Green Streets Projects A New Green Way L.A.

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1 Green Streets Projects A New Green Way L.A. August 2, 2007 Larry Smith Executive Director

2 About North East Trees Founded as a 501c3 in 1990 by Scott Wilson Mission: To restore r r nature s n u e s services in i resource c challenged l communities, ies, through a collaborative resource development, implementation, and stewardship process. Programs: Urban Forestry Urban Parks Development Watershed Rehabilitation Youth Environmental Stewardship Community Stewardship Initiatives: Creating C i g Community One Tree at a Time Green G e Way L.A.

3 Restoring Nature s Services Urban Forestry Urban Forestry develops urban forestry solutions for agencies and other organizations within a framework that maximizes the net environmental benefits of the urban forest resource Project Partner in Million M l ion Trees r es LA A (MTLA) Campaign through its Creating Community One Tree at a Time Initiative Contractor for Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power Trees for Green LA (TFGLA) Project

4 Restoring Nature s Services Urban Parks Urban Parks Development plans, designs and builds community, neighborhood and river adjacent parks and trails for the purpose of restoring native habitat and creating passive recreation opportunities Los Angeles River Bikeway string of pocket parks along L.A. River Steelhead Park

5 Restoring Nature s Services Watershed Rehabilitation Watershed Rehabilitation plans, designs and implements watershed improvements with the express purpose of restoring waterways and associated habitat, improving water quality and safely increasing stormwater detention Specific projects within this program area include Oros Green Street Hazard Stream-Wetland System Restoration

6 Restoring Nature s Services Youth Environmental Stewardship Youth Environmental Stewardship educates and trains at-risk youth and young adults in environmental disciplines designed to build individual character and to develop a community-based work force to steward restored nature s services in resource challenged communities Delivered nearly 25,000 hours of education & training since June 2005

7 Restoring Nature s Services Community Stewardship Community Stewardship assists communities and neighborhoods in the development of resources, capacity and network links that can steward restored nature s services in resource challenged communities Being implemented through Creating Community One Tree at a Time Initiative

8 Creating Community One Tree at a Time Creating Community One Tree At A Time its purpose is to develop youth and community stewards who can develop tree planting projects, and plant and care for trees in their respective resource challenged communities Objectives: Provide meaningful vocational education, training and a path to full time employment within the Green Industry for year old At-Risk-Youth; Provide education and training to develop Community Stewards in these same communities who can better assist with the development and management of neighborhood improvement projects Substantially increase the number of healthy trees in these communities; and Substantially increase the amount of urban park space in these communities Goals for : 2009: Deliver 18,000 hours of education and training to 48 Youth Stewards; Matriculate 80% of these Stewards into o full u time jobs; j b Distribute up to 15,000 5 gallon trees t at t Community m u Tree T Adoption o Events; Plant P up u to t 15, gallon a n trees r es in parks, streets and other public spaces

9 Green Way L.A. Green Way L.A. A framework for transforming the urban environment through a seemless integration of its four progam areas: Urban Parks Development, Watershed Rehabilitation, Youth Environmental Stewardship and Community Stewardship Programs Transformation from compromising nature s services to embracing nature s services as the new paradigm for all urban infrastructure development Will add another layer of functionalityu i to tree planting, habitat restoration and urban park development by taking the next step of also cleaning and storing stormwater runoff, thereby making all urban infrastructure part of the overall solution ExampleE e - GREEN G STREETS S

10 Green Streets Discussion Purpose To demonstrate that streets can be transformed to RESTORE NATURE S SERVICES to efficiently provide environmental and other community benefits while continuing to protect the public health, welfare and safety Format Case Study Presentation of Oros Green Street Demonstration Project Method Provide urban & historical context Provide an overview of the project objectives Summarize project process and key decisions Review project design Discuss future possibilities for urban areas

11 Oros Green Street - Overall Project Objectives Prove that stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) are compatible with residential / light commercial neighborhoods Don t always need large sites / large facilities to provide stormwater treatment. Test whether natural BMPs compatible with residential neighborhoods can aid in complying with TMDLs Prove that distributed BMPs are a cost-effective opportunity to increase regional treatment capacity Begin testing City of Los Angeles design standards that currently make BMP implementation difficult Disseminate tools, designs, and lessons learned to other parties seeking to employ these technologies in other parts of the city

12 Project Process Select Site Complete Design Construct BMPs Monitor Results

13 Site Selection Over 40 streets in Elysian Valley and Atwater Village considered for the project. All dead-end along LA River, flow into river through end-of-street culverts or swales. In-person reconnaissance and photo documentation of all streets. NET developed site selection criteria that took various factors contributing to project success into account, including: Size of watershed vs. treatment area available Land uses along street Traffic levels / type of traffic Presence of existing high-value / high quality street trees Condition of parkway areas Oros Street the highest-ranked street. Key reasons: Residential land use no industry or industry-related traffic Treatment areas all in public domain Few high-quality street trees

14 Site Overview Geographic Location Drainage Area Oros Street

15 Setting Intersection of Blake Avenue and Oros Street

16 Setting Looking SW Away From River Towards Interstate 5

17 Setting Street-End Culvert, Showing Entrance To Steelhead Park

18 Setting Steelhead Park

19 Typical Rainy Day Along Oros Street

20 Water Quality Issues In the Project Area Water Quality Objective Exceedences, February 2006 Storms Parameter Water Quality Objective Storm 1 Storm 2 Copper LA River TMDL X X Lead LA River TMDL X Zinc LA River TMDL X X E.coli Basin Plan X X Enterococcus Basin Plan X X Fecal Coliform Basin Plan X X Total Coliform Basin Plan X X

21 Pollutant Concentrations Highest At Beginning Of Storm, Fall Off Well Short of 0.75 of Rainfall MPN/100mL Bacteria and Cumulative Rainfall vs. Time Inches :00 0:28 0:57 1:26 1:55 2:24 2:52 3:21 3:50 4:19 Time From Storm Beginning E. Coli Fecal Coliform Cumulative Rainfall

22 Pollutant Concentrations Highest At Beginning Of Storm, Fall Off Well Short of 0.75 of Rainfall ug/l Metals and Cumulative Rainfall vs. Time Inches :00 0:28 0:57 1:26 1:55 2:24 2:52 3:21 3:50 4:19 Time From Storm Beginning Copper Lead Zinc Cumulative Rainfall LAR TMDL Limits: Copper: 17 ug/l Lead: 62 ug/l Zinc: 159 ug/l

23 Design Summary Summary Statistics Total runoff produced by a 0.75" storm event: 5,200 cubic feet Total number of lots draining to Oros Street: 17 Parkway Treatment - Stormwater Gardens Treatment volume per linear foot of stormwater garden: Total proposed number of lot-length stormwater gardens: Total linear feet of stormwater gardens Total stormwater garden treatment capacity Total number of lots draining into stormwater gardens: Total estimated runoff from lots (per 3/4" storm): 21 cubic feet 5 units 135 feet 2,822 cubic feet 7 lots 1,806 cubic feet Safety factor (capacity above required volume) 36% Infiltration Trench Treatment Remaining runoff not captured by stormwater gardens Capacity of Steelhead Park infiltration trench 3,394 cubic feet 4,325 cubic feet Safety factor (capacity above required volume) 22% Overall Summary % Runoff treated in stormwater gardens 35% % Runoff treated in infiltration trench 65%

24 Plan View of Entire Street

25 Typical Bioretention Design

26 Conceptual Design of Stormwater Garden

27 Conceptual and Engineering Design of Stormwater Garden

28 What is a Green Street and How Does it Work? 1. Rain 2. Stormwater flows down driveway into trench drain 3. Stormwater is collected in trench drain and flows into stormwater garden in adjacent parkway 4. Stormwater flows into perforated pipe in stormwater garden where it percolates downward through surrounding gravel and soil 5. Stormwater flowing into stormwater garden is absorbed through tree roots into tree some is stored in tree and some evapo-transpires back into the atmosphere A. Stormwater that makes its way to the street flows down the gutter to catch basins on both sides of the street B. Stormwater enters the catch basin where sediment, debris, grease and oil is filtered out C. Filtered stormwater continues through pipes into the park where it enters an infiltration gallery consisting of perforated pipe, sand, gravel and soil D. Water gets further filtered as it percolates downward through the perforated pipe, gravel, sand and soil

29 Drawing of Post-Project Oros Streetscape

30 Project Timeline Project Planning & Design Begins in June 2005 Design completed mid-2006 Construction completed June, 2007 Via same partnership between NET, City of LA Bureau of Street Services Other key partners include: Board of Public Works City Attorney s Office Bureau of Street Services Urban Forestry Division Bureau of Sanitation Trees for a Green LA, an LADWP Program

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41 Lessons Learned Non-standard Green Infrastructure applications/projects require creative collaborative project partners process Community Outreach must be very fine-grained literally door to door conversations afternoon teas All stakeholders have to win and take ownership Thorough site analysis matters Political leadership and support imperative

42 Future Opportunities & Challenges Funding must be private-public partnership Continue to value engineer to reduce unit costs Two key questions govern rollout elsewhere: Are parkways large enough to provide adequate treatment? Are soils permeable enough to allow for infiltration? Need to do prototype projects within a representative cross-section of environments to develop comprehensive tool kit that will allow Green Street Standards to be development by Public Works Need to continue to establish performance metrics

43 Contact Information Larry Smith, Executive Director 570 W. Avenue 26, Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA Ph: 323/ Website: