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Chris May

    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “You have to go back and address the impacts of legacy development. To move the needle, communities must restore riparian areas,” stated Chris May, retired Surface & Stormwater Division Director, Kitsap County Public Works in Washington State


    Puget Sound research correlated land use changes with impacts on streams. Hydrology and riparian integrity are of equal importance. “There are many factors that influence stream degradation. There is not a single smoking gun. Impervious area is the main culprit. But you can trash a stream just as badly by deforestation of the riparian zone as you can by paving over the headwaters with a mall,” says Chris May.

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    CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “Unless and until land development practices mimic the natural water balance, communities cannot expect to restore the biological communities within streams,” stated Richard Horner, professor emeritus at the University of Washington in Seattle


    Many factors influence stream degradation. “So many studies manipulate a single variable out of context with the whole and its many additional variables. We, on the other hand, investigated whole systems in place, tying together measures of the landscape, stream habitat, and aquatic life,” stated Richard Horner. “If we get the hydrology right, water quality typically takes care of itself.”

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    APPLICATION OF WATER BALANCE PERFORMANCE TARGETS: “By design or default, re-development choices and practices bend the hydrology of a watershed, and for either better or worse,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia


    “The Water Balance Methodology and Model were created for scenario comparison purposes. These were transformational in helping decision makers visualize HOW their municipalities could meet watershed targets and mitigate population growth and climate change, one property at a time. This built support for changes in development practices and galvanized action in the 2000s. Unfortunately, memories are short and knowledge is either forgotten, lost or ignored as the players change. And so, momentum is dissipated and backsliding sets in,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    ADDRESSING AFFORDABLE HOUSING’S HIDDEN UTILITY COSTS: “Supersizing pipes to accommodate drainage demand is costly and disruptive to communities,” stated Robert Hicks, career engineer-planner in local government in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia


    “The Province has come out with their transit-oriented development legislation. What that means is redevelopment. And redevelopment means a demand on utilities. Sometimes these demands have already been anticipated and planned for. And sometimes these are new and somehow have to be accommodated. Sewage and drainage are a little trickier than other utilities. That is where we have this crunch of priorities and a concern. Yes, we need affordable housing. But affordable housing must be serviced with infrastructure that is also affordable,” stated Robert Hicks.

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    STORY BEHIND THE STORY OF ‘STORMWATER PLANNING, A GUIDEBOOK FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA’ (2002): “Key was the collaboration happening within the Ministry of Environment. I had working relationships with other groups. We were talking on an ongoing basis about innovation and how we could provide better levels of protection. The Guidebook is an example of that collaboration,” stated Peter Law, Chair of the former Guidebook Steering Committee, on the 20th anniversary of Guidebook publication (June 2022)


    “The Water Balance Methodology gave communities a path forward to tackle changes in watershed hydrology at the source. When the Guidebook was released, the capability to set targets gave the steering committee the confidence to be bold and state: land development and watershed protection can be compatible. In 2002, this statement represented a radical shift in thinking. It became known as ‘the Guidebook premise’. We were hopeful that all the players would embrace shared responsibility and communities would move from stopgap remediation to long-term restoration of properly functioning streams. We are not there yet,” stated Peter Law.

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