HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpring2018ParkingLotDesign
Environmental Studies:
Senior Seminar, Spring 2018
Parking Lot Re-Design
Brandon Flenz, Martha Hill, Eric Ho and Joey Stammer
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 1
Executive Summary 2
Background 3
Recommendations 6
Stakeholders 7
Business 7
Public/ Wagner Report 10
Case Studies 13
Olympia, Washington 13
Sanford, Maine 15
Minnetonka, Minnesota 17
Richmond, Virginia 19
Burlington, Vermont 21
New York, New York 22
Village of Egg Harbor, Wisconsin 24
Menasha, Wisconsin 26
Green Parking Lot Resource Guide - EPA 27
Barriers 29
Cost/Benefit 32
Costs 32
Benefits 33
Significance for Sustainability 34
Profit 34
People 34
Planet 35
Conclusion 36
Appendix 37
References 40
1
Executive Summary
The Fox River has served as an economic and social heart of the City
of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In the last couple of years Oshkosh has worked to
restore parts of the city, with an emphasis on better stormwater
management and reduction of pollution that enters into the Fox River.
World wide the the amount of impervious surfaces has been increasing,
mainly in many urban cities, along with an increase of concrete and
asphalt, there has been an increase with pollution, metals and oils running
into waterways.
Parking is essential for economic growth and business success.
However, parking lots come with just as many disadvantage, like excess
stormwater runo , flooding, excessive heat absorption, and they occupy
large areas. Our goal for Oshkosh is to have more green and previous
spaces within parking lots. With a focus on limiting runo through better
stormwater management and focusing on the three pillars of
sustainability. There are many di erent types of green infrastructure that
can be added to parking lots and on- street parking, depending on the
goal and community preference. Infrastructure such as stormwater
planters, previous pavers, rain gardens, and green walls, all play a di erent
role in reducing the impacts of an urban environment.
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Through extensive research we found that the use of native plants
would provide both drainage and stability to the soil, thus reducing the
amount of erosion along shorelines of the water bodies that surround
Oshkosh.
Background
In February of 2012, the Sustainability Plan Steering Committee
published the City of Oshkosh Sustainability Plan , a document that
compiled the goals and the management plan for Oshkosh. They had
ideas make Oshkosh a more sustainable community to live in and how the
city can begin to achieve these goals. Some of the goals involved were
increasing energy production from renewable resources, local food
production, natural resource usage, e cient transportation, and other
assets of the city that have implications on environmental health.
The focus of our research surrounds stormwater management in
Oshkosh, another topic that is discussed within the Sustainability Plan.
Oshkosh’s stormwater (the surface runo caused by heavy rain or snow)
feeds into Lake Winnebago, Lake Butte des Morts, the Fox River, and other
local bodies of water and carries anthropogenic pollutants with it. The
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has listed Lake Winnebago as
an impaired water body under the criteria of the Clean Water Act. In an
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e ort to alleviate the water degradation caused by Oshkosh, the
Sustainability Plan targeted stormwater management as a key focus for
improvement.
Oshkosh contains 22 miles of shoreline along Lake Winnebago, and
is critically important that the city aim to improve stormwater
management tactics. Renovations in stormwater management will not only
help Oshkosh meet the federal standards issued under the Clean Water
Act, but will also promote natural ecological services and economic
functions while promoting the recreational and scenic benefits the river
and lake systems have to o er.
One of the main causes of stormwater runo is impervious surface
cover in urban areas. This includes any pavement used for parking lots,
roads, and sidewalks that does not allow rain or snow to filtrate through
and be absorbed by the earth. In recent years, permeable pavers have
become increasingly popular among several cities in the US and even
private homeowners. However, the city of Oshkosh and its local facilities
have not yet invested much into this technology primarily due to financial,
spatial, and maintenance costs. In order to inspire change and renovation
for better stormwater management in Oshkosh, we have narrowed our
focus onto parking lot design for both governmental and privately-owned
facilities throughout the city.
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By researching di erent cities across the US, we have learned how
stormwater management technologies such as permeable pavers,
bioswales, rain gardens, natural bu ers, and native vegetation have been
utilized in recent history and how Oshkosh could benefit from
implementing them as well. We have spoken to a number of local
businesses to get their input on parking lot re-design and took the
challenges they face into consideration. Although the financial cost and
the reduction in number of parking spaces are the main deterrents for
many businesses in Oshkosh, we believe that even small changes will
improve the city’s stormwater management. In this document we have
provided a review of stakeholders, multiple comparative case studies, a
cost/benefit analysis, a list of potential barriers, and a write-up on the
significance of sustainable stormwater management for profit, people, and
the planet. With enough research, thoughtfulness, and consideration, the
city of Oshkosh could soon be able to better manage their stormwater
runo and protect Lake Winnebago and other water bodies located
around the city, by using more e cient and sustainable parking lot
designs.
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Recommendations
Our plan for the city would be to replace retention cells with
bioswales or rain gardens. This would help increase the amount of wildlife
and biodiversity and native plants in the area. Another change we would
like to implement that parking lots have permeable pavements used within
them. This recommendation would only be for lots with more than five stalls
in them, mainly for business use not private. The last recommendation that
we would like to implement would be to adapt the point system that the
city already has in place. We would like to increase the points required for
green infrastructure by ten points per ten stalls or per ten thousand
square feet. This would increase the amount of green space like bioswales
and rain gardens in parking lots across the community. THis point
increase in not a drastic one, but will still be e ective for the filtration of
the stormwater. The types of parking lots that we would like to increase the
points for are the urban mixed use, central mixed use, and the riverfront
mixed use. These are the most common three types of lots in the city. These
recommendations do not require a drastic change on the stakeholders
part, but the community will see a great benefit from these changes.
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Stakeholders
Below is a summary of the conversations we had with the
stakeholders expressing their perspectives and opinions on stormwater
management in parking lot design in the city of Oshkosh and the people
we thought would have a say in our recommendation for the city.
Business
We focused on the business owners along Main Street, north of the
bridge, as primary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are people or
groups that stand to be directly a ected with change to parking lot
redevelopment or design. We used these stakeholders because of the
immediate e ect they would experience if any alternatives to parking lot
design or regulation that would be changed, such as construction or
maintenance. We spoke to Daniel Schetter, the General Manager at the
Best Western, Sarrah Larson the Owner of the Wagner Market, and Ben
Rennert the Owner of Winnebago Bicycle. We spoke to these stakeholders
because they experience di erent demands on the parking lots that are
used by their customers. Each of these stakeholder took the time to talk to
us about their thoughts and opinions, regarding possible changes to the
parking lots regulations or policy changes directed at the minimum of
greenery within a parking lot, none of the parking lots associated with
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these businesses are owned by the city of Oshkosh, but might be
maintained by them.
Best Western identified as a primary stakeholder because of their
proximity to the river and the amount of business they acquire over a
yearly basis. We spoke to the manager Daniel Schetter of the Oshkosh Best
Western, and he has concerns that any changes to the parking lots could
further stress the lots they have available to all the summer tra c. They
are also one of the business that uses a ected the most to the amount of
parking spaces available at a time, they are also the only business that
has primary access to the only parking ramp in downtown Oshkosh. When
first asked whether there is a perceived benefit or cost to redevelopment of
the parking lots, Mr. Schetters mentioned that a reduction of the number
of available parking spaces could harm the Best Western. Mr. Schetter is
the only stakeholder that we spoke to that mentioned a struggle and
limited supply of parking. This was for the Best Western and the
Convention Center, with added pressure because of the Ground round
restaurant within the hotel. We asked Mr. Schetter how he thinks the
customers of the hotel would feel about adding a bu er zone by the river,
to help with filtering pollution and trash. He was not very optimistic that a
bu er zone with be supported because the main draw for the hotel is the
view of the river and any obstruction could harm business.
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Sarrah Larson owns the land surrounding the Wagner Market and
leases spaces for others that work downtown including Ben Rennert the
owner of Winnebago bicycle and neighboring business along with
residents that live on the property. Both Mrs. larson and Mr. Rennert has
similar concerns, while still supportive of possible changes to parking lots
downtown. We noticed that her property is one of the only privately owned
green space, that is separate from the trees along the road. Talking with
Mrs. Larson, she mentioned that she has di culties in the winter with
pooling of water that causes slippery areas. We mentioned permeable
surfaces to her and she was very receptive to the idea, one of her
reservations she mentioned that her property is listed as a brown site. Her
concerns were regarding loans and funding when the land has pollution
embedded. When asked whether the parking lot provides enough parking
spaces for her patrons, she said that the majority of the time there is
enough space except for farmer’s market days and that was not an issue.
She would rather people be downtown than worry about who is parking in
the lot. Mrs. Larson mentioned that in her lot she has space for a garden,
and that was rare for downtown. She makes an e ort to plant greenery and
to maintain not only the aesthetics but the atmosphere. We mentioned
some of the benefits of planting native grasses and plants, and how that
might help with the absorption of water in the parking lot. Mrs. Larson was
very interested to hear about how she would be able to incorporate native
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plants into the already established garden. In her opinion having the
garden by her business, brighten people’s day and bring more people to
experience downtown. Mrs. Larson and Mr. Rennert believes that increase
green spaces is important to bringing new people downtown, but did
comment that other than her personal garden there is a lack of future
possible areas for increased green space on main street itself but rather in
the parking lots behind the buildings. So the only available space for
redevelopment and adding green spaces with better stormwater
management would be in the parking lots that are owned and maintained
by the city.
Public/ Wagner Report
When it comes to green parking lots it is important to consider the
needs of the public, specifically the people who are using these parking
lots every day. If the city of Oshkosh is looking at changing their parking
lots or other parking into a more green and sustainable design, the
community will have an opinion on the matter. As a city issue the public’s
opinion will have to be addressed. Walker Parking Consultants did just that.
Walker Parking Consultants are a company commissioned by the city of
Oshkosh, who carried out a study on Oshkosh’s parking back in 2016
specifically looking at Oshkosh’s downtown area (Fig 1).
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Walker started with a series of public opinion surveys to gage the
community’s attitude towards parking demands in Oshkosh. While doing
these survey’s they took the public’s opinion into consideration. The
community was asked their major concerns and what they thought of the
issue. One of the major trends the consultants found was the public
tended to agree that there is a surplus of parking downtown, during most
of the hours in the day as well as most days of the week. The second major
trend in the public’s opinion is that there is an issue with proper signage
as well as parking limitations as far as hour or minute limits and the
citations that go with both of those regulations. They found that many
business owners and employees are being cited while at work or their own
business because they are parking in timed parking spots too long.
However, if too many owners and employees park in close proximity to the
businesses, there is a potential issue of the consumers having to walk
further to access those businesses, if they can not park close enough. The
analysis came back that any walking distance further than two blocks was
too long. Members of the community complained about the distance and
inconvenience and didn’t want to deal with longer walking distances. With
this information, it was recognized that there were a few blocks that
showed contraistints with the number of parking spaces. However, many
more blocks showed a large surplus, during any time of day and any day of
the week, less than 50% of spaces were being used.
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This information is helpful to us in multiple ways because in the
areas where parking strain is an issue we can look at how to create more
e cient parking and perhaps creating permeable spaces but doing so in
a green sustainable ways, such as bioretention cell, rain gardens, and
permeable pavers. Where there is parking surplus however, we could
maybe look at the specific lots, case by case and find out how many
spaces each lot realistically needs. Once we determine demand, we can
figure out how redesigning or adding of green space can be used to create
a parking lot, that not only suits the needs of the public. redesigns with an
emphasis on native plants also have the ability to creates small
ecosystems providing insects and vegetation a place to thrive, all while
providing an environment that looks nice and provides adequate space
for water to flow, substantially decreasing the amount of stormwater and
pollution runo .
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Case Studies
Olympia, Washington
The case study from Olympia Washington is beneficial when it comes
to looking at Oshkosh’s parking situation because both cities are relatively
similar in a few key ways. One of the ways the two cities are similar is
population. Olympia’s population is a bit lower at roughly 48,000 while
Oshkosh sits at around a population of roughly 66,000 people .With that
little di erence in mind adjustments to the plan can be made to
accommodate for the di erence in tra c flow and pedestrians creating
sustainable safe environment. Another key similarity is the precipitation
these two locations experience, with Oshkosh experiencing 31.5 inches of
rainfall and Olympia accumulate roughly 49.95 inches annually.
Climate is a key component when talking about parking lot design
because it a ects specific elements and e ectiveness of the actual design.
For example, if a climate has a cold season with rain, snow and ice, could
a ect the design of the parking lot. If the location lacks this cold and wet
season, but the precipitation levels are increased, are limited and are
determined by the general climate. The last significant similarity that these
two cities share when looking at parking is, that both Olympia as well as
Oshkosh are looking at redeveloping and reviving their downtown areas.
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Olympia looked as accommodating more walking and bicycle lanes, to
promote the area as more convenient, by highlighting their local farmers
markets. That is helping when it comes to Oshkosh’s downtown area
because Oshkosh also has a farmers market that is held every Saturday on
Main Street during the summer months. Although our group is not focused
on adding biking and walking lanes, many have expressed concern about
the lack of parking downtown during this events such as farmers market
days.
This case study gave a few suggestions as to how they overcame a
situation similar and even demonstrated a few specific parking lot
designs that could potentially be implemented into a city like Oshkosh.
In the introduction of the case study, they laid out a few of the major
issues that the area experiences. A lot of the underlying issues seem to
stem from the lack of green space such as trees and shrubs. Which
accelerates the issue of lack of natural filtration throughout the whole
downtown area. After the issues were laid out the city went to the design
aspect and the potential approaches they could take for each section of
downtown they were looking at. As mentioned before many of the areas
they were looking at lacked greenspace and natural filtration so as a result
the city focused a lot of their new design options around adding more
natural filtration, through more green spaces. They then went over each of
the areas they had been looking at in depth and went over how they were
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going to specifically improve each area. The details of a few of these
sections are less important to our study because some of them are related
specifically to the Olympia area. We found their approach and
implementation of the plans helpful to our research. They present many
pictures as well as specific layouts as to how they implanted or plan to
implement greenspace and trees in the area as well as how natural
filtration can be implemented in the Oshkosh area.
At the end they went over how they were thinking about funding the
project but found this less helpful in our situation because the funding for
these parking lots are more than likely going to be on a case to case basis.
It does give a general perspective on what a project like this could cost
though and we took that into account as a rough estimate when thinking
of how we could use these designs in the city of Oshkosh.
Sanford, Maine
Sanford, Maine published a report that identified significant areas
that could be repurposed to use green infrastructure. The report focused
on two specific areas in the community that could be repurposed,
Washington Street corridor and Gateway Park. The report starts by
explaining how green infrastructure can beneficial to the community. The
three reasons it lists are, the pleasing aesthetics, safety and reduced
crime, and increased property value. The aesthetics provides people with
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more of an enjoyable experience when traveling outside, and people are
more willing to walk farther distances which also increases people’s health.
The safety and crime reduction comes from the amount of green space,
studies show that the calming e ects of trees have the potential to
decrease driving speeds and help prevent a majority of accidents as well.
The last thing that the green infrastructure influences are higher property
values. In this report they found based on other studies that the increase
can be below one percent to an upwards of thirty percent. It is all
dependant on what and how much green infrastructure is incorporated to
predicted how much increase in property value a neighborhood
experiences.
On Washington Street, the city planned on putting in bioretention
cells which are used to filter a large amount of stormwater runo . With
these locations being right next to the Mousam River the bioretention cells
would help keep the pollutants from the runo down and keep the river
cleaner. The cells would be made of native, noninvasive plants that are
used to an urban environment. The cells can be used on either the street
sides or they can be adapted to be placed in parking lots as well (Fig 2).
These bioretention cells could also be used in Oshkosh as well to help
reduce the amount of pollution from runo from entering the Fox River (Fig
3+4). This report has a large amount of information about where they put
the bioretention cells and how they are comprised of, whether they used
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native trees or shrubs, along with the soil composition that was used to
create the best filtration process for the runo .
This report is a great example to use for Oshkosh because of its
similar climate and they have a greater annual precipitation. If the plan is
executed and functioning properly, then a similar plan could work in
Oshkosh as well. The green infrastructure could be used to filter the water
runo from the parking lots that are located along the Fox River and
prevent further pollution.
Minnetonka, Minnesota
Minnetonka is located southwest of the Twin Cities area and is home
to about 50,000 people. In 2013, the city was aiming to update its parking
policy in order to achieve more e cient land uses and higher density
development as well as encourage conservation design techniques and
reduce stormwater runo from surface parking. A few years earlier in 2009,
the city approved a management plan that included the Minimal Impact
Design Standards (MIDS) which set performance goals for their parking
lots. For example, these standards set up requirements for stormwater
runo rates, volumes, and pollutants. With the city’s goals and the MIDS
standards in mind, a research team began to examine the parking lot
management strategies in similar neighboring cities. They examined the
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city of Hopkins, MN for example because it contains a similar population
size and they observed Golden Valley, MN because the city had very similar
parking regulations.
After reviewing Minnetonka’s neighboring cities, the researchers
noticed a number of strengths and weaknesses that were present within
their own parking lot regulations. Minnetonka succeeds at reducing
parking space needs by allowing shared parking, including regulations on
bicycle parking, and they also already have the MIDS standards in place
that control runo flow, volume, and pollutant thresholds. Areas of
improvement for the city could include combining a mix of land uses in
order to encourage shared parking areas, having residential parking
permits and enforcement, and having more e ective requirements of
conservation design techniques to manage stormwater.
Through this research, eight applicable changes were found that
could be implemented for Minnetonka. A few of these changes include
lifting minimal parking requirements in order to encourage parking space
reduction, o ering alternate infrastructure that support various types of
transportation, and o ering greater incentives to implement stormwater
technologies such as pervious pavers, rain gardens, filter strips, and green
roofs (Fig 5). Since there have been concerns about parking availability in
Oshkosh, these goals and observations that the research team has
presented for Minnetonka can also be applicable here and help Oshkosh
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make the reductions necessary to implement more sustainable stormwater
management technologies.
Richmond, Virginia
The city of Richmond has created a set of guidelines that are used to
help with the preparation of new building project and help create a more
e cient city. One of the main sections of this report is about the
environment and how some green infrastructure can help better the city
and the life of the people in it. The way they are doing this is by
implementing three di erent guidelines, more public parks, more enriched
landscaping, and with stormwater management. The first one,
implementing more parks, will help encourage people to come outside
more and help some people get closer to nature even though they have
never really been able to experience nature to a full extent. They also say
in the report that these parks don't have to be too extensive, they can just
be a trail or a field for sports. The next major topic the report, landscaping,
brings up is what plants to use for these parks or for any natural setting.
The report goes through guidelines about how close the plants can be to
the sidewalk and how tall they can be also. The diversity of the plants is
also one of their guidelines, they recommend native, noninvasive plants to
prevent any other issues. This section also talks about the maintenance
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that is needed for these plants. The city would like to have volunteer
groups, such as adopt-a-tree, come in and have them take care of the
trees and plants. This would help reduce the cost on the city and have the
community give back. The last section that the report has on the
environment is about stormwater management and low-impact
development. The report describes low-impact development, with regards
to stormwater management, as small areas in the urban environment that
mimics nature and uses small pockets of green space that filters the
stormwater to help reduce runo pollution.
The design of the low-impact development areas can be used in
Oshkosh as well to help reduce the amount of runo created in larger
parking lots. The other ways that they talk about to reduce runo pollution
could as be used in Oshkosh’s plan for a greener city like, the native plants
to be used in areas closer to the river to help filter the water before it
enters the river. Another idea that the report brings up is the use of
permeable pavers to help reduce the water puddling on large parking lots.
The permeable pavers can be used in Oshkosh to help with not only water
filtration and clearing but also to help with snow buildup. When the snow
would melt it would flow through the pavement and then be filtered so that
there is no harm to any part of the environment
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Burlington, Vermont
Burlington Vermont is another one of those cities that we found was
trying to do something when it came to their parking downtown, and at the
same time possessed some of the similarities to Oshkosh that we were
looking for. As discussed earlier we felt that matching the climate of
Oshkosh to a city that experiences relatively the same thing is important
because of materials used and maintenance needed throughout the
seasons. Burlington is also a bit smaller in population but in many ways
still comparable to Oshkosh. Our group found this case study more useful
when it came to parking minimums and maximums of certain areas of the
city in compared to Oshkosh. We also used this case study as a basis of
information regarding safety and parking lot fluidity.
The couple main purposes of this article are both to make sure that
businesses and other facilities in the downtown area have adequate
parking for their customers as well as employees. Another purpose of this
case study is to make sure their parking lots are safe and that pedestrians
can maneuver through them as safely as possible. Our group was most
focused however on the first point of making sure there is adequate
parking because in Wagner’s company’s final report we read that some
were complaining about not being able to park at their own place of
employment, or that they were being ticketed for parking violations while
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they were at work. Although the tickets might be regulation and policy
issue, the adequate parking issue is not and we wanted to see if there was
any way we could learn from Burlington in this situation as well as taking
note of the dimensions they use for their parking lot spaces.
After looking through the case study and then looking at Oshkosh’s
situation, we found it was relatively di cult to find a clear solution to the
problem by just attempting to compare the two cities and the issues both
is facing at the individual level. We came to the conclusion that when
looking at parking and the scenario where a city might lack an adequate
amount of parking at during certain times of the day or certain days of
the week, it is going to be more beneficial to take it case by case and look
at the individual city’s situation. Although we did not get quit what we were
looking for out of this case study we were able to get some insight on how
to approach the problem.
New York, New York
In 2007, the New York City Department of City Planning published a
document titled “Design Standards for Commercial and Community Facility
Parking Lots”. The overall goal of these standards was to improve design of
parking lots in New York City while minimizing impact on commercial and
community facility developments. In order to make these refinements, the
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department decided that they should focus on three key aspects of
parking lot design. The aesthetics could be improved by mitigating vast
expanses of pavement through better landscaping and improving the
quality of local streetscapes, the environmental quality of parking lots
could be improved by increasing tree cover to reduce Heat Island E ect
(small areas that are hotter than its surroundings due to land surfaces)
and increasing permeability for stormwater mitigation, and finally parking
lots could improve pedestrian and vehicular circulation for public safety.
To achieve all of these improvements, the department looked to
enhance interior landscaping in public parking lots. This means that the
lots would be redesigned to maximize the amount of trees, shrubs, and
groundcover planting while keeping the percent of total parking spaces
lost to a minimum. They found that for every eight parking spaces in a
standard lot, 150 square feet of planting area could be implemented for
vegetation cover. Along with natural vegetation, stormwater retention cells
(bioswales) were also considered by New York City. They would have several
advantages, including higher stormwater absorption, less taxation on city
sewers, lower plant material replacement costs, and a natural filter for oil,
heavy metals, and other pollutants.
The department also conducted three case studies and created
three design blueprints for di erent sized parking lots to determine how
land use would change following these possible stormwater management
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improvements. These case studies included Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn
(88,380 sq. ft. lot), 37th Avenue in Queens (190,162 sq. ft. lot), and Tysen Park
in Staten Island (545,822 sq. ft. lot). After analyzing these parking lots, New
York City concluded that these improvements would result in a loss of 2%
of total parking spaces on average, but an average 9.85% increase of
parking area permeability and an average 16.15% increase in tree canopy
cover. Using these statistics and models, Oshkosh could also visualize
making similar improvements in its parking lots by observing how and
where New York City decided to implement stormwater management
technologies.
Village of Egg Harbor, Wisconsin
The Village of Egg Harbor is a resort community located on the
Wisconsin peninsula, north of Sturgeon Bay. The village is surrounded by
water and experience a lot of snow and rain in the o seasons. To protect
the water they proposed permeable surfaces for their parking lots that are
located by the water to limit the amount of water that runs into the bay,
while filtering toxins with native planting and preserving the scenery that
draws tourists to the village. Egg Harbor used H 2 O Pro Pavers, along with
slowing down the stormwater and filtering the water before it reaches the
beaches, the village noticed an additional benefit not considered before.
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The permeable pavers o ered an aesthetically pleasing alternative to
black asphalt installed before. The beaches attract families and people of
all ages looking to relax and experience the beauty and activities of the
water. The Village worked with Door County to not only add permeable
surfaces but also to install retention ponds to increase the e ciency of
the stormwater runo filtration, before it has a chance in to enter the lake.
As the water and the beaches were cleaned because of the changes made
to the water run o the Village of Egg Harbor and Door County saw an
increase in the number of visitor, decreasing the initial cost for
construction.
The city of Oshkosh could benefit from the implementation of similar
permeable surfaces and mitigate the e ects of toxins flowing into the
rivers and lakes that draw people to the city. There is also a benefit of
adding aesthetically pleasing alternative to the area that is dominated by
asphalt and limited in the availability for increased green spaces.
Downtown Oshkosh is an area within the city that draws a large amount of
both residents and tourists throughout the year. An increase in both
retention ponds and permeable surfaces as shown in Egg Harbor, will
increase the e ciency of the filtration of the stormwater and increase the
aesthetic appeal of downtown.
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Menasha, Wisconsin
In Menasha there was a house owner that wanted to build his dream
retirement home near Lake Winnebago, but being able to meet the DNR’s
stormwater regulations posed a challenge to the owner. He was able to find
a local construction company that had experience in permeable pavers,
and had them install a driveway that was able to meet the DNR’s standards
and look aesthetically pleasing. The way that the company was able to get
this accomplished was by making layers under the driveway before putting
the tiling down. Towards the bottom they dug out a stone reservoir that
was used as the filter for the water runo that came from the driveway.
After that they had multiple layers for clear stone and on the top layer they
used smaller stone in between the tiling for even more filtering. Now this
project has since won awards for the design of the driveway and for
management of the water runo .
This project is a great example of how we can get residential areas
near the Fox River to help with filtering stormwater before it even gets to
the river. This project has started a trend with residents around the area to
get people not only nicer driveways but also to have even cleaner water.
This project could also be applied to a larger scale like parking lots. If we
could use this same process and apply it to the parking lots around
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Oshkosh that would help with stormwater filtration and prevent most
pollution from entering the river.
Green Parking Lot Resource Guide - EPA
This document has a great deal of information regarding green
infrastructure in parking lots. It starts out by explaining the impacts that
parking lots can have on the local area, both environmentally and financial
costs to the city. Some of the environmental impacts that they discuss are
the runo and stormwater issues, the heat island e ect which is when the
parking lot is made mainly of black asphalt and on a sunny day the
amount of heat captured by the parking lot can create a dangerous
environment for people that need to park and travel through the parking
lot. Another issue that is discussed is the air quality near parking lots,
which is very poor because of the amount of emissions from cars in the
area. The last thing that they discuss about the environmental impacts of
parking lots is the loss of habitat space, when a new lot come through and
destroys what ecosystem is there. The document then goes on the talk
about how green infrastructure techniques can be used to combat these
issues.
Some ways that solve these issues is by creating more green space in
parking lots along with better planning for parking space allocation. When
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you add more green space to the parking lot you can create area that are
used to filter the water runo before it enters the ground or nearby body
of water. These bioretention areas are not only able to clean runo , but
also they provide a habitat for small wildlife to live in. The bioretention
areas also provide shade from the sun to reduce the heat island e ect and
keep pedestrians safer. Another way that pedestrians are safer with the
bioretention area is because this reduce the speed at which the vehicles
travel through the parking lot and can help prevent accidents from
happening. The way that this document suggests building these
bioretention areas is by using native and noninvasive plant life to filter the
runo . These bioretention area can also help with the overall layout of the
parking lot because if you can arrange the lot’s spaces to flow more
towards the retention areas then you can get even more filtration without
the loss of spaces. This document from the EPA can be a key resource with
the construction of new green infrastructure in parking lots, because of its
vast amount of information and also it shows examples of these green
infrastructure ideas in practice and showing great results from them.
Oshkosh can use this document to help it with their own green
infrastructure plans for parking lots and for stormwater management.
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Barriers
When it comes to the barriers on a project like this, there were a few
that we found were going to be bigger than others. One of the obstacles
that we found we were going to climb over, and one that we predicted we
were going to face was the public. Although some express that there is a
parking issue in downtown Oshkosh, and express that green space is a
positive thing for the city in general. We found that there really is not an
overwhelming demand when it comes to the want for these changes to
happen.
One thing that people are afraid of, and perhaps the biggest
variable that we feel we would face with the public is just the overall
potential inconvenience of re-doing of parking lots throughout the city.
With the city re-designing parking lots it could cause certain areas to be
under construction for lengthy periods of time, as well as the obvious
shutting down of the parking lot as well. Although we do recognize this
issue the Wagner Company’s report showed that overall, other than a few
areas during certain times there is an abundance of parking in many
areas of the city with far less than half of the parking lot being used at any
given time. This is important information because these are the parking
lots we would be looking to redo. The reason behind this is if there is a
parking lot that is almost never more than 50% full, why not re-design it in
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a way that uses that extra space for green space and places for potential
natural drainage. In areas where parking is more in demand we realize that
some of these ideas for adding green space might not be top priority or
feasible at all, but for the areas of lesser demand this could be more
beneficial.
Another potential barrier that our group came up with was the issue of
getting everybody on the same page. When it comes to these new parking
lot designs and the ideas behind them of the possibilities, many di erent
departments have to be willing to approve of the same design. For
example, the fire department and police department have to approve of
the design as far as the safety and dimensions of the parking lot to ensure
that they can e ciently maneuver their vehicles through the parking lot if
they need to. On the other hand with more green space within a parking
lot could come more maintenance during certain seasons of the year. For
a majority of the year natural filtration devices such as bio swales do tend
to maintain themselves due to the fact they water themselves and maintain
a green healthy look. However in the month or two following a winter or
maybe even a little in fall months the maintenance could be higher due to
the some plants needing to be pulled or trimmed. This would mean the
grounds crew would have to spend more time on them potentially needing
to hire help around those seasons which could be di cult.
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The last barrier and potentially the biggest, is also one that we predicted
was going to be a large push back from the start. The cost of redoing and
re-designing a new parking lot is not going to be cheap. In fact many of
these parking lots that are more on the greener side tend to be rather
expensive. A lot of these expenses take place at the beginning and have
long term benefits that actually end up saving money. A lot of the cost
comes with the materials for the new parking lot such as permeable
pavers. Many permeable surfaces tend to be more expensive from the start
but the long term e ects on the environment as well as storm water runo
if done right can have many benefits.
Cost is such a strong barrier because someone or a group of people
could have the best idea in the world but yet the idea is not feasible
because of money. In this case being a parking lot design, someone could
have a really good idea of the perfect parking lot design where it
incorporates the perfect amount of green space, natural filtration, and
native plants to filter water but if the money just simply is not there it really
does not matter at that current time. Cost is such a big barrier for any
project that is being tackled not just parking lots. That is why it is
important many times to create the budget and then see what can
reasonably be done with the amount of money available, which is the
direction we believe the city would have to take pursuing a project like this.
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Cost/Benefit
The research has shown that the costs to stormwater mitigation
through the addition of permeable surfaces and redevelopment of the
parking lots with the inclusion of increased greenspaces and retentions
ponds, are outweighed by the benefits to the city, community and the
environment.
Costs
The costs to redevelopment and installation of greening parking lots
are the initial costs and the possible reduction in the number of parking
spaces for retention ponds and better implementation of water runo .
Downtown Oshkosh experiences large amounts of tra c in the summer
with the river flowing through Main Street, while the parking is su cient
the further away from the river one goes, there are parking restrictions for
businesses and commuters that are staying around the Fox River. There
are some costs associated with the maintenance of landscaping within
parking lots but when comparing the current maintenance to green
infrastructure the cost although more intense in the spring, are
self-sustained throughout the summer. Only some light maintenance will
be needed throughout the rest of the year.
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Benefits
Less runo into the river which results in a healthy river tributaries
that reach all the way to Green Bay. Natural filtration to mitigate
stormwater natural processes maintain themselves, while providing habitat
for both native and migratory species that stopover and use Oshkosh,
giving Oshkosh the designation of a bird city. There is also enhanced air
quality. With an emphasis on native plants, could reduce the amount of
greenhouse gas emissions from cars. Increases the aesthetic appeal while
creating additional benefit not seen with only asphalt.
Residents living in apartments that were surrounded with greenery
and vegetated areas reported significant more use of the area in the
surrounding area than individuals living with little to no vegetation. (Hastie
2003). Research found that people in greener neighborhoods, tended to
walk longer distance and were more likely to walk instead of driving for
shorter trips ( Wolf 2008). Placing an emphasis on the green infrastructure
downtown has the potential to create a more pedestrian friendly
environment that would encourage walking and physical activity.
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Significance for Sustainability
Profit
Long-term investments in permeable pavements and water retention
techniques will eventually become a more economically sustainable
alternative in the future due to lower maintenance costs. Keeping
traditional concrete intact and functional requires resurfacing and in
some cases complete replacement of the pavement, which adds thousands
of dollars onto their long-term cost. Permeable pavements avoid these
added maintenance costs almost completely and only need to be
vacuumed over about once a year. Other forms green infrastructure such
as bioswales and retention ponds can be considered investments as well
because they can prevent the costs of cleaning up local water bodies in
the future.
People
People will be able to enjoy green infrastructure in parking lots if they
implemented in a safe, e cient, and aesthetically pleasing way. The
addition of more native plants in urban areas will also increase mental
health of the population and might even influence community involvement
if people understand the ecological benefits of these installments. The
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long-term durability of permeable pavement will also reduce the frequency
of construction on local roads and be less of an inconvenience to
residents. In order to make parking lot design changes that are socially
sustainable, parking availability must be kept in mind and requirements
should be adjusted on a case by case basis.
Planet
Fresh water conservation will become a more significant and
pressing issue for people all around the planet in the near future. Keeping
Lake Winnebago and other local bodies of water clean will keep local
residents healthy, protect marine wildlife, encourage more natural
vegetation growth, and provide a more naturally healthy environment. As
urban development on Earth expands in the future, stormwater
management will become increasingly relevant on a global scale and
a ect people from all di erent regions on the planet. Although the topics
and concerns we have discussed in this document were specifically
catered to the needs and interests of Oshkosh, water systems near urban
environments exist all over the planet and need to be managed properly
for stormwater pollution. As communities around the world start opening
up to the idea of stormwater management, permeable pavers will hopefully
become a standard of the future.
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Conclusion
We firmly believe that pollution from stormwater runo should be
mitigated and prevented in Oshkosh by using the recommendations we
provided in this report. Both the spatial and financial investments that are
needed to install these parking lot redesign alternatives are important for
the health of water bodies such as Lake Winnebago and Lake Butte des
Morts, and other local water bodies. New regulations should especially
target areas and facilities that have a surplus of parking space, and city
planners should keep the needs of private businesses (like Best Western) in
mind when considering these alternatives. After our collective research as
a class, we have concluded that installing permeable pavement and
retention ponds both in and out of parking lots will be an investment that
pays itself o in the near future both financially and environmentally.
Please consider our recommendations and aim to make Oshkosh a more
green and sustainable place to live.
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Appendix
Fig 1. Area of focus for Walker
Parking Consultants. Survey
company that ran a study on the
parking situation in the city of
Oshkosh
Fig 2. Bioretention incorporated into a
right-of-way. This can be incorporated
either on streets leading towards main
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street or used as bu er zones in parking lots.
Fig 3. Bioretention Performance summary. 2 year summary. The runo
treated was significant. After 2 years the the average amount of runo
treated before flowing into the river was 86%.
Fig 4. Bioretention performance summary. 10 years summary. Although, the
amount of filtration was reduced after 10 years, the average amount of
runo treated was 68%.
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Fig 5. Runo Rate Comparison. This graphs shows the comparison for
native vegetation, development, and developed with best management
practices of conservation design. The developed conditions with rate
control was able to slow the rate of runo considerably, allowing
groundwater to recharge.
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References
“Design Standards for Commercial and Community Facility Parking Lots.”
NYC Department of City Planning, 18 June 2007.
United States, Congress, “Burlington Comprehensive Development
Ordinance.” Burlington Comprehensive Development Ordinance , City
of Burlington, 2014, pp. 8–1-8–21.
Appleby, Elizabeth, et al. “Parking Lots: Case Studies and a Model
Ordinance | Minnetonka, Minnesota.”
Shoup, D., & Marshall, J. (2005). Parking Cash Out. Planning Advisory Service
Report, (532), I-23,25-61,63-118.
Wolf, K. L. (2008). With plants in mind: Social benefits of civic nature. Master
Gardener , 2 (1), 7-11.
Greening America's Capitals - Olympia, WA. (2015, October 02). Retrieved
from
https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/greening-americas-capitals-olymp
ia-wa
Hastie, C. (2003). The benefits of urban trees: A summary of the benefits of
urban trees accompanied by a selection of research papers and
pamphlets. Warwick District Council .
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