Atlanta's Green Infrastructure Standards for Single Family Infill and Commercial Development

In February of 2013, Atlanta adopted one of the most far-reaching green infrastructure standards in the country to promote water quality improvements, combined sewer capacity relief, and ecosystem restoration. The City's mandatory green infrastructure requirements apply to infill single family residential sites as well as commercial projects that add or replace more than 500 square feet of impervious surface. This ordinance helped lay the groundwork for a robust green infrastructure program, both for private development as well as capital improvement projects undertaken by the City. Without a direct source of funding from a stormwater utility fee, Atlanta has implemented this program through an extensive coordination approach which relies on multiple city departments, non-profit organizations, and the private development community. Early phases focused on establishing baselines and goals, producing guidance material to simplify compliance, and training and outreach efforts for the development community and city staff to help ensure consistency. To date, the City has permitted nearly 4,300 construction projects that utilize green infrastructure, equating to the removal of approximately 900 million gallons of polluted runoff from our streams and combined sewer infrastructure annually. This paper serves to summarize the efforts as well as the lessons learned of implementing green infrastructure standards at scale. Special attention will be paid to tracking green infrastructure practices for maintenance and future planning, minimizing compaction and erosion-related construction issues, and overall site planning to ensure that these practices will function as designed for years to come.