Green Infrastructure Performance – On the Ground Results for East Clayton Sustainable Community
Building on the momentum generated by an October 2006 presentation to the Sustainable Region Initiative Task Force, the Green Infrastructure Partnership brought its ‘design with nature' message to an audience of 80-plus at a GVRD Sustainability Community Breakfast on December 13, 2006. The integrated presentation by a 5-person team featured the performance monitoring results for the East Clayon Sustainabile Community. For the complete story, please click here.
According to Paul Ham, Chair of the Green Infrastructure Partnership (and General Manager, Engineering, City of Surrey): “Because the way we develop land 
determines how water is used and how water runs off the land, the desire to mitigate environmental impacts has provided a driver for the ‘green infrastructure' movement. Infrastructure design in British Columbia is changing because we recognize that instead of incurring costs and losses, we can achieve cumulative benefits through changes in the policies, programs, practices and standards that determine how land is developed and water is used.”
“When Surrey developed the East Clayton Neighbourhood Plan, three initiatives had an early influence on the City's move to a design with nature approach to drainage: UniverCity on Burnaby Mountain; Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook; for British Columbia and the Chilliwack experience as a feedback loop during Guidebook development', reports Paul Ham, “The early results from East Clayton combined with the Chilliwack experience gave Surrey the confidence to implement design with nature objectives in the City's land use plans”.
East Clayton set the pace regionally and made it possible for other Greater Vancouver municipalities to follow in Surrey's wake by implementing green infrastructure at a community scale – for example, Silver Valley in Maple Ridge. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recognized what the City of Surrey has accomplished when it honoured the City with a 2006 Sustainable Community Award for East Clayton.
Posted December 2006