Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008 - (Page 13)

Early on, a forester was hired to go out and assessed every tree on the site. It was quickly learned that not every tree could or should be saved. Some were diseased. Some were at the end of their life cycle. Some were under existing stress and would not likely survive any kind of development around them. “We tried to move trees when we could, but in some cases we did have to take some down,” Morton said. “In those cases, we mitigated it on a one-to-one basis. If we took down an eight-inch caliper tree, we had to put in an eightinch-caliper’s worth of trees, whether that was two, four-inch trees or four, two-inch trees.” During the course of designing the project, whole areas were marked off and set aside as park space. In one particular case, significant efforts were made to alter design plans to save a large, “specimen” tree that was located in the middle of a development area. “It was a beauty,” Morton said. “I always like to point that one out to people. It’s probably been there 150 years. That was our mindset.” Making the Grade The obvious positive, spin-off effect of protecting so many trees is that the land itself was protected as well. Innovative grading techniques were incorporated and care was taken to take advantage of surface drainage patterns that provided a natural stormwater system. Those natural flow ways were treated much the same as the trees. “We worked to use those to define the boundaries of our planning areas. It actually worked out great,” Morton said. The development benefited from some early regulatory guidelines which allowed for an on-stream regional detention pond. That allowance significantly cut down on the number of smaller ponds. In the end, there were very few development parcels that had more than 100 lots in them. Rather than super impose a development plan on the land- scape, the developer did the opposite. In one instance, Carma invested $1.5 million in stream improvements to revitalize a drainage way. The use of native grasses and plantings throughout the project, coupled with drip-irrigation sys- The SNOUT® + Bio-Skirt® An Innovative Solution to Clean Up Stormwater Pollution irt Bio-Skasy an e r is fo retrofit + SNO ice! serv The SNOUT® is a eld-proven name you know and trust. BMP's Bio-Skirt® dramatically increases hydrocarbon and bacteria reductions and the new Stainless TrashScreen can help to fully capture trash. New TrashScreen™ 0 35,0UTs0 in Best Management Products, Inc. Call us at 800.504.8008 or Learn more at bmpinc.com Circle 144 • or www.SLDTonline.com/webcard www.SLDTonline.com 13 http://www.bmpinc.com http://www.bmpinc.com http://www.SLDTonline.com/webcard http://www.SLDTonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008

Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008 Contents Our Voice Editorial Board SLDT Resources The BottomLine Go Forth and Tread Lightly on the Land It’s About Name Recognition Managing Risk in the Sustainable Building Frontier Industry Spotlight Achieving Sustainable Land Development Worthy of Recognition Stormwater Wastewater Erosion Control Innovation Classifieds Advertiser Index Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - November/December 2008

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