Siegfried provided a Low Impact Development (LID) plan for the Town of San Anselmo.
LID is an innovative approach in engineering and landscape architecture aimed at managing stormwater runoff and reducing the impact of urbanization on the natural environment. LID principles focus on maintaining and replicating the natural hydrology of a site by managing rainfall at the source using various sustainable techniques. These techniques include the use of green infrastructure such as bioretention areas, rain gardens, permeable pavements, green roofs, and swales to capture, infiltrate, and treat stormwater close to where it falls. By integrating these practices into site design, LID reduces runoff volumes, improves water quality, enhances groundwater recharge, and supports the ecological health of watersheds, while also providing aesthetic and functional landscape elements that enhance community spaces.
The current infrastructure in more established areas of the Town of San Anselmo is typically set up to direct runoff into the Town storm drain system without retaining, filtering, or treating the stormwater in any way. The California State Water Quality Control Board (SWQCB) has set up grants, like the one for this project, so that municipalities can modify and improve their existing infrastructure to comply with the new stormwater quality guidelines. The Town of San Anselmo had identified three (3) areas they wished to implement these improvements to better the water quality in the area and reduce the amount of runoff their storm system would take on during any given storm event.
Our specific knowledge and familiarity with LID yields an appreciation and understanding of projects like these. Developed organically over time, each LID solution we come up with has an individual aesthetic grounded in the period during which it was originally developed, and influenced by use. This project bridges three distinct areas, parking, medians, and service areas. In addition to satisfying basic programmatic goals such as LID, wayfinding, and circulation, development forms must be appropriate to each area. This sensitivity results in projects that are both cohesive (by using a common palette of signing, roadways standards, and other construction), yet also create a sense of place for each public space that provides variety to the Town and intuitive visual wayfinding.
