Perfect time to write about what is happening in the city of Philadelphia since both Champaign and Urbana are in the throes, using the same consultant, to establish a stormwater management fee, though with different means of implementation. Philadelphia has been leading the country in implementing such a fee. First the decision makers determined what was needed; then how to get the "biggest bang" for implementation, in other words applying the fee to the largest land owners with impervious surfaces first--local examples Farm and Fleet and O'Briens; then the fee was applied to multi-unit buildings; and finally individual land owners. As part of the implementation is an opportunity to mitigate part or maybe all of the fee if the land owner implemented "green solutions" for stormwater management, such as cisterns, rain barrels, pervious surfaces as driveways and walkways, rain gardens, green roofs, etc. This was a clearly thought out program. Now Philadelphia has stepped even further in "outside the box" thinking by creating a master "green street" plan for the whole city that has been submitted to the EPA for approval. Approval is expected any time soon because the EPA has laid down and is laying down even more clean water rules related to the handling of stormwater. There is an outstanding article in the September issue of the American Society of Landscape Architecture magazine, LAM, about this plan and comparing it with the approach being taken by Washington, DC of using the CE approach of putting in stormwater storage pipes 23 feet in diameter and buried 100 feet below ground. At this juncture DC is beginning to rethink their approach because the cost is in the upper billions.  You can read an excerpt of the article here  http://archives.asla.org/lamag/water.html   This magazine can be read at the city planning and landscape architecture library within the UIUC ACES library.

Here is an article about the Philadelphia approach in the Washington Post   

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pa-philly-sign-25-year-2-billion-plan-to-clean-water-through-green-infrastructure/2011/06/01/AGp03gGH_story.html

This url will take you to a page where you can view a video about the project and learn about what other cities are doing  http://hpigreen.com/category/sustainable-site-strategies/green-street/

The last web site about the project   http://www.phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/green_infrastructure/programs/green_streets

The approach is most exciting and a demonstration of moving from the old paradigm of moving water away from a site as fast as possible to understanding the importance of holding water on a site to percolate slowly back through the soils that will clean the water before it enters whatever waterway.

Now onto greenways as a means of creating healthy and connected communities by blending urban and conservation design. Randall Arendt writes about this in the Aug/Sept 2011 issue of the American Planning Association magazine, Planning, which also may be read at the above mentioned library. Here is the article online   http://www.planning.org/planning/default.htm  This is NOT a new design idea; just one that got lost in the shuffle of new trends. This idea had a start in Great Britain, copied here in Radburn, NJ, the Green Towns developed under FDR's administration, such a Greendale, WI--just outside of Milwaukee and Greenbelt, MD--just outside of DC.  Columbia, MD, designed by James Rouse who also designed Harbor Place in Baltimore, uses the same principles.

You can read more about Randall Arendt and his ideas here  http://www.greenerprospects.com/bio.html

The reason for mentioning these two concepts now is directly related to the fact that Champaign County is close to making a decision about the stormwater management on the county campus. Two proposals were presented to the CB--one the typical concrete pipes, move the water faster and faster, and a "best practice" plan, essentially using green solutions. As I began to research the situation, I discovered back in 2001-2003, the CB was in the throes of considering developing a master plan for the campus. But this went into hiatus when the nursing home bottomed up and became a "cause celebre"  This just might be the time to dust off that plan/concept/idea before whatever is planned for stormwater management is decided plus a new jail might be on the horizon. Further research brought to my attention that when Weaver Park was planned and designed by Tim Bartlett, Urbana Park District, and Doug Eppich to handle stormwater from the campus and mitigate the flooding in Scottswood part of the conversation was to integrate the campus stormwater management design to that of Weaver Park and eventually create a greenway from the campus south to Meadowbrook Park. What a very nice contribution this could be for the whole community and a very forward thinking approach to stormwater management.

Thinking even further ahead, there are tremendous possibilities to create a greenway on the western side of Champaign going all of the way to Monticello and Lodge Park. All of this can be viewed not only as creating a livable community, but also tourism as people come to the county to hike and bike these wonderful trails.

Always I welcome ideas and thoughts from readers of this blog.