l i d and policy february 2010

LID and Policy: LID and Policy: Sustainable Sustainable

Development Development PracticesPractices

What is Stopping Us?What is Stopping Us?

Jon Barsanti Jr.Jon Barsanti Jr.

WhoWho

Developers

Policy Makers Designers

Decision Makers (Municipal/County)

WhyWhy

Competitive Advantage (Others are not Doing it)

It is good for the economy, good for the

community, and good for the

environment

Others are Doing It; Can

do It Better

Others are doing it and if I/We don’t adopt/adapt

I/We will lose out to other communities/developers

WhyWhyNotNot

Don’t want to learn new way of doing business

Want to do it;

Have designer to do it;

Have planners on board;

Meeting resistance from elected officials

Want to do it; Don’t have a

designer to show how

Want to do it; Have a designer who knows how to do it; Having a difficult time getting

approved

LIDLID

All Development Occurs in a Watershed

Need to change thinking from

Water as Waste to Water as

Resource

All Land Uses Have a Water

Profile

Water Quality and Water Quantity will improve

All Development All Development Occurs in a Occurs in a WatershedWatershedThree Parts of a Watershed

Watershed Critical Areas

Watershed Protected Areas

Remainder of the WatershedBarriers:

• “Highest and Best Use of the Land;”

• One person’s/community’s out-flow is another’s intake

All Development All Development Occurs in a Occurs in a WatershedWatershed Wetlands are nature’s filtration system

Wetlands manage volume and sediment load

Wetlands are key to wildlife habitat preservation

Barrier: Wetland is undevelopable; Can fill and replace, although manufactured is not as good as

natural

All Development All Development Occurs in a Occurs in a WatershedWatershed Stream Buffers protect encroachment on

ecosystem by development

Stream Buffers Protect development from encroachment by

ecosystem (e.g. floods.)

Barriers: Inconsistent setbacks between communities; Vertical versus Horizontal Setbacks

LIDLID

All Development Occurs in a Watershed

Need to change thinking from

Water as Waste to Water as

Resource

All Land Uses Have a Water

Profile

Water Quality and Water Quantity will improve

All Land Uses have a All Land Uses have a Water ProfileWater Profile

From Kimberly Brewer’s Presentation to the TJCOG Smart Growth Committee

ftp://ftp.tjcog.org/pub/tjcog/regplan/smrtgrow/devwq.pdf

Volume of water flow

Nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Suspended Solids)

Temperature of water flowing off the land

Toxins (Oil, antifreeze, other chemicals)

Bacteria (Pet Waste, etc.)


Data from A Nutrient Credit Trading Framework for the Jordan Lake Watershed: Using Market-Based Mechanisms to Make Watershed Restoration More Cost-Effective

http://www.cfra-nc.org/documents/FinalReport-FullReport_000.pdf

Sources Land-Use Contribution to N Load

Contribution to P Load

Residential (SF)

14%29% 12%

Residential (MF)

1%

Agriculture 20% 36% 51%

Forest 56% 19% 15%

Commercial/ Industrial

3% 9% 6%

Other 6% 7% 16%

All BMPs have a All BMPs have a Volume/Pollutant ProfileVolume/Pollutant Profile

STORMWATER FLOW AND QUALITY, AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NON-PROPRIETARY STORMWATER TREATMENT MEASURES — A REVIEW AND GAP ANALYSIS (2004) Monash University (Australia) http://www.catchment.crc.org.au/pdfs/technical200408.pdf

Volume of water flow

Suspended Solids

Nitrogen

Phosphorus


STORMWATER FLOW AND QUALITY, AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NON-PROPRIETARY STORMWATER TREATMENT MEASURES — A REVIEW AND GAP ANALYSIS (2004) Monash University (Australia) http://www.catchment.crc.org.au/pdfs/technical200408.pdf

Barriers: It takes time and money to measure predevelopment conditions

and post-development conditions

LID Can Improve Water LID Can Improve Water Quality & Water Quality & Water

QuantityQuantity How we develop

Where we develop (and where we do not)

What we do with the Run-off (Pipe or Percolate)


QuantityQuantity

http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/water_resource.htm

http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/water_density.htm


QuantityQuantity

http://www.jordancove.uconn.edu/jordan_cove/publications/final_report.pdf

• Impacts on Land Start At the Grading Stage

• Fertilizers can have an impact on water quality, even in LID Neighborhoods

• Volume and Peak Flows were kept at predevelopment levels.

• Need to Control Compaction, Minimize Soil Disturbance, and have on-site supervision.


QuantityQuantity

http://www.nahb.org/fileUpload_details.aspx?contentID=112936

Development Impacts Water Quality

• Alters Stormwater and Wastewater Flows

• Negatively Impacts water-related ecosystems

• Impacts water Quality through

• Creation of Impervious Surfaces

• Spatial Position of Development relative to natural features

• Introduction of Contaminants

• Impacts Wastewater through consumption of water and the Stormwater it generates


QuantityQuantity

http://www.nahb.org/fileUpload_details.aspx?contentID=112936

National Association of Home-Builders has a large amount of information regarding costs and benefits of Low Impact Development

Perceived Barrier: It costs more and does not provide a benefit to the builder

Actual Barrier: Educating the entire community to the value versus costs of LID (Lower Stormwater Costs, more land can be developed; cost savings to the community, etc.)


QuantityQuantity

http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/costs07/documents/reducingstormwatercosts.pdf

… (In) the vast majority of cases,significant savings were realized due to:

• reduced costs for site grading and preparation,

• stormwater infrastructure, site paving, and landscaping.

• Total capital cost savings ranged from 15to 80 percent when LID methods were used...


QuantityQuantity

http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/costs07/documents/reducingstormwatercosts.pdf


QuantityQuantity

Managing stormwater in Pierce County: Kensington Estates case study sheds light on low impact development

http://www.djc.com/news/en/11135654.html

• Site Design was 103 Lots on 24 Acres

• Conventional Site Design required 270,000 Cu Ft of Stormwater Facilities

• LID Required 55,000 cu ft of stormwater facilities

• 62% of land was saved as open space

• Cost Savings of 20% to the Developer

• 10% More units were able to be built than conventional design would have allowed.


QuantityQuantityType of Residential Type of Residential DevelopmentDevelopment

Disturbed SpaceDisturbed Space Open SpaceOpen Space Conserved SpaceConserved Space

Low Density Low Density (e.g. 1 unit/2a)(e.g. 1 unit/2a)

Could be entire Could be entire sitesite

Yes – may be Yes – may be yardyard

NoNo

ClusterCluster Could Be entire Could Be entire sitesite

FragmentedFragmented NoNo

Open SpaceOpen Space 50% or less50% or less 50% or More50% or More Open Space can Open Space can be undevelopablebe undevelopable

ConservationConservation Less than 50%Less than 50% More than 50% More than 50% Undevelopable Undevelopable area excludedarea excluded

Barrier(s): How each is defined varies by community/county

Need to Change thinking Need to Change thinking from stormwater as waste to from stormwater as waste to

stormwater as resource.stormwater as resource.

http://waterparadigm.org/indexen.php?web=./home/homeen.html

http://www.onthecommons.org/media/pdf/original/OurWaterComonsOctober2008English.pdf

Barrier: Need to change the way we think about water



http://www.clemson.edu/restoration/events/past_events/sc_water_resources/t4_proceedings_presentations/t4_zip/zimmer.pdf

http://www.coe.neu.edu/environment/DOCUMENTS/Wingspread%20Final%20Report.pdf

Barrier: We cannot solve our problems at the same level of thinking that created them

We need a new way of looking at our water quality and water quantity problems




“An urban area is an ecological system wherein humans, habitat, transportation and water infrastructure, and terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna exist in symbiosis and interdependence. Urban fresh waters are the lifeline for ecological and economical sustainability, yet the fresh water resources are being impaired to a point that the integrity of urban waters has been damaged by excessive development and overuse….”




The concept of the Cities of the Future, the fifth paradigm of urbanization… is a paradigm of integration• Future, and existing, urban developments will accommodate landscape, drainage, transportation and habitat infrastructure systems • Cities will be resilient to extremehydrological events and pollution• There will be adequate amounts of clean water for sustaining healthy human, terrestrial and aquatic lives• There will be an optimal balance between recreation, navigation and other economic uses of water.

• All Development Impacts Water Quality (Discharge, Consumption, Compaction of Soil) (Includes 10% Impervious Surface and above – as well as 10% Compacted Surfaces and above.

• Highest Use of the land versus the Best Use of the land

• Need to Change the way we think (Paradigm Shift)

• Water is Water

• Wetlands and streams are undervalued

• One Community’s Outflow is another Community’s Intake

Barriers to Barriers to Implementing LID Implementing LID Across the RegionAcross the Region

Barriers to Barriers to Implementing LID Implementing LID Across the RegionAcross the Region• Need to look at Decentralized solution for a

decentralized problem

• Our ordinances hold us back (e.g. State law now requires communities to allow the use of cisterns and to not prohibit their use; Definitions of Conservation Subdivisions; Transfer of Development Rights)

• “Everybody knows….”

ConclusioConclusionn

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/agecon/WECO/lid/documents/NC_LID_Guidebook.pdf

We have a new resource

We can ‘sing from the same songbook.’

We can customize our solutions to meet the requirements of our communities and our region.

We can have a Win-Win-Win for the consumer, the developer, and the community.

l i d and policy february 2010

Education

water profile water

consumption of water

water profile data

land uses

watershed wetlands

watershed barriers

development stream buffers

lid neighborhoods volume