Site Design at SOA’s New Building
In order to comply with the City of Columbia’s stormwater ordinance, which requires developers to address both water quality and water quantity, our new building’s site design features a combined bio-retention & detention basin to collect rainwater runoff from the parking lot and other parts of the site.
While there are many ways to comply with the ordinance, we opted for a ‘topographical’ basin that uses native plants, rather than a mechanical method that treats water in an underground structure with underground storage. By specifying native plants such as Cardinal Flower, Coneflower & sedges, stormwater quality is managed while at the same time creating habitat for local wildlife. The designed size of the basin exceeds the requirements by 40%, providing that much more resilience in times of extreme rain events. The following photos show the process of constructing the bio-retention / detention basin, which will soon be planted with the natives mentioned above.
Our new building’s lot is a commercially zoned property that abuts residential properties. Per the City’s ordinances, some type of screening device is required between these two uses. It is common for commercial developments to satisfy this requirement with a tall fence, however, we opted for a landscaping buffer made primarily of fast-growing conifers. This landscaped buffer, combined with street trees and other landscaping, resulted in a net post-development increase of 40 trees on the property. OHM’s diverse landscaping helps to absorb CO2, stabilize soil & provide animal habitat; something that turf & fencing alone cannot achieve!
In that spirit, SOA will be giving away a tree (well, really, a gift certificate for one from Lakewood Lawn & Garden) at our upcoming Open House. Stop by and drop your name in to win!
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