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<br />INGERSON PROJECT REVIEW GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS <br /> <br />Principles for Bctter Site Design [include] [w]here density, topography, soils, and slope <br />pemlit, vegetated open channels should be used in the street right-of-way to convey and <br />treat storm water runoff. 43 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Plants absorb nutrients and metals to a certain extent and facilitate microbal breakdown, <br />but most of the pollutant removal from these practices occurs when the presence of the <br />plants physically blocks the stomlwater flow, slowing the flow and allowing <br />contaminants to settle out.44 <br /> <br />[I]nfiltration practices also recreate, to a greater or lesser extent, the natural pattern of <br />water infiltration into the ground that existed before increased imperviousness covered <br />the land. When designed and installed correctly and maintained regularly, infiltration <br />practices are among the most effective structural BMPs... .Studies have shovm that <br />infiltration of the [sic] can get 98 percent of stormwater into the earth, cool stormwater to <br />550F, remove up to 83 percent of nitrogen, and remove up to 98 percent ofcopper.45 <br /> <br />Alternative Methods/Rain Gardens <br /> <br />Review Group Recommendations: <br /> <br />All Review Group members recommend that feasible cost effective and efficient alternative <br />methods such as rain gardens be reviewed and analyzed for the Ingerson Project as a . <br />possible means of avoiding the installation of a storm sewer piping system. <br /> <br />Through discussions with Rice Creek Watersbed District and Ken Haider, Maplewood, the <br />Review Group has learned that there are alternative methods to managing stormwater other than <br />the standard installation of a storm sewer system. The majority of the Review Group's <br />discussions centered on an alternative method known as rain gardens which utilize vegetation to <br />clean storm water at the location where the water falls. <br /> <br />Rain gardens consist of a vegetation garden that is placed in the City's right-of-way on residents' <br />lots. In simplistic terms, rain/water that falls on homes, lots, and streets, migrates to the rain <br />garden where it filters into the ground. "[Rain gardens] would enhance watershed ecological <br />quality, by slowing down storm water to infiltrate in sandy soil or be detained on heavier soils, <br />rather than sending storm water laden with sediment and urban pollutants directly through <br />d'. lak Id,,46 <br />gutters an pIpes mto area es or wet an s. <br /> <br />43 Better Site Desirm: A Handbook for Chanf!infr Develovment Rules in Your Communitv. <br />August, 1998 and Consensus Ar;reement On Model Deve!ovment Princivles to Protect Our <br />Streams. Lakes and Wetlands. April, 1998, Center for Watershed Protection. <br />44 Natural Resources Defense Council. Inc" http:/www.mdc.org. <br />43 Id. <br />46 Bringinr; Garden Amenities into Your Neifrhborhood: Infrastructure for Ecolofrica! Oualitv. A . <br />Guidebook for Cities and Citizens, Joan Iverson Nassauer, Brady Halverson and Steve Ross <br />(June 1997). <br /> <br />18 <br /> <br />August 17, 2000 <br />