Lancaster City needs to save 750 million gallons of water annually from entering its combined sewer system – that’s the system that collects wastewater from your home as well as rainwater. We need to SAVE IT! to preserve clean drinking water, avoid costly fines and continue to build a healthy, vibrant community.
Construction is underway at the intersection of E Walnut and N Plum Streets. In addition to changing the traffic patterns to make it safer for motorists and pedestrians the City is transforming this intersection into the largest green streets project to date in the City. To learn more about this project Click here.
A new video featuring the City of Lancaster’s Mayor Rick Gray and Director of Public Works Charlotte Katzenmoyer speaking to the emerging Green Infrastructure strategy the City is undertaking to reduce stormwater overflows and continue to build a healthy, vibrant community.
The City of Lancaster is featured in the latest edition of the Chesapeake Bay Journal. To read the entire article click here.
From the rooftop of the Tellus 360 shop in Downtown Lancaster, Charlotte Katzenmoyer can see the Victorian shops and homes that have long made the city a tourist stop on the way to Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
But the most interesting part of the view is what’s below her feet. Katzenmoyer, the city’s public works director, is standing on a mix of sprouting green plants, compost and stone – a 9,000-square-foot green roof. And as large as it is, the roof over the furniture and clothing shop on King Street is not even the city’s largest. That honor belongs to the National Novelty Brush Co., a company founded more than 50 years ago.
Since the city began implementing its green infrastructure plan in 2011, it has helped build nine green roofs. Katzenmoyer has overseen the repaving of one alley with porous pavement – a project she says will capture an additional 200,000 to 300,000 gallons of stormwater that would otherwise be headed for the Conestoga River.
To read the entire article by Rona Kobell in the Chesapeake Bay Journal click here.
Plum Street Parking lot is the first of four City owned parking lots in the Southeast of Lancaster City to be renovated using green infrastructure technologies. In addition to capturing stormwater the projects include repaving, planting trees, improved lighting, and organized parking placement.
The above image shows the permeable concrete being laid in the alley attached to the parking lot.
Lancaster Newspapers recently reported…When completed the lots will no longer allow rainwater to run off their surface into the city’s combined storm and sanitary sewers. Instead, rain that falls there will soak through porous asphalt and concrete and be channeled to “rain gardens” where it will feed trees and plants.
The lots have been designed to have a greater impact as basins to accept stormwater runoff from surrounding streets.
Charlotte Katzenmoyer, city public works director, said parking lots comprise 32 percent of the impervious surface covering Lancaster city.
“If you look at that, 32 percent, that’s a lot of stormwater that could be treated on site,” Katzenmoyer said.
The city is attempting to lead by example, she said. The four lots will serve as demonstration projects to show how “green infrastructure improvements” can be done. She hopes to convince private parking lot owners to follow the example.
Brandon Park, situated behind Price Elementary and the Lancaster Recreation Center, is in the valley of a former creek. This valley is a very good location to capture stormwater runoff from the park and adjacent upland areas.
The reconstruction of parking areas planned for the park creates a opporunity for porous paving and infiltration beds that can be placed throughout the park to manage the runoff from areas including Wabank Ave to the southeast, Laurel St. to the northeast, Freemont St. to the northwest, and Fairview Ave. to the southwest. View the site plan below. All told it is estimated that these improvements will capture over 5 million gallons of water per year.
Additional improvements will be made to the amenities of the park including the basketball courts through $35,0000 in funding from Sprite as part of their Sprite Spark Parks program.
Four parking lots in the Southeast of Lancaster City are scheduled for a green face lift beginning this spring (Click here to view the Lancaster Newspaper article). The image below was taken at the Plum Street lot. Once upgraded it will include porous concrete, rain gardens, trees, and updated lighting.
There are 28 miles of alleys in Lancaster City and many of them need repairs. In an era of tight budgets, it pays to do two things at once. When the City prioritized which alleys it was going to fix this year, they took another look to see if any of them could become a little greener. Here’s the story of Green Alley 148 (video) and an article that appeared in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.
