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Neighborhood and
Community Design
Natural areas - New
development and revitalization can and should preserve functioning
natural areas. This not only can reduce runoff, but also will
enhance the appeal of the development and can reduce construction
costs as well.
Cluster buildings - Grouping buildings helps reduce impervious
surfaces, construction costs, and loss of habitat. Designing
walkable, mixed use neighborhoods can also help create a
stronger, more vibrant sense of community and improve access.
Minimize paving - Subdivision regulations commonly require
road widths of 36 feet or more for residential neighborhoods
which not only increases runoff, but also encourages speeding
traffic. Roads serving neighborhood traffic are generally
adequate at 20 feet (no street parking, or one side parking
on one-way streets) to 30 feet (parking both sides) in width.
Similarly, sidewalks need not be installed along both sides
of all roads. Parking lots are another major source of runoff
which can be significantly reduced through changes in parking
requirements, mixed-use and transit oriented design, and
other measures.
Riparian buffers - One of the most sensitive areas for water
quality is the edge of waterways. Mature vegetated buffers
along streams can reduce pollutants entering the water by
as much as 90%. The Center for Watershed Protection has excellent
information about the value and dimensions of buffers and
site design (http://www.cwp.org).
Focus growth - Many areas which have already been developed,
whether recently or decades ago, have sections that were
passed over or have become underutilized. Rather than impacting
areas which are still relatively pristine, focusing growth
in and adjacent to existing development reduces overall water
quality impacts and public infrastructure costs.
Parking lots - Parking lots generate phenomenal volumes
of runoff. By integrating these fields of pavement with natural
or constructed ponds, significant reductions in volume and
contaminants can be achieved before runoff enters local streams.
This can also significantly reduce the heat island effect
of large expanses of paving.
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