Stormwater Parks: Designing Blue-Green Infrastructure in Community Spaces

Public utilities are challenged with addressing water quality, flooding, and level of service needs of their ratepayers, while also addressing the needs of communities equitably, especially in underserved communities. A growing trend in the U.S. and internationally is to develop stormwater parks with community stakeholders, where open spaces are designed to manage stormwater and provide community co-benefits such as park space, flood resiliency, and heat island reduction. This presentation provides a summary of the motivation, examples (domestic and international), and implementation challenges for developing community-based stormwater parks. When thoughtfully paired with basin-wide solutions and the needs of downstream waters, stormwater parks can address a range of water resources challenges. In the Pacific Northwest, King County has set an ambitious target to build 30 regional stormwater parks in 30 years to target the dirtiest water and accelerate investment to remove toxins, such as PCBs, that are impacting the natural resources of Puget Sound near communities that lack access to green space. Elsewhere, such as the United Kingdom, stormwater parks are being developed to address urban flooding while allowing for community amenities during drier periods of the year. From design to construction, completed and ongoing projects will be discussed. Example projects to be highlighted include Arboretum Headwaters (Seattle, WA), Sunset Terrace Park (Renton, WA), Sun Valley Park (Los Angeles, CA), Bringhurst Park (Philadelphia, PA), Brentwood Bound (Brentwood, MO), Crystal Park (Lancaster, PA), Triangle Parks (Washington, DC), and the Sidmouth Amphitheatre (Sidmouth, UK). Designs to be featured will demonstrate how stormwater function can range from being hidden to enable more active uses of the park to more highly featured elements of the park that bring awareness of stormwater issues. Parks can feature a range of BMPs including bioretention, constructed (surface and subsurface) wetlands, permeable pavement, storage, proprietary water quality treatment facilities, and more. From retrofitting existing small parks to re-envisioning expansive vacant lands. Stormwater parks can provide activated community spaces, climate resilience, improved water quality, and outdoor STEM educational opportunities. Stormwater parks provide public utilities with an opportunity to develop integrative stormwater management solutions that are adaptable, scalable, and cost-effective. Partnered with thoughtful urban design and engagement with community partners, stormwater parks can re-envision valued public spaces while living with water in a resilient future. This presentation will provide attendees with built examples of stormwater parks, highlight some of the keys to success and introduce concepts that enable functional stormwater in open spaces.