CRMC leading LID efforts in RI

May 31, 2007, WAKEFIELD – The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council has taken proactive steps to require low impact development (LID) techniques in Rhode Island’s coastal cities and towns. Through its Urban Coastal Greenways (UCG) regulations, an integral part of the revisions to the Providence Harbor (now Metro Bay) Special Area Management Plan (SAMP), the CRMC now requires LID techniques for redevelopment and development projects in urban coastal areas. The UCG regulations require this type of activity on the urban waterfronts of the cities of Cranston, Providence, East Providence and Pawtucket, valuable waterfront property aiding in these cities’ urban revitalizations.

Recent news articles on water supply concerns, combined sewer overflow issues and stormwater as major sources of pollutants entering Narragansett Bay illustrate the need for better stormwater management. Low impact development is an increasingly popular stormwater management tool that minimizes the amount of impervious surface, and maximizes the amount of rainfall that infiltrates the ground. For municipalities that rely on groundwater as a source of drinking water, LID techniques help to replenish that local supply, while removing pollutants from stormwater before it reaches storm drains and enters our rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The goal of LID is to preserve, maintain and improve the natural water cycle of a site to minimize the environmental impacts caused when impervious surfaces (pavement and rooftops) are added. LID can also be used to control, collect, treat and reuse onsite stormwater runoff, often through small-scale practices scattered throughout a site. These might include dry wells, cisterns for rainwater reuse, bio-retention areas or “rain gardens” or porous pavement.

“The CRMC recognized early on that LID is the direction in which development is turning, and that there would be a great need for regulations, manuals and other guidance documents to help professionals navigate this new approach to building,” said CRMC Chairman Michael M. Tikoian. “The CRMC is a leader in this respect in Rhode Island; we saw the gap and sought to fill the void in a responsible way. This latest effort simply echoes what the CRMC continually strives to do – to be responsible regulators by balancing the needs of the developer and engineer, while addressing pressing environmental concerns such as stormwater management.”

The CRMC is also working on changes to the Greenwich Bay SAMP’s buffer zone regulations to address suburban redevelopment. These revisions will include requirements for using LID to treat stormwater on individual coastal lots.  The CRMC is in the process of revising Section 300.6 of its Program to require LID as the primary means of stormwater management for all projects within its jurisdiction. The General Assembly has also introduced legislation called the “Smart Development for a Cleaner Bay Act of 2007” (H6143), which requires LID techniques throughout the state “as the primary method of stormwater control.”

“Through the development of a specialized suburban design manual for Greenwich Bay, we are seeking to reduce the amount of pollutants entering the Bay,” Tikoian said. “These efforts are all about better stormwater management in our coastal areas.”

Examples of LID in Rhode Island

The new Save The Bay Center at Field’s Point in Providence is an example of an LID project. The grounds include vegetated open drainage channels or swales, a permeable parking lot and a vegetated coastal buffer zone. The building itself has a green roof and other water and energy-saving technologies. Another example of LID techniques at work is Bellevue Gardens in downtown Newport, a 1950s-era strip mall with a large paved parking lot. The developer wanted to increase the use of the site with second or third story residential space, and is now addressing the property’s stormwater issues using LID. The new development will have bio-retention areas, stormwater storage with cisterns and an underground stormwater storage facility.

Teaching LID techniques

The CRMC requires all applicants seeking permits to develop in the Metro Bay SAMP to demonstrate that their project design has been reviewed by someone with a Master Design Low Impact Development Certificate. The URI Coastal Resources Center has been offering certification classes for LID components and how to apply them to urban coastal settings.

“LID techniques are fast-becoming the building standards of the future, and the CRMC wants to lead the way with its regulations and certification program,” Tikoian said. “We are proud of the regulations and guides we have developed, and hope that both environmentalists and developers will find them useful and environmentally conscious.” For more information on the Metro Bay SAMP and UCG, go to www.crmc.ri.gov/samp_mb.html.