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| '''<h3>[[LID opportunities in parks]]</h3>''' [[File:Example.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|The bioretention area installed at O’Connor Park
| | #REDIRECT [[LID opportunities on public land]] |
| in Mississauga is part of a stormwater management system
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| that treats parking lot runoff prior to discharging to a local
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| wetland. (Source: CVC)]]
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| Parks range from simple parcels of municipal property to
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| complex outdoor recreational facilities that include parking,
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| sidewalks, trails, sports fields, field houses, operations
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| facilities, and washrooms. Each distinct area of your site can
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| be a source for runoff (referred to as a ‘source area’). These
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| areas should be targeted when introducing LID in your park.
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| <br><br>
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| '''<h4>Targeting hard surfaces</h4>'''
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| Hard surfaces like parking lots and internal driveways are the
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| most obvious areas to target for both stormwater quality and
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| water balance improvements. These features produce more
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| runoff than any other area on your site. Water quality of runoff
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| from parking lots and driveways is typically more polluted
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| than other source areas. Common water quality concerns
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| include sand and salt from winter de-icing operations, and
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| hydrocarbons (gasoline) and metals from vehicle breakdowns
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| Runoff from vegetated areas of parks will be relatively
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| clean and more closely match the natural water balance.
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| On municipal park properties, hard surfaces are usually
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| located adjacent to pervious areas such as lawns, gardens or naturalized areas. This makes an ideal location for a LID
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| retrofit. Where grading allows, you can construct bioswales
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| and bioretention areas in these green areas to pre-treat water
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| prior to infiltration.
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| You can also design parking surfaces and internal roadways
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| as infiltration systems using permeable pavement. This retrofit
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| strategy can be combined with other LID practices.
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| A pedestrian pathway paved with permeable pavement
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| is another LID option for your park. They will reduce runoff
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| volumes and encourage on-site infiltration. Pervious pipes
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| are a viable option on many parks sites as well. They can be
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| an alternative to conventional conveyance systems such as
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| storm sewers. They encourage infiltration from hard surfaces
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| and can be used to convey water to other LID features.
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| <br> <br>
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| '''<h4>Accepting drainage from off-site areas</h4>''' [[File:Example1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Urban parkettes may look small, but they have
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| the potential to treat a large surface area of road. Typical ratios
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| of impervious drainage area to bioretention range from 5:1 to
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| 15:1. (Source: CVC)]]
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| Does municipally owned land drain into your retrofit site? If
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| so, this is an opportunity to provide stormwater controls for
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| these areas.
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| Roads are the most common source of runoff from external
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| properties into parks. Treating municipal road runoff in a park
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| requires planning input from municipal roads department
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| staff. For these projects, the team must understand how all
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| roads activities, including winter maintenance and potential
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| roadwork, will affect the operation of LID practices in the park.
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| <br><br>
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| '''<h4>Inter-municipal transfer of funds</h4>''' Integrating LID practices into the municipal stormwater
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| management framework may change how municipal funds are
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| managed. Traditional stormwater management maintenance
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| resources and funds may have to be transferred to a more landscape-based stormwater management maintenance program. Instead of infrequent but expensive stormwater management pond sediment removal operations, time and
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| resources will be spent on more frequent but inexpensive maintenance projects including pruning and weeding bioretention practices or sweeping permeable pavement.
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| Municipalities generally have the required staff and infrastructure within departments (e.g. arborist and horticulturalists in parks departments) to manage the maintenance of LID measures; however, funding this maintenance may require a transfer of funding and additional
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| training.
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| The federal Gas Tax Fund (GTF) is another funding option for
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| funding LID retrofits. This is a federal transfer that provides
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| long term funding for municipalities to build and revitalize
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| public infrastructure. Up to 30% of municipalities yearly GTF
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| allotment can be used towards stormwater management.
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| <br><br>
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| '''<h4>Source Areas</h4>''' [[File:Example3.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|The road surface (left) contributes significantly
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| more stormwater pollutants than the parkland area (right). To
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| achieve maximum watershed benefit a designer could consider
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| accepting runoff from this external area. (Source: CVC)]]
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| The LID option that best fits your site will depend what types
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| of source areas are present. Types of source areas include:
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| • Active use area
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| • Passive use area
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| • Pedestrian walkway
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| • Internal driveway
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| • Parking lot
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| On park sites, pollution prevention is often associated with
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| changes to operations and maintenance practices and has
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| not been included in Table 3.3.1. An aerial photo of a park
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| with each of these source areas accompanies Table 3.3.1.
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| Options and implementation strategies for a few of these
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| source areas will give you some ideas for your park site.
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| |colspan="9" style="text-align: center;|'''[[LID Options for Parks]]'''
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| |-
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| | Source area || Permeable pavement || Bioretention || Enhanced grassed swales || Bioswales || Soakaways and infiltration chambers || Perforated pipe system || Landscape alternatives || Prefabricated modules
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| |-
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| | Active use area ||style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| o || style="text-align: center;|* || style="text-align: center;|* || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|* ||style="text-align: center;| o ||style="text-align: center;| o
| |
| |-
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| | Passive use area ||style="text-align: center;| o || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| ** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| ** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| **
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| |-style="text-align: center;|
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| | Pedestrian walkway || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| ** || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| * || style="text-align: center;|* || style="text-align: center;|o
| |
| |-
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| | Internal driveway || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| ** || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| ** || style="text-align: center;|o ||style="text-align: center;| *
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| |-
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| | Parking lot ||style="text-align: center;| ** || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** || style="text-align: center;|** ||style="text-align: center;| o || style="text-align: center;|**
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| | |
| |-
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| !colspan="3" style="background:cyan; color:black"| '''** Common option'''
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| !colspan="3" style="background: orange; color: black"|'''* Possible option'''
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| !colspan="3" style="background: brown; color: white"|'''o Unlikely'''
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| |}
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| '''<h3>[[Making it happen: Approaches to getting LID into parks]] </h3>'''
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| The scale of your LID project will largely determine how you
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| will proceed. This guide provides two tiers of LID park retrofit
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| projects. You can usually complete small-scale LID projects
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| with in-house expertise and resources. Large-scale projects
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| will require external support from consultants and contractors.
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| '''<h4>Small-scale projects</h4>''' [[File:Example4.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|A no-mow zone is a landscape alternative that
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| does not require construction activities. (Source: Aquafor Beech)]]
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| Starting with small-scale projects is a good strategy to
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| increase public interest in LID practices, gauge municipal
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| support, and gain experience. Small-scale projects include
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| retrofitting your parks site with landscape alternatives or rain
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| barrels, or using pollution prevention strategies and practices.<br>
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| Small-scale projects require fewer resources and require a
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| smaller project budget because:
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| * They do not require integration into capital works projects
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| * Engineering consultants are not required
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| * Contractors may not be not required
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| * External approvals are not required
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| * Consultation with the public is limited
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| Due to the less significant financial commitment, it can be
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| easier to build colleague and supervisor support for small-scale
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| projects.<br>
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| Small-scale projects like landscape alternatives and pollution
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| prevention may not be easily identified as LID practices by
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| the public. Your project team should consider establishing
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| educational signage to inform the public.<br>
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| '''<h4>Large-scale projects</h4>'''
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| Large-scale projects require significantly more effort, budget,
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| and staff than small-scale projects. Large-scale LID projects
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| include:
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| *Bioretention
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| * Enhanced grass swales
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| * Bioswales
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| * Perforated pipe systems
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| * Permeable pavement
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| * Soakaways
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| * Infiltration chambers
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| * Rainwater harvesting (excluding rain barrels)
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| * Prefabricated modules <br>
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| Consider a large-scale project if your municipality or
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| department would like to be a leader in sustainability. Largescale
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| projects are often highly visible and attract more public
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| attention. Large-scale projects may also be the only solution to
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| site-specific challenges. For example, if the parking lot on your
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| site does not have existing stormwater controls, small-scale
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| projects are not likely to fully achieve compliance with water
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| quality and quantity objectives. Consider using an infiltration
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| chamber or bioswale project to meet those objectives.
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| Before starting a large-scale retrofit project, consider the
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| following distinctions that set these retrofits apart from smallscale
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| projects.<br>
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| '''<h4>Integration with capital works programs</h4>'''
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| Most large-scale LID retrofits must function with existing
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| site infrastructure, such as storm sewers, catch basins,
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| and pavement systems. The construction of large-scale
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| LID practices often requires these systems to be removed,
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| exposed, or replaced. The best time for this type of project to
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| occur is when an infrastructure replacement or rehabilitation
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| project is already planned.
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| For example, installing bioretention, infiltration chambers,
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| or permeable pavement in a parking lot requires removal of
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| existing pavement. Budget and resources set aside for parking lot replacement could be transferred to a retrofit project that
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| includes replacement of this infrastructure.<br>
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| '''<h4>Involvement of consultants and contractors</h4>'''
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| Consultants are required for large-scale retrofit projects,
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| specifically for the final screening of options, pre-design,
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| detailed design, tender and contract documents, construction
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| supervision and administration, and assumption and
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| verification. Site contractors are also required for large-scale LID retrofits.
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| Ideally, contractors should be pre-qualified based on previous
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| experience with similar LID projects.
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| <br>
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| '''<h4>More intensive public consultation</h4>'''
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| Stakeholders must be closely involved in the retrofit process
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| for large-scale LID projects. These projects have longer
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| construction windows, may have significant impacts on longterm
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| public use patterns of the park, and will cost significantly
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| more taxpayer dollars.
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| Gaining public insight in advance of LID implementation can
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| help address public concerns and information gaps, as well as
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| identify public supporters and champions. Public consultation
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| can help designers tailor the project to address community
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| concerns and values. [[File:Example5.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|When installing new parks equipment, consider whether the LID practices can be integrated into the design. Here a
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| bioswale has been built into the landscape between a playground and sidewalk. (Source: CVC)]]
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| '''<h4>External approvals</h4>'''
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| Large-scale park retrofits may require a variety of approvals
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| at the municipal, watershed, provincial, and/or federal level.
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| Since LID is still relatively new, you may encounter policies
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| or bylaws that present barriers to LID retrofit projects.
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| Alternatively, the municipality may have to enforce some
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| policies and bylaws to facilitate the implementation of LID
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| projects within parks.
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| <br>
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| '''<h4>Next Steps</h4>'''
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| After reading this chapter you should know how to select the
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| right LID practice for your site. You should also be familiar
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| with the details you need to consider before undertaking an
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| LID retrofit.
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