Sustainable Site Design
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Transcript of Sustainable Site Design
The Earth Is Not Green
It’s Blue
2
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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Sustainable Site Design
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
Sustainable Site Design
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
Sustainable Site Design
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Sustainable Site Design
What does “sustainable” mean to your community?