Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization Abstract
Students in environmental resources engineering and landscape architecture joined in a
collaborative learning experience to develop plans and designs to address a complex array of
environmental, economic, social, regulatory and sustainability issues associated with the
revitalization and restoration of Scajaquada Creek (Creek) in western New York. The BuffaloNiagara Riverkeeper (client) is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to protecting and
restoring the quality and quantity of water throughout Western New York. The client’s “Blue
Economy Initiative” focuses on using water resources of the Great Lakes and inland waterways
to support recreation, eco-tourism, manufacturing, waste processing, power generation and
drinking water supply. The contributions of student design teams to the Creek Revitalization is a
major step in the client’s “Rust to Blue” initiatives to develop the Blue Economy.
Through two years of jointly managed capstone design experiences, students engaged across
disciplines to develop a Master Plan and preliminary designs to catalyze a long-term process of
restoring this highly-impacted waterway as the central feature of an urban greenway. As
commonly found in urbanized watersheds, water quality, wildlife habitat, public access and
stream health are significantly degraded due to channelization and burial for flood control;
stormwater discharges and combined sewer overflows; highway runoff; brownfields; and litter
and garbage disposal. Environmental engineering students worked with the client’s planning
professionals, landscape architecture and environmental science students, and external
engineering and planning professionals. In 2012, the design teams developed a Master Plan to
promote urban revitalization through channel and watershed improvements; to enhance the value
of community connections to urban waterways; and to advance the understanding and use of
innovative green design methods to create a biophilic city. In 2013, design teams focused on two
elements of that Plan to analyze and design Stream Channel Improvements in a Town Park and
Creek Daylighting. The design projects include element such as wetland creation, improved
channel hydraulics, stormwater management systems, streambank stabilization and habitat
restoration, urban reforestation, pedestrian access, bicycle paths, and park facilities.
Engineering students in our capstone course collaborate with external clients and professional
engineers on a regular basis. What makes this project special are the added dimensions of shared
decision-making and collaboration with planners, scientists and landscape architects. This
collaboration reinforces the value of being able to communicate across disciplines, being a selflearner, and being able contribute to the improvement and protection of the community’s health,
safety and welfare.
Page 1 Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization 1
Project Description 1.1 Problem Description This report summarizes the planning and design projects that were undertaken to address a
myriad of environmental, ecological and public health issues associated with the heavily
urbanized Scajaquada Creek (Creek). The 17-mile long Creek is a tributary of the Niagara River,
a significant water body in the Great Lakes drainage basin. The Creek drains 29 square miles of
five municipalities in western New York, including portions of Buffalo, two Towns, and two
Villages. Land use adjacent to the Creek includes urban and suburban residential development;
commercial and former manufacturing (brownfield) sites; colleges, parks and cemeteries
(including sites on the National Register of Historic Places); highway infrastructure, and nearly
four (4) miles of subterranean channels. The Creek is classified as a Section 303d impaired
waterway by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) due to
problems with floatables, dissolved oxygen, pathogens and phosphorus levels caused by
combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and urban stormwater runoff. Health and environmental
impacts include algal blooms, avian botulism, PCB-contaminated fish and increased occurrences
of gastrointestinal emergency room visits following heavy precipitation events. There is no
public access in under-served urban areas, and altered hydrological conditions over the length of
the Creek adversely affect habitat, odors and safety.
1.2 Client Goals The Buffalo-Niagara Riverkeeper (the client) is a non-profit organization dedicated to
environmental and economic development in the Buffalo-Niagara region. The client is actively
engaged with community stakeholders to develop a Creek Restoration Strategy to prioritize
actions to mitigate the environmental problems and restore water quality. The client enlisted the
aid of the Departments of Engineering and Landscape Architecture at our College to develop
plans and designs in their respective synthesis courses. Interdisciplinary student design teams
have worked collaboratively since 2012 to address the client’s goals, namely: rehabilitate the
Creek by improving delivery of ecosystem services; promote public interaction with the Creek
and its ecosystem; support economic development efforts aimed to improve the “Blue
Economy;” and improve water quality and habitat in the Creek and downstream water bodies.
This collaboration has resulted in three significant student work products: the Master Plan
(2012); Design of Creek Restoration through Daylighting a Tunnel (2013); and Design of Creek
Restoration in a Town Park (2013).
1.3 Master Plan: Problem Scoping and Conceptual Approach The Master Plan identifies and assesses conceptual designs and significant design elements that
could be implemented in five representative functional units, namely: Creek Headwaters; Parks;
Historic District; Underground Tunnel; and Creek Mouth. The Creek Headwaters are
characterized by recent suburban tract development, where the drainage is affected by
impervious road and building surfaces and controlled by typical drainage structures (swales, curb
Page 2 Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization boxes, culverts and retention basins). Students designed green infrastructure practices such as
bioretention,
porous pavement
and increased tree
plantings to reduce
peak discharges
and erosion.
Wetland restoration design was recommended to improve habitat, property values and
recreational opportunities for wildlife viewing.
The municipally-owned Parks provide opportunities to improve public access, promote the Blue
Economy in a visible manner, and improve water quality through channel stabilization and
restoration. In two parks, the Creek channel was substantially modified in the 1970s by the Army
Corps of Engineers to mitigate flooding; the modifications resulted in a loss of wetlands, habitat
and access. The students also discovered that the neighbor’s perceptions of the conventional
wide-bottomed trapezoidal cross section were mostly negative (e.g., the “ditch” collects garbage,
Canada geese are obnoxious, the Creek smalls bad). Student design concepts to improve water
quality included installing a narrow-bottomed pilot channel for low-flow conditions and adding
stream meanders and in-situ structures to improve aeration. Erosion control, public access,
habitat, recreation and valuation would be improved by adding native vegetation, installing paths
down channel side slopes to promote recreation and maintaining the design flow for the 100-year
storm.
The Historic District is best represented by Delaware Park, an urban park designed by Frederick
Law Olmsted and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This significant tourist
destination includes extensive water features that, ironically, have been hydraulically
disconnected from the Creek because of sedimentation and coliform pollution. Because Creek
flows through a 3.7 mile-long tunnel immediately upstream of the Park, students developed
design concepts to reduce erosion and CSOs in the drainage basin, to provide controlled
sedimentation through channel re-configuration and wetland creation and to re-connect the Creek
and lakes. The added dimension of an eventual design review by the National Parks Service
added significant weight to the role of the landscape architects on the design team.
The Creek Tunnel functional unit is a significant barrier to restoring natural function to the
Creek. The 3.7 mile-long pipe arch tunnel was constructed in the 1920s in response to extensive
pollution. Subsequent urban, commercial and industrial development around and along the
tunnel section presents significant design challenges. The students determined that opening up
short reaches may be an effective method to meet the project objectives, though the depth of the
tunnel (approximately 20 feet to channel invert) presents significant site work and public safety
concerns that need to be addressed.
Page 3 Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization The fifth functional unit, the Creek Mouth, is characterized by slow-moving water, a low-head
barrier dam, and adjacent land uses that include brownfield properties. The Creek flows parallel
to, and under, a section of elevated highway which is supported by bridge columns for a several
hundred-foot stretch along the creek. Highway drainage is discharged directly to the Creek. The
significant design elements include promoting passive remediation and restoration of the
brownfield sites through phytoremediation techniques; managing first flush of highway runoff
using a series of sand filters; removing the low-head dam to enable fish and recreational boat
passage; and promoting green infrastructure practices (vegetated filter strips) on adjacent
commercial properties to reduce sediment transport from parking lot runoff.
1.4 Creek Daylighting: Revitalization in the Tunnel Section This 2013 design project focused on the upstream section of the tunnel system where the Creek
passes under a City park. Park facilities include a Senior Center, playgrounds, sports fields, a
bathhouse, splash pool/pad and walking paths. The Creek flows through a tunnel ranging in
width from 26 to 34 feet, with a 14-foot crown height. Average daily flow in the Creek is 31 cfs;
the 100-year design peak flow is approximately 3,300 CFS.
Concerns were raised early in the design process about safety, adverse impacts on parkland, and
flood control. The Creek bottom is
approximately 20 feet below grade through this
section; removal of the tunnel and re-grading
could have significant impacts on adjacent areas
in order to maintain safe grades on the stream
channel side slopes for recreation. Students
considered public safety, especially under
flooding conditions.
The design teams considered a “low-impact”
(i.e., minimalist) approach versus a “highimpact” (i.e., the “grand vision”) approach.
Twelve alternative designs were developed and
assessed. A preliminary analysis of cut and fill
quantities, construction and maintenance costs,
stormwater quality, and life-cycle sustainability were undertaken. The preferred design included
preserving existing sports facilities; removing overburden and re-shaping the land surface to
create a braided stream channel, re-using the tunnel base along the southern boundary; providing
green infrastructure; and adding vegetated buffers, wetland retention, and recreational trails to
improve the cultural appeal. A significant increase of tree canopy decreases the effect of the
urban heat island, and provides shade relief for park users during summer months.
Page 4 Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization 1.5 Creek Restoration: Improving Water Quality and Resource Value in Town Park The focus of this project is a 0.75-mile long reach of the Creek that forms the northwestern
boundary of a Town Park in a densely populated suburban residential area. The arrow-straight
reach and trapezoidal cross section (30-foot bottom width, 14-foot depth, 2:1 side slopes) are
typical of Corps of Engineers flood control projects. The channel was designed for a peak
discharge of 3260 cfs (100-year storm). Creek depth for mean daily flow is less than 6-inches,
where mean daily flows vary from 20 cfs (May-October) to 41 cfs (November – April). The
Creek is classified as a Class C stream under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act due to
impairment caused by floatables, elevated oxygen demand, pathogens, and excess nutrient
loading. The reach receives discharges from 27 MS4 outlets within the park, and the water
quality is adversely affected by CSO outflows upstream.
The Park is a high-demand recreational resource, hosting community festivals, sports leagues,
passive recreation and group events. Park infrastructure includes numerous athletic fields and
courts, aquatics facilities, playgrounds and picnic shelters. Town building facilities include the
library, recreation center, community center and maintenance garage. Students determined
through interviews that Creek is not a destination, nor is it considered a park resource. Rather,
the Creek is a maintenance chore, and the public avoids contact due to concerns over storm
sewer discharges, odors, bird feces and channel instability.
The project design team identified the following goals: improve the hydraulic regulating function
of the stream corridor for the 100-year storm; improve ecosystem services, particularly water
quality and odor control; reduce nutrient loads using a system of decentralized green
infrastructure methods; and add recreational value to the Creek as part of a regional “green
matrix.” Students used design guidelines from the Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS) Stream Restoration Design (National Engineering Handbook 654), the NYSDEC 2010
Stormwater Management Design Manual, and the NRCS Urban Hydrology for Small
Watersheds (TR-55).
Recommended design elements for water quality and ecosystem improvements include cutting
back the channel side slopes to 3:1 (H:V) and adding a meandering “pilot” channel. A pilot
channel with 7.5-foot bottom width and 2foot depth would promote healthy benthic
habitat and maintain aeration during mean
daily flow conditions. Meanders would be
maintained within the existing channel
bottom width, resulting in a stream
meander wavelength of 175 feet, amplitude
of 30 feet, and radius of 27 feet. Higher flow rates could overflow the pilot channel, but still be
maintained within the flood control channel; channel capacity is maintained by cutting back the
side slopes. In-stream practices such as live cribwalls, fascines and green gabions are
recommended for bank stabilization. Log and rock vanes and rock vortex weirs would provide
Page 5 Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization for flow deflection, increasing oxygenation and improving sediment control. Habitat
improvements and flood retention could be achieved by the addition of linear wetlands within the
flood way.
Students designed a network of green infrastructure practices (rain garden, bioretention, porous
pavement, pocket wetlands, swales) within the park to provide multiple benefits (shade,
improved infiltration, improved sense of
connection with water resources, aesthetic
value, and reduced lawn maintenance
energy). Extending green infrastructure
practices into the neighboring community
would provide similar benefits and create a
sense of connection between the residents
and the park’s ecological resources. A
proposed pedestrian footbridge from the west
and pathways along the stream corridor
would conduct people safely to and through
the Park.
2 Collaboration of Faculty, Students, and Licensed Professionals The Engineering Department’s 3-credit hour, one-semester capstone design course is intended to
provide a “real-world” design experience. The course instructor, a New York-registered P.E.,
develops the projects and guides the design process with the assistance of faculty, external
sponsors and project mentors drawn from the engineering community. Other engineering faculty
are used as technical advisors (e.g. modeling, computation, sustainability analysis).
The Creek project involved 14 engineering students, 34 Landscape Architecture (LA) students, 6
environmental science students, 7 professional engineers and several planners and architects. In
2012, a team of five engineering students worked with two teams of landscape architecture
students to develop the Master Plan. In 2013, two teams (nine students) of engineering students
worked with four teams of LA students. The engineering students provide strengths in hydraulic
analysis and design, geotechnical engineering and engineering hydrology. The LA students and
environmental scientists provide strengths in urban design, urban ecology, facilities
development, and graphics-based communication.
The Engineering instructor has worked collaboratively with the LA instructor on other student
design projects over the last five years. As the engineering and LA students are enrolled in two
different courses, and to overcome scheduling conflicts, the Capstone Engineering course was
rescheduled by the instructor to overlap with the LA Synthesis course, thus enabling students and
instructors to meet regularly. The LA department provides studio space so that the engineering
team members are part of, rather than visitors to, the studio. The instructors align the schedule of
Page 6 Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization deliverables so that work efforts in the courses are coordinated. Project critiques (a.k.a. “pinups”)
are a common practice within LA as design concepts develop; engineering students, mentors and
faculty participated in the critiques, which heightened the LA students’ awareness of engineered
materials, hydrology and implementation issues and increased engineering students’ awareness
of elements of biophilia, and a sense of space, “feel,” and community.
Professional engineers were assigned engage with the students in several ways. The mentors met
with the team and faculty at a kickoff meeting, and followed up with progress meetings about
every three weeks. Contact information is exchanged, and students communicated directly with
the mentors about technical and management issues. Project mentors reviewed and critiqued
student work products, including the Scope of Work (3rd week), Basis of Design Report (7th
week), a preliminary oral presentation (12th week) and the final project presentation (14th week).
Final design reports and drawings are provided to the client and mentors in the 15th week.
The President of a local engineering company provided an in-class lesson and advice on oral
presentations using Powerpoint. A faculty member in construction management provided a
lesson and review of cost estimating procedures. Students also contacted representatives from the
Town engineering department, the USACE, and the NYSDEC.
3 Benefit to Public Health, Safety and Welfare The design approach follows a philosophy of creating a biophilic city by integrating nature into
urban design and planning. The associated health benefits from Creek restoration include
improved oxygen transfer to mitigate odor problems and improve habitat. CSO events and
pollutant loading (coliform bacteria and BOD) will be reduced through the implementation of
green infrastructure practices in the drainage area around the Town Parks. The addition of
cycling and walking paths, observation decks and extensive native plantings provides
recreational and mental health benefits. Urban vegetation reduces the heat island effect by
lowering ambient temperatures.
The Creek Restoration designs improve the ability to pass the 100-year design storm and
mitigate flooding according to US Army Corps of Engineers requirements. Cutting back the side
slopes improves egress from the channel. Fencing around some sections of the daylighted
channel will still be needed to restrict access in areas of steep slopes or deep flow.
Public welfare was addressed by identifying permitting requirements at several jurisdictional
levels. Stakeholders such as the Creek Advisory Council benefit from the value of the students’
analyses that help to inform and define strategies for funding and policy development to effect
Creek improvements. As stated by the client’s principal planner: “[The student] designs are
building the case for environmental stewardship and by presenting [this] work to the Initiative,
we are hoping to gain momentum. Your class is playing a vital role for exploring designs and
feasibility of the proposals that will be used to ignite the next steps of the creek restoration.”
Page 7 Planning and Design for Urban Creek Revitalization 4 Multidiscipline and/or Allied Profession Participation Details about the role of the LA and allied professions are embedded in Section 2. The student
design projects involved active participation of professionals in urban planning, landscape
architecture, environmental science, and construction management. Student teams engaged
directly with the client’s primary contacts, each of whom are professional planners. The LA
studio instructor consulted with the teams, and provided critical reviews of the work products.
The Department’s Advisory Board, comprised principally of Department alumni that are
professional engineers engaged in environmental engineering practice, was instrumental in
identifying and engaging project mentors.
5 Knowledge or Skills Gained The objective of engaging students in a capstone design experience is provide a major design
experience at the culmination of the student's curriculum. Students learned to consider and deal
with realistic constraints that included economic; environmental; sustainability; constructability;
ethical; health; safety; social; and regulatory concerns. The students strengthened their problemsolving skills by applying analytical tools and models for stream channel hydraulic analysis,
flood routing, and stormwater management. They utilized a variety of methods to assess and
evaluate the various design elements, including sustainability analysis, cost estimating, and
economic analysis. The students reinforced communication techniques, including listening skills,
project documentation, oral presentations, and document preparation. Students learned to work in
teams by fulfilling functional roles to share the workload. Students developed project
management plans to aid with delegating tasks, scheduling and resource allocation, and
communication with client and stakeholders. Peer-to-peer assessments were performed each
month to teach students how to acknowledge and celebrate good work, to assist their teammates
with improving substandard work, and to communicate, receive and respond to constructive
criticism. Students also developed skills in library research, phone and email communication,
and project management that enabled them to become self-learners.
Based on student feedback, and end-of-semester anonymous surveys, students learned that site
visits are essential to defining the problem. They know the value of having an engaged client.
They discovered the importance of historical “as-built” design and construction documents (over
90 years of records from the Corps of Engineers), which reinforced their attention to detail and
documentation. They learned that design is iterative, that stakeholders have to be involved, and
that allied professions speak a similar language. They know that being an engineer takes more
than “just crunching numbers.” They learned that the “correct” answer to a problem may not
yield the most appropriate design. Ultimately, the students realized that cooperation and
communication was essential to meeting the client’s needs, and that the joint effort enhanced the
value of the design product that was submitted to the client.
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