Goal

B

Integrate green infrastructure and nature-based solutions into stormwater, streets, and other public facilities to improve resilience and community health.

Access to nature, expanding the City’s tree canopy, and reducing impacts from extreme heat and flooding are critical community needs. This set of actions focuses on using nature, parks, trees, and green infrastructure to reduce flooding from stormwater, reduce urban heat island impacts, and make access to these green spaces available for all residents, while ensuring sustained maintenance. These solutions include things like permeable pavement, which allows water to enter the soil as it falls, rather than pooling on hardscapes like concrete or asphalt. These solutions will also bring more nature into the city – cleaning our air, filtering water, and reducing the temperature by providing shade. This goal aligns with the Strategic Land Use Plan G3.1A: Identify several types of geographies where flood risk should influence future land use decisions for development.

Strategy

Support the implementation and maintenance of green infrastructure and nature-based approaches across the city to protect and support public spaces, including streets, trails, bus stops, parks, sports facilities, sidewalks, and plazas.

Expected Outcomes

Resilience to flooding and extreme heat, particularly in neighborhoods most vulnerable to climate impacts.
Increased regenerative landscaping and maintenance practices to sequester carbon in trees and soils.
Safe access to parks and green spaces for all residents, reducing impacts from extreme heat and supporting public health.

How will we achieve this?

Our Actions

B.1

Provide funding and increase capacity for the Green City Coalition to work in neighborhoods with high levels of vacancy and high impacts from stormwater flash flooding to develop and implement resident-led visions for stormwater management; these efforts should consider natural habitats/ecosystems and community needs, such as local food production, prioritizing neighborhoods of historical disinvestment.

B.2

Develop a parks, recreation, and forestry master plan that addresses inequity of park quality with a focus on supporting community well-being and resilience, including the use of nature-based solutions that mitigate carbon and support the effective management of stormwater.

B.3

Pursue stormwater runoff reductions and water quality improvements through public works, transportation, and parks projects, ensuring maintenance standards align with objectives for flood management and green infrastructure.

B.4

Better protect the Mississippi River by establishing nature/biodiversity corridors, Waterfront Windows identified in the SLUP, and encouraging flood plain restoration.

B.5

Develop a self-funding financing program and tools to bolster maintenance and development of green infrastructure.

Case Studies

Learn more about the sustainability practices or principles mentioned in the actions above.

MSD Project Clear Rainscaping Grants

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) is committed to spending $120 million in rainscaping investments through their Project Clear Small Grant Program and Large Grant Program. Rainscaping reclaims stormwater naturally using simple techniques, such as plantings, water features, and permeable pavement, to manage and filter rainwater where it falls. By lowering the amount of stormwater runoff entering the sewer system, rainscaping helps alleviate the basement backups and sewer overflows that sometimes occur during periods of heavy rain. Rainscaping projects also help address water quality in the Mississippi River when overflows occur. The Lafayette Square Plaza’s rain garden project, completed in 2015, used MSD’s Large Grant Program funding to develop a stormwater runoff solution. The project involved various green infrastructure solutions, which purify stormwater before slowly releasing it to the sewer system. These elements reduce sewer system overflow and prevent water pollution. The community was heavily involved in the design process, ensuring that the rain garden meets Lafayette Square’s residents needs. This project serves as a public-private partnership model for enhancing resilience in St. Louis City.

Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure often refers to solutions that use natural features to manage urban stormwater pollution by protecting water quality and aquatic habitat. Green infrastructure often provides co-benefits, such as mitigating natural hazards, compared to traditional gray infrastructure. Gray infrastructure refers to public works structures that are engineered to provide a specific level of service under specific scenarios, such as storm drains that aim to control water runoff during rainstorms or flooding events. Integrating green infrastructure into the design of city streets can help store and filter stormwater, while also contributing to a safer and more attractive environment for walking and biking.

DC Stormwater Retention Credit

Governments across the United States are coming up with creative ways to promote resilient, climate-smart development. One notable example is the Washington D.C. Stormwater Retention Credit market, an innovative program that allows developers to meet parts of their stormwater retention requirements by purchasing credits generated from green infrastructure projects, like rain gardens and green roofs, built elsewhere in the district. Since its establishment in 2013, the Stormwater Retention Credit market has increased the amount of stormwater-capturing green space in historically under-resourced areas and helped improve local water quality. More than 1.7 million credits have been sold, representing over 40 million gallons of runoff captured and cleaned annually with green infrastructure. This model has inspired other places, such as Grand Rapids, MI and Cook County, IL, to develop their own stormwater market solutions.