Sustainable land-use planning: revitalising a flood prone office park

Abstract

This paper describes an applied research project that used a sustainable land-use planning approach to examine flood hazard mitigation alternatives in a 536-acre developed office park complex. A watershed-wide assessment including floodplain remapping and modelling of low-impact and large stormwater improvements throughout the upper watershed revealed limited impact on reducing flooding downstream in the environs of the office park during large storms. Thus emphasis had to be given to recommending retroactive sustainable land-use development actions such as relocating buildings and roadways out of the 100-year floodplain, which involves creating a mixed-use overlay district on high elevations, and restoring the floodplain.

Keywords:

• stormwater management
• flood hazard mitigation
• sustainable land-use
• transfer to development rights

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the members of project team led by the Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple University who contributed to the success of the Fort Washington Area Flooding and Transportation Improvement Study. This study was made possible by a $200,000 grant from Federal Emergency Management Agency and a $420,000 federal grant through Upper Dublin Township.

Notes

1. The case studies included Fornebu Airport Redevelopment, Oslo, Norway; Stormwater Policy, Westphalia, Germany; Earth Centre, Doncaster, United Kingdom; Nine Mile Run, Pittsburgh, United States; Environmental Protection Agency's Green Campus, Triangle Research Park, United States and Cornell University's Ornithology Lab Bioswale, Ithaca, United States.