Save the Bay Center Green Roof and Swales

Type: Green Roof / Bioretention / Rain Garden
Use: Institutional
Installer: Unknown
Designer/Developer: Croxton Collaborative Architects, P.C.
Installation Date: 2005 project completed
Address: Save the Bay Center, 100 Save the Bay Drive, Providence, RI 02905

Project Narrative: The Save the Bay Center, the headquarters of "Save the Bay", incorporates a green roof as well as several other stormwater and energy saving technologies. The plantings on the roof capture rainwater; any remaining stormwater not captured by the roof flows to a bermed area along the north side of the building where it is absorbed by plants or evaporates.

The Center parking lot is made of permeable materials and is surrounded by small ponds or swales. This system collects runoff through a series of bioretention basins, capturing stormwater that would otherwise flood the parking area and mix with road salts, oil and nutrients. The plants within the basins consume water and nutrients. The swales and trenches drain to the largest basin, which is lined with an impermeable membrane. Here, water that is not absorbed by plants eventually evaporates

The architects designed the building to maximize the sun’s exposure. The building faces south, so it benefits from the maximum passive heating from winter sunshine. On the lower roof of the building’s west wing is a 20-kilowatt photovoltaic system, one of the largest in the state, that will provide as much energy as it takes to power the building’s lights. The Save The Bay Center serves as a demonstration site for many building and conservation techniques that are important to a healthy Narragansett Bay and watershed. For more information and pictures to go to the Save the Bay website on stormwater.

Source: Save the Bay website (www.savebay.org)

Green roof and landscaping

17 Gordon Avenue Business Incubator

Type: Green Roof / Cistern - Internal reuse / Porous Pavement
Use: Institutional/Commercial: owned by South Providence Development Corp.
Installer: DePasquale Building & Realty Co.
Designer/Developer: Unknown
Installation Date: October 2002
Address: 17 Gordon Ave., Providence, RI 02905

Project Narrative: The building at 17 Gordon Avenue was originally built in the 1930s as a lead pencil factory, however was vacant for several years. South Providence Development Corporation (SPDC) purchased the property to restore the building for use as a small business incubator whose tenants would include (but not be limited to) businesses that provide goods or services of an environmental nature. Among its many green features are a porous parking lot adjacent to the building, a green roof comprising 1/3 of the total roof surface and a rainwater recovery system. The recovery system collects water in a large cistern where it is filtered and then reused in the building's restrooms.

17 Gordon Avenue business incubator

Westminster Lofts Peerless Roof Garden

Type: Green roof
Use: Residential
Installer: Unknown
Designer/Developer: Durkee, Brown, Viveiros and Werenfels Architects
Installation Date: 2005
Address: 229 Westminster St., Providence, RI 02903

Project Narrative: This extensive roof deck is located on the Peerless building, a historic building that was converted into condominiums. The building is located in downtown Providence, RI. The deck is accessible to residents of the building. The green roof size is 1,500 ft2 and the roof slope is 1.5%. The roof was created using products from American Hydrotech and the plant supplier was Emory Knoll Farms.

CISTERNS

Wickford Flower and Garden Shop Cisterns and Geothermal Well

Type: Cisterns - irrigation and geothermal well
Use: Industrial/Commercial
Installer: Unknown
Designer/Developer: Unknown
Installation Date: Unknown
Address: 170 Main St., North Kingstown, RI 02852

Project Narrative: Wickford Flower and Garden Shop uses several water saving techniques on their property. The shop utilizes cisterns that collect water during rain storms. A yearly average of 43,000 gallons are collected from the roof of the garden shop, this water is then used to water flowers. Another technique employed by the shop is the use of sump pumps associated with wells. The pumps take water out of the ground which is generally at 55 degrees and use it to cool refrigerators. In the process of cooling the refrigerators the water is heated up to approximately 95 degrees and then recycled to water the plants in the greenhouse through an overhead sprinkler system. Recycled water is also used to wash trucks and equipment.

PERMEABLE PAVEMENT

Town of Middletown Soccer Field Parking Lot

Type: Permeable pavement
Use: Municipal
Installer: Unknown
Designer/Developer: GridTech (Design firm)
Installation Date: 1999
Address: 700 Mitchell Ln., Middletown, RI 02842

Project Narrative: The Middletown soccer field parking lot at the intersection of Wyatt Road and Mitchell Lane in Middletown, RI was built in October 1999 and paved with Netpave 50. Netpave 50 consists of interlocking plastic open grid squares. These squares can be filled with gravel or turf, the grid stabilizes the surface and provides a durable paving solution for parking areas, pathways and access routes.


Netpave 50 pavers are made from 100% recycled polyethylene and connect by lugs and slots. These unique flexible elements can be laid on undulating surfaces and gradients. Netpave 50 can be filled with soil/grass and the cellular structure and open base enables unrestricted root growth. Alternatively it can be filled with gravel and the cellular structure will retain the stone and prevent loss or displacement.

Thomas O’Loughlin, the Public Works Director for the Parks and Recreation Department in Middletown, states that the grid has not deteriorated nor failed; overall he has been very pleased with the results. He does have to periodically top off the gravel because it tends to wash out overtime.

Overall, this has been a successful application, but it does demonstrate the need to ensure that the natural drainage patterns of the site are incorporated into final design plans and that proper installation occurs. According to Arthur Erhardt, the President of Grid Tech, the pooling water and deposition of fine material observed in the center of the parking lot area was due to the fact that the contractors hired to build the lot did not place the storm drain in the correct location or use the soil recommended by Grid Tech. The cars park on both sides of the lot, and as shown in the picture below, the grass continues to grow and in many areas completely covers the pavers.

Parking lot shortly after construction (1999)


Close-up view of vegetated area

Coventry Center Greenway Bike Path

Type: Permeable pavement
Use: State
Installer: Unknown
Designer/Developer: Unknown
Installation Date: 2003
Address: 2030 Flat River Rd., Route 117, Coventry, RI 02816

Project Narrative: A one hundred foot test section of Netpave 50 was installed by contractors hired by the R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) at the western end of the Coventry Center Greenway bike path in 2003. The bike path is located along the south side of Route 117 in Coventry, and the start of the test section is located just west of the Propane store located on Route 117. Netpave 50 consists of interlocking plastic open grid squares. These squares can be filled with gravel or turf, the grid stabilizes the surface and provides a durable paving solution for parking areas, pathways and access routes.

The cost of paving this section of the Coventry Center Greenway with Netpave 50 was approximately two times the cost of standard bituminous asphalt.

Notes: An in-house DEM construction crew installed a 50-foot long section of Netpave 50 at the Nicholas Farm Management Area in 2001. Lisa Lawless, an engineer at DEM, stated that the in-house crew did not construct any shoulders and that unraveling began to occur shortly after installation. Therefore, the Coventry Center Greenway test installation was built with a stabilized shoulder and has held up much better. Lisa Lawless stresses the importance of a good stabilized shoulder and adequate gravel cover. The DEM has been very pleased with the test section and is planning on paving the entire western end of the bike path, which is 2.1 miles, with the Netpave 50. The project is scheduled to go out to bid for construction in one to two years.

Contact: Lisa Lawless, Engineer at the R.I. DEM (401)222-2776

University of Rhode Island Permeable Parking Lots

Type: Permeable Pavement
Use: Institutional
Installer: 2002 & 2003 lots: Coventry Asphalt and Richmond Sand and Gravel (Installer)
2005 lot: Fleet Construction Co., Inc. (Contractor) and Coventry Asphalt L.L.C
Designer/Developer: 2002 & 2003 lots: Cahill Associates and BETA Group
Installation Date: 2002, 2003 and 2005
Address: 400 Plains Rd., University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881

Project Narrative:

In order to accommodate the demand generated by commuting students and the newly constructed Ryan Convention Center, the University of Rhode Island (URI) installed three parking lots at the Kingston campus during 2002, 2003 and 2005. Porous pavement lots were installed to maintain recharge to groundwater and control runoff of pollutants to surface waters.

The total parking lot capacity of the three lots is 1,800 passenger vehicles. The larger lot, which is 5.5 acres, holds 800 vehicles and was constructed in the fall of 2002 on a turf farm previously utilized by the University for overflow parking. The nearby smaller lot, which is 1.47 acres, is a retrofit of an existing lot and accommodates 200 vehicles. The third lot is an extension of the larger lot and holds 1,000 vechicles.

Extensive information on cost, maintenance, infilltration data and water quality of these sites is available the the publication "The University of Rhode Island's Permeable Parking Lots , Updated Feb. 2008)"

Brown University's Lincoln Field

Type: Permeable pavement
Use: Institutional
Installer: Unknown
Designer/Developer: Unknown
Installation Date: 1994
Address: 200 Thayer St., Providence, RI 02906

Project Narrative: Advanced Turf (ATS) was installed on Lincoln Field on Brown University’s campus in 1994. ATS consists of small pieces of polypropylene mesh, about the size of playing cards that are blended with soil and grass seed. Once the grass begins to grow the roots intertwine with the mesh and stabilizes the turf.

Lincoln Field, which is located off of Thayer Street in Providence, R.I., is a low-lying area that was subject to frequent flooding prior to the installation of the ATS. A contractor installed eight inches of the advance turf/high sand content growing medium above properly prepared base and subbase layers. This composite design (i.e. the layer of ATS/sand mix, the subbase and base) took into account the specific conditions of the site and the anticipated use, specifically occasional vehicular traffic and numerous University events.

According to Patrick Vettere, the Ground Superintendent, this area requires a lot more watering than other grass areas on campus. A few grids were visible on the surface in June 2004, but these can either be cut up by a lawn mower or melted with a flame torch. Patrick Vettere also stated that it took a while for the organic material to take hold. In hindsight, he believes that they should probably have used a little more organic material. However, overall he is very happy with how well the ATS system has worked and held up over the past ten years. Regular maintenance includes mowing, irrigation and fertilization.

University of Rhode Island Purchasing Building

Type: Permeable pavement
Use: Institutional
Installer: Richmond Sand and Gravel
Designer/Developer: Cahill Associates and BETA Group
Installation Date: 2000
Address: URI, 581 Plains Rd., Kingston, RI 02881

Project Narrative: An emergency vehicle access road was constructed with Turfstone outside of the Univ. of Rhode Island Purchasing Building, which is located at the bottom of Flagg Road on the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus. The area where this access road was constructed is prone to mud formation when the top layer of soil defrosts on a cyclical basis in the spring. The University wanted to ensure a stable foundation for emergency access vehicles. According to David Bascom, Assistant Director of the Landscapes and Grounds Department at the University of Rhode Island, the Turfstone emergency access road is easy to maintain and has held up very well.

117 Metro Center Blvd.

Type: Permeable pavement and rain garden
Use: Commercial
Installer: Fleet Construction, Cumberland, RI
Designer/Developer: Dennis Diprete of DiPrete Engineering
Installation Date: October 2007
Address: 117 Metro Center Blvd., Warwick, RI 02886

Project Narrative: Porous pavement and rain gardents were utilized on this commercial facility. The porous pavement has been down since October of 2007 and is visually monitored on a regular basis to detect any problems. The porous pavement lot was designed to infilltrate the 100 year storm. In lieu of the originally designed 4 ft of base stone across the entire parking lot area, the design was modified to reduce the stone coverage to 2 ft in some areas due to the good infilltration rates of the native soils. This site was an old gravel bank. These areas of shallower stone base are sloped toward the deeper stone areas; this saved a substantial amount of money and appears to be working well. The site has parking for about 450 cars. Eventually there will be a second building on site that will share this parking. Rain gardens along the westerly boarder of the property treat water flowing onto the property as well as on-site landscaped areas. Roof runoff is directed under the parking lot and then infiltrated.

North Kingstown Town Hall Rain Garden

Type: Rain garden
Use: Municipal
Installer: Out in Front Horticulture and URI Master Gardeners
Designer/Developer: Unknown
Installation Date: Approx. 2005
Address: 80 Boston Neck Rd., North Kingstown, RI 02852

Project Narrative: The rain garden installed at the North Kingstown Town Hall reduces runoff and potential water pollution and also replenishes valuable groundwater resources. Stormwater runoff from one of the Town Hall’s roof gutter downspouts (southwest corner) is directed to the rain garden through an underground plastic pipe. The garden was hand dug to form a depression with the excavated soil being used to make a berm around the low side of the garden. This creates a uniform depression that can temporarily hold runoff until it soaks into the ground. Perennial shrubs and herbaceous plants, specially selected for their ability to tolerate temporary pooling of water as well as dry periods, were planted and will aid in absorbing the runoff. The garden may temporarily pool water for about 4 to 6 hours after a rain event. This rain garden was developed by the URI Cooperative Extension Home*A*Syst program as a demonstration site. Additional details and photographs are available on their demonstration site.

Bentley's Tavern Rain Garden

Type: Rain garden
Use: Commercial
Installer: Northern RI Conservation District (NRICD)
Designer/Developer: Ramona LeBlanc (NRICD)
Installation Date: June 2008
Address: Bentley's Taven, Corner Route 116/6, North Scituate, RI

Project Narrative: This rain garden was installed as a demonstration project by the Northern Rhode Island Conservation District (NRICD). The garden treats roof runoff from a building adjacent to Bentley's Tavern. The project was funded by Providence water; Northland Seamless Gutter installed the gutters to direct the rooftop runoff to the rain garden.