Low-impact development said to be in higher demand

Landscape architect Len Zickler, a principal in the Spokane office of Tacoma-based AHBL Inc., says the company is seeing more requests to design environmentally friendly infrastructure to manage stormwater drainage.

He expects this approach, called low-impact development, to increase in demand.

Since 2010, he says the AHBL office has worked on four Spokane projects with significant environmental sustainability features. The latest design work is for an upcoming $2.5 million project to replace an asphalt median ditch between lanes on Country Homes Boulevard with a mile of buried pipe covered by soils and native plants to absorb much of the runoff from storms.

I believe in the next 10 years well see a significant shift toward the application of these technologies, says Zickler, who during his 23-year AHBL tenure has consulted with more than 40 cities and counties in Washington state on how to apply low-impact development techniques.

One problem we see at the outset is there arent many people familiar with the concepts, but expertise is on the rise, Zickler adds. Were seeing more contractors and developers who are getting more familiar with the concepts and asking for them. Fortunately, more individual engineers in Spokane are familiar with low-impact development, and more are beginning to embrace it.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines low-impact development, or green infrastructure, as building techniques that work environmentally to manage stormwater as close to its source as possible. Zickler says the most effective approach is distributing clusters of stormwater management techniques across a property.

The techniques do a much better job if they are smaller scale and distributed, he says.

Largely, the practices include installing drainage systems designed with specific plants and soils to absorb runoff more effectively. Other methods include installing rooftop gardens, pervious pavement areas that enable water to percolate into gravel underneath, and container collection systems to capture precipitation for eventual irrigation use. Additionally, properties can have clusters of small storm gardens with plants and soils to filter runoff, as well as plant-soil bioretention swales that are similar in function to traditional grassy swales.

While AHBL isnt involved in Greenstone Corp.s ongoing Kendall Yards mixed-use development northwest of downtown, Zickler applauds that project for applying a number of green infrastructure techniques, including a drainage system to handle stormwater with park-like open spaces.

He contends that consumers who want to live in such neighborhoods and cities with sustainable features also are affecting the trend here and in other parts of the state.

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Low-impact development said to be in higher demand