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Low-Impact Development and Green
Infrastructure - EPA

Low-impact development is an approach to
land development (or re-development) that works
with nature to manage stormwater as close to its
source as possible. LID employs principles such as
preserving and recreating natural landscape
features, minimizing effective imperviousness to
create functional and appealing site drainage that
treat stormwater as a resource rather than a waste
product.

Green infrastructure refers to systems and
practices that use or mimic natural processes to
infiltrate, evapotranspirate, or reuse stormwater or
runoff on the site where it is generated.
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Old Style Development and Regulation
Clear
Fill
Compact
Make impervious
Treat/attenuate
centrally
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Low-Impact Development/Green
Infrastructure Approach
Maintain vegetation
Minimize fill,
compaction, and
imperviousness
Use vegetation and
soils
Promote infiltration
Distribute
treatment
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Low-Impact Development/Green
Infrastructure Examples
Site design
• Conservation areas
• Narrower streets
Bioretention,
boiswales, biofiltration
Greenroof treatment
systems
Pervious pavement
Stormwater reuse
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Historical Hurdles for LID/GI Practices
Reasonable
assurance
SFWMD/FDEP
Environmental
Resource
Permit
• BMPs outside of
easements
• Difficulty in determining if
functioning as designed
• Magnitude makes
inspection/enforcement
impractical
Lack of monitoring/
performance data
Basin
Management
Action Plan
Lack of local design
criteria
• May not be directly
recognized in ERP process
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Helping with Regulatory Acceptance
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Inadequacy of Conventional
BMPs
Source: Evaluation of Current
Stormwater Design
Criteria within the
State of Florida
(Harper and Baker, 2007)
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Town of Melbourne Beach Challenges
Facing large TMDL goal
Regional projects difficult
Lack of real estate for
improvements
Crowned median,
grassed edging
Expensive cost of
property acquisition
Impervious areas
directly connected
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Sunset Blvd Project Elements
1,000 LF median bioretention swale
Use of curb and flumes to protect
median
Pervious pavers at median ends
Normal Flow
.
Native plants used, especially on west
end with higher groundwater table
Areas in front of lots graded for rain
garden at resident’s request
Overflow during extreme events
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.
West End
Pre and Post
Construction
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East End
Pre and Post
Construction
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Sunset Blvd Performance
Town received approximately 8
inches of rainfall October 7 - 9, 2011
Visual monitoring performed
No runoff observed
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Questions
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