What do you do with 40 inches of rain? For a five block stretch of 10th Street, Lake Oswego, OR would like to send it to a ‘green street’, that will slow and treat the storm water, rather than sending it to a pipe. In addition to removing pollutants from storm water, the green street will create an attractive streetscape, a green walking experience, and a welcoming neighborhood gateway.

The City recently hosted a public meeting to discuss the 10th Street Green Street Design Plan. Instead of relying entirely on a piped storm drain system, green streets reduce the amount of paved surface, mimic natural drainage patterns, and manage storm runoff from neighborhoods.

The features of a green streets do this by slowing the water down, letting it soak into the ground and allowing vegetation to filter out its pollutants, instead of sending it to a pipe and then to a stream or other water body. Because green streets contain trees and low-growing plants to help with filtration, they are also a beautiful addition to a surrounding neighborhood.

The 10th Street Plan proposes a series of rain gardens and vegetated swales that use waterfriendly plants to remove sediment from storm water runoff from streets and parking areas and surrounding areas. A walkway through the vegetated area will complete a link called for in surrounding neighborhood plans for a safe route for children to a nearby elementary school.

This project included a collaborative process that provided opportunities for residents and neighbors to interact directly with project designers to find the most appropriate solutions. Community members worked with Portland-based Lango Hansen Landscape Architects and City staff to develop the concept plan. Extensive public interaction also took place in the form of public meetings, web and newsletter surveys plus two neighborhood walkthroughs to meet with individual property owners and neighborhood residents. Lisa Shaw Ryan, Chair of First Addition Neighborhood Association, abutting a portion of the project said, “The City worked with each homeowner to address unique property circumstances. We are excited to see the design move forward and hope that some of the green street concepts can be used on other neighborhood streets as well.”

Funding for the project comes from the sale of surface water revenue bonds from fees paid by utility customers. Construction begins this summer with completion in the winter of 2007.

For more information, contact Joel Komarek, City Engineer, at 503-697-6588, or click on the following project website link:

http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/engineer/environ/SurfaceWater/Tenth_Street/concept%20master%20plan%20reduced.pdf