Recently Released: The Practice of Low Impact Development

This week, PD&R and PATH released "The Practice of Low
Impact Development," a new publication that presents a
land development process - Low Impact Development (LID) -
that uses various land planning and design practices and
technologies to conserve and protect natural resource
systems and reduce infrastructure costs. By incorporating
both economic and environmental considerations, LID
allows land to be developed, but in a cost-effective
manner that helps mitigate potential environmental
impacts.

Best suited for new, suburban development, LID can offer
developers both infrastructure savings and a way to
respond to increasingly stringent environmental
regulations. For municipalities, LID can help contain
burgeoning street and storm water management costs. For
community residents, LID encourages local environmental
stewardship. In terms of the environment, the benefits
speak for themselves.

Some developers are already using some LID technologies
in their projects. When incorporating these technologies,
developers are encouraged to carefully select those which
are most appropriate to a given site's unique regulatory,
climatic, and topographic conditions. Some of the key LID
recommendations include:

o Project Planning & Design: Developers who have used LID
practices and technologies have indicated that one of the
keys to a successful project is to invest additional time
and money in the initial planning stages of development.
While this idea may appear unpopular at first glance due
to increased up-front costs, these expenditures are often
recouped in the form of rapid home sales, enhanced
community marketability, and higher lot yields.

o Storm Water Management: Low impact development storm
water management systems can reduce development costs
through the reduction or elimination of conventional
storm water conveyance and collection systems. LID
systems can reduce the need for paving, curb and gutter,
piping, inlet structures, and storm water ponds by
treating water at its source, rather than at the end of
the pipe. Municipalities also benefit from LID in the
long run as a result of reduced maintenance costs.

o Wastewater Management: Cost considerations or health
and environmental concerns sometimes make linking a
proposed development's wastewater system to existing
municipal sewer connections unfeasible. Using the LID
approach, however, developers can choose from a variety
of on-site wastewater treatment system options, either as
alternatives or enhancements to conventional septic
systems. Some on-site treatment alternatives to
conventional systems, such as recirculating sand filters
and evapotranspiration systems, are "add-ons" to a
traditional septic tank system. The additional treatment
unit is connected in-line with the septic tank and
provides an extra level of treatment.

o Circulation & Design: Municipalities have begun to
reexamine the connection between circulation design and
storm water management practices. Using the LID approach,
new designs for streets, sidewalks, and driveways can
maintain the functions of circulation while helping to
reduce expanses of impervious surfaces that can alter
local hydrology and degrade water quality. In turn, new
street designs can influence the layout of lots and help
increase the volume of open space in new residential
developments.
 
"The Practice of Low Impact Development" is available as
a free download at
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/destech/lowImpactDevl.html
or in printed form for a nominal charge by calling HUD
USER at 1-800-245-2691.
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