When: January 30, 2012, 1 to 3:30 p.m.

Where: Holyoke Community College, Kittredge Center

Here's a preview of the planned presentations for this event.

Green Streets in New England
Kathleen M. Ogden, Project Manager/Senior Landscape Architect, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.

By accommodating alternative modes of transportation, more trees and less hardscape, the City of Pittsfield’s implementation of the appropriate “shades of green” through its central business district has propelled its urban revitalization process and its success as a “Green Community.” Pittsfield is breaking new ground with the implementation of Green Street retrofits for stormwater management, which are aligned with its Complete Streets goals of pedestrian safety, traffic calming, and aesthetics. Current design information relative to green street retro-fit projects will be presented with solutions to the challenges and concerns of applying this technology in the northeast. The tie-in of green streets with the complete street model will be discussed, as will be the challenges of designing and retrofitting green streets in the urban environment.

Porous Pavement and Low Impact Stormwater Management Techniques at New England Environmental Headquarters, Amherst, MA
Michael Marcus, Senior Scientist and Principal, New England Environmental, Inc.
Using New England Environmental’s LEED Platinum building site as a case study, low impact stormwater management techniques that are used to reduce site runoff and improve water quality will be discussed. The use of pervious asphalt and concrete will be featured as a way to reduce stormwater runoff and to promote infiltration. Although not feasible for every site, these materials are proving to be cost effective, durable, and relatively easy to maintain. Also discussed will be the
use of rain gardens, extended wet detention basins, bio-swales, and other low impact techniques that are available to municipalities in addressing stormwater management.

Green Infrastructure and CSO Abatement, Chicopee, MA
Tiffany Labrie, Project Manager, Tighe & Bond
As part of its Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) abatement work, the City of Chicopee has used green infrastructure strategies on two projects: the Jones Ferry CSO Treatment Facility and the Upper Granby Road Sewer Separation project. At the Jones Ferry CSO Treatment Facility, a large unused space within the building’s foundation was identified during design as a good fit for a rain water storage basin. Today, the rain water collected from the roofs is used to wash down tanks in the facility, reducing the facility’s dependence on potable water. In the Upper Granby Road area, an underground infiltration basin was constructed to take the stormwater runoff from a portion of the drainage area, thus recharging groundwater and reducing the impact on the downstream storm drain outfall. The main concepts will include: the role of green infrastructure in CSO abatement, and the lessons learned in the construction and operation of these two green infrastructure strategies.

Stormwater Management Strategies at the Burgess Elementary School, Sturbridge, MA
Peter Wells, Principal Landscape Architect, and Brian Darnold, Civil Engineer, Berkshire Design Group
Under construction with completion slated for November 2012, this project is introducing strategies to attenuate, infiltrate, and improve stormwater quality as part of a 69,000-square-foot addition to an existing school building and site renovations throughout. These strategies include subsurface detention, rain gardens, infiltration trenches, infiltration dry wells, stormwater media filter system, level lip spreaders, and underground rain water harvesting used to supply interior sanitary services
(toilets and urinals). The 23-acre site is located largely within the wetland buffer zone and the Zone II water supply protection area.