The Highlands Regional Green Infrastructure Workshop in New Jersey aimed to educate municipal leaders and stakeholders about green infrastructure practices to improve water quality and reduce flooding. The workshop covered various tools and techniques for implementing green infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of mimicking natural hydrology and managing stormwater effectively. Participants engaged in breakout sessions to identify local opportunities and challenges regarding the implementation of green infrastructure in their communities.

1. Highlands Regional
Green Infrastructure
Workshop
New Jersey Future and ANJEC welcome you to the…
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

2. About New Jersey Future
.
Research✓ Policy✓ Advocacy✓ Assistance✓
www.njfuture.org

3. New Jersey Future’s
Mainstreaming Green Infrastructure program
Working with a few key towns to provide education,
training and direct technical assistance to improve
water quality, reduce flooding and create vibrant,
healthy communities.
Facilitating and accelerating demonstration projects
that show innovative, impressive, effective use of
green infrastructure
Convening a Green Infrastructure Task Force of
developers and design professionals

4. Highlands Regional Municipal Leaders
Green Infrastructure Workshop
April 27, 2016

5. Workshop Participants
ANJEC
Highlands Coalition
Sustainable Jersey
Highlands Council
New Jersey Future

6. Agenda
Introduction
Green Infrastructure 101
Why Does Stormwater Matter?
Where is Policy Headed?
What is Green Infrastructure?
Triple Bottom Line Benefits
Green Infrastructure – Making It Happen in Your Town
Tools
NJ Regulatory Considerations
Break Out Session & Discussion

7. The Hydrologic Cycle

8. 15”
45
”
22”
8”
Natural Water Cycle Pennsylvania
50”
26”
12”
12”

9. It wants to be a forest – a tree is the best practice
99% of North America was covered by forest from the
Atlantic shoreline to the prairies of the Great Plains.
Today only fragments remain.
Pre-European settlement Present
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov 14 October 2003

10. It wants to be a forest, but…
43,480 square miles of blacktop = 5.5 the size of
New Jersey

11. 45”/YR
2”
43”
Altered Water Cycle – Impervious Surfaces
50”
3”
0”
47”!

12. Where does Urban Runoff go?

13. Into our streams and rivers!

14. How compacted is this soil?
Common Bulk Density Measurements
David B. Friedman, District Director -- Ocean County Soil Conservation District
Golf Courses, Parks, Athletic Fields
1.69 to 1.97g/cc
Undisturbed Lands:
Forests & Woodlands
1.03g/cc
CONCRETE
2.2g/cc
Residential
Neighborhoods
1.69 to 1.97g/cc
Bulk Density is defined as the weight of a unit volume of soil including its pore space (g/cc or grams/cubic centimeter). Water and air are
important components of soil and we must frame our soil concepts so that factors affecting water and air dynamics are included. Thus, we are
primarily interested in bulk density and pore space as they affect water and aeration status, and root penetration and development.

15. Despite decades of detention basins, we still have
flooding from development.

19. • Stream channel erosion
releases sediment
• Pools and riffles are lost
• Large storms cannot reach
floodplains
• Less recharge = less
baseflow
• Small streams can go dry
• La

20. Two important observations:
96% of the annual rainfall volume is from storms 3 inches or less
Frequency: Most of the time, it rains 1 inch or less
Annual Percentages of Volume from Storms

21. Creating a Built Environment That Looks Like a Forest
26 in.
12 in.
12 in.
Evaporation
Infiltration
Runoff
Annual Rainfall
50 in.

22. Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act (Dec 2009)
Design, construct, and maintain stormwater
management practices that mimic natural hydrology
OR
Retain the 95th percentile Rainfall (around 1.7”)
EPA’s Direction for Federal Facilities
We are seeing
variations of this
requirement in MS4
NPDES permits in
different states.
Municipal Separate
Storm Sewer System

23. How we BUILD and how we PLAN
Low Impact Development (LID)
or Green Infrastructure (GI)
“Allow natural infiltration to occur as close as possible to the
original area of rainfall. By engineering terrain, vegetation,
and soil features to perform this function, costly conveyance
systems can be avoided and the landscape can retain more of
its natural hydrologic function.”
National Association of Home Builders

24. 22
”
8”
Tools for how we build:
• Green roofs
• Porous Pavements
• Rain Gardens and Bioretention
• Cisterns and Reuse

25. New Development: Suburban Commercial Mixed-Use
• Pervious asphalt, stormwater infiltration beds, vegetated swales, rain gardens.
• Protect stream, wetlands, woodlands.
• Reduce flooding by 33%.

26. New Development: Residential
• High Density Residential
• 59 acres
• 269 homes:
• 146 Townhouses
• 96 Quads
• 17 Singles
• Sinkholes and limestone
Can Water be Managed within the landscape?127 small measures, no detention basins.

29. Each home manages its own runoff
in a Rain Garden seepage bed,
located in the right-of-way.

30. Retrofits for Existing Parking Lots and Streets

31. Schools make up 2% of all impervious cover in the
City, but because they are highly visible and
associated with education… they present a high
priority target for greening.
Greening Greenfield Elementary School
Philadelphia, PA

34. “Triple Bottom Line” Benefits
• Environmental
• Social
• Economic

35. Street
Runoff

36. Street Runoff into Schoolyard = $$ for Greening Schoolyards

37. Lea School – Captures 2 acres of
school and street right-of-way

38. Waterview Recreation Center
Philadelphia, PA
1. Underground infiltration beds
with porous concrete surface
2. Porous concrete pavement
3. Trees in trenches
4. Flow-through planter boxes

39. Before
Waterview Recreation Center
New Sidewalk that captures street runoff

40. After

41. Waterview Recreation Center
Flow-Through Planter Box

42. Bio-retention
Water from the street enters
through a trench drain
Overflow water
exits to an inlet

43. Passyunk and 63rd

44. Site Analysis
Existing Conditions

45. Passyunk and 61st

46. Sunoco Refinery

47. Passyunk and 28th

48. Porous Paver Plaza

49. Erie Canal MuseumCity Hall Canal
Water Street
Syracuse NY

50. Stormwater PipingPorous Pavers Planter Cells Structural Soil Extents
Stormwater Capture Enlargement

51. 6-8” S-1 Soil Layer: Planting Soil Surface layer. A layer consisting of material with a USDA Texture of
sand to loamy sand (S2) amended with organic matter. (must be tested to meet specs after compost is
approved and added)
24” S-3 Soil Layer: Planting Soil Drainage Layer consisting of a 6 layer of material with a USDA
Texture of coarse sand
Stormwater Section

52. 1st Comprehensive Green Street

53. Year Completed: 2011
Construction Cost: $837,000
Capture Area: 53,000 sf
Square Foot Cost: $15.79/SF
Runoff Reduction: 924,000 gal/yr
Green Technology: Bioinfiltration
Trenches, Porous Pavement,
Native Plantings
The Facts

54. Haddon Township Van Sciver School
Haddon Township, NJ
Philadelphia

55. PROJECT SITE
xxxx
Photo Source: Google Maps
Van Sciver School
Saddlers Woods
Project Site

56. STORMWATER FEATURES

57. 1
4
2
3
CONSTRUCTION

58. 4/29/2016
Retrofitting Suburban Basins: Hold 1”

59. Retrofitting Suburban Basins: Hold 1”

60. Questions?

61. Agenda – Part 2
Green Infrastructure – Making It Happen in Your Town
Tools
• Planning – EPA Scorecard
• Design – Rutgers Center for Water Resources
NJ Regulatory Constraints
Break-out Sessions

62. Planning Tools: EPA Water Quality Scorecard

63. Tools: EPA Water Quality Scorecard
Protect Natural Resources and Open Space
Promote Efficient, Compact Development Patterns & Infill
Design Complete, Smart Streets
Encourage Efficient Parking
Adopt Green Infrastructure Stormwater Management

64. Tools: EPA Water Quality Scorecard

65. Tools: EPA Water Quality Scorecard

66. Tools: Rutgers Green Infrastructure Guidance Manual

67. Agenda
Breakout session

68. Where are we in the watershed?
Phillipsburg Town
Byram
Township
Washington Borough
Newton Town
Upper
Delaware
Watershed
Wallkill Watershed

69. Break-out session:
What are the opportunities in your town?
Break into 4 groups
Maps at each table
Green Infrastructure Playing Cards at each table
Dots for Maps
Small Sticky Notes
Markers
Giant Sticky Notes Pad

70. Exercises:
A. Identify types of GI
a. GI that you like/understand would use
b. Types of GI that concern you, why?
B. Identify Places you might use GI or places you have water trouble
a. Green = a good place for GI demonstration projects
b. Red = a water trouble spot (flooding or something else)
c. Small sticky notes = project/problem descriptions
d. Upcoming projects and potential opportunities
C. Use large pads and small sticky notes to add important information for
examples
a. Record group thoughts (large pads)
b. Identify potential partners
c. Identify barriers to implementation
d. Do you need a Code re-write?
Intro to Break-out session:
What are the opportunities in your town?