Sustainable Site Design

What does “sustainable” mean to your community?

Are your site design requirements consistent with that definition?

Is your community getting what it wants?

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Six examples of projects from across the country Did these projects accomplish the community’s

“sustainable” goals?

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Project was located adjacent to a cold water trout stream

Thermal mitigation of runoff was required Ordinance prescribed one acceptable mitigation

measure – infiltration Soils were not conducive to infiltration, yet other

measures were not allowed Runoff bypassed the “infiltration” area – greatly

reducing thermal mitigation Annual maintenance increased – replanting due to

standing water

Storm Water

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Project was located in high arid desert where trees do not natively grow in abundance

Ordinance calculations required planting 750 trees on the site

Irrigation system was added by the owner to ensure the trees received adequate water to grow in the high arid desert

Landscape

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Project was a large commuter parking lot Community promoted “dark sky” principles to lower

energy use Ordinance required the following:

– 2.0 footcandles (max)– 0.9 footcandles (min)

Design of 10 acre parking lot yielded the following:– 126 poles– 219 fixtures

That’s a lot of high pressure sodium bulbs!

Lighting

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Project was located in an urban area with combined sewers

Sewerage district encouraged disconnection of storm sewer from sanitary sewer

Owner wished to install a permeable pavement parking lot to infiltrate runoff

A variance was required because the municipal code only allowed asphalt or concrete pavement

– This delayed the project two months Plumbing ordinance required that parking lots must drain

to a catch basin Two catch basins were installed and connected to the

combined sewer

Storm Water

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Project was a retail shopping center Ordinance required a minimum percentage of

parking lot pavement to be covered by tree canopy This led to obscure island configurations and many

dead (or dying) trees, because trees were planted where they wouldn’t grow

Good news for the local nursery!

Landscape

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Project was proposed on a blighted site Community was promoting redevelopment Owner wished to install a large green roof to offset

storm water runoff and maximize developable land area Ordinance would not allow any credit for a green roof

and required runoff to be managed using traditional practices – pipes and ponds

Owner chose to build on another property in a different community

Storm Water


One final example Did this project accomplish the community’s

sustainable goals?

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Cabela’s

165,000 SF of retail on a 64 acre site – the largest retail development to date in

this specific Town Retailer had a very generous

landscape budget that embraced the use of natural landscape to create an outdoor image

Project was presented to the Town Board as a natural theme design and was embraced in concept

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Cabela’s

Current Town mathematical landscape requirements would have been absurd / impossible to enforce, and the Town acknowledged it

A variance request was granted for the project and the Town realized that it needed to adopt a modified ordinance to address larger sites with unique needs

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Cabela’s

As a result, the retailer has an entirely adaptive / natural landscape that does not have miles of turf that has to be mowed, fertilized, irrigated and sprayed every week

Trees were planted in appropriate / adequate areas where they will be able to survive

Snow removal will not be a problem because the parking islands have adequate space and plant types for storage

Long term, this aesthetic will continue to improve

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Sustainable site design principles can be foreign and unproven, but they can be applied with great success

To do this, communities must lead the way, working together with innovative designers and product suppliers that are willing to keep an open mind and challenge traditional approaches

This starts by defining what “sustainable” means, establishing a process that reflects that definition, and allowing for flexibility and creativity


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What does “sustainable” mean to your community?