OSWER Innovations
Pilot
Creating an Integrated "Green"
Parking Lot and Urban Wetlands on a
Former Commercial Site
The Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) initiated a series of innovative pilots to test new ideas
and strategies for environmental and public health protection to make OSWER programs more efficient, effective,
and user-friendly. A small amount of money is set aside to fund creative proposals. The creative projects test
approaches to waste minimization, energy recovery, recycling, land revitalization, and homeland security that may
be replicated across various sectors, industries, communities, and regions. We hope these pilots will pave the way
for programmatic and policy recommendations by demonstrating the environmental and economic benefits of
creative, innovative approaches to the difficult environmental challenges we face today.
BACKGROUND
Heifer International, a non-profit sustainable community
development organization devoted to ending world
poverty, plans to construct its International Center and
Global Village education complex in east Little Rock on
a former industrial site located on the south bank of the
Arkansas River. When fully developed, the site will
include a four-story green office building and education
complex, including the Global Village, an outdoor
replication of villages from countries in which Heifer
works. A quarter of a million visitors are expected each
year, where they will have the opportunity to learn about
world cultures, issues of hunger and poverty, and the
role that a healthy environment plays in solving those
problems.
One of Heifer's greatest challenges is to design and
integrate a parking lot into a constructed wetlands
ecosystem so that it will endure hard use yet have
minimal environmental impacts. Typical parking lots are
impervious to rain water, forcing the water to run off
rapidly into storm drains and sometime into sewer
systems during heavy storms. The rapid runoff can
contribute to erosion and flood damage. In addition,
parking lots can be contaminated with oil, metals, and
other pollutants from vehicles, which are swept off the
parking lot during rainfall, creating a pulse of
contaminated water that enters nearby environments.
PI LOT APPROACH
U.S. EPA Region 6, in partnership with the State of
Arkansas, Pulaski County, the City of Little Rock,
Downtown Partnership of Little Rock, and several
consulting corporations, will work with Heifer
International to develop an innovative parking lot design
that minimizes environmental impacts on a former
commercial site. The proposed 4.2 acre parking plaza
will accommodate 337 parking spaces, which is the
minimum required by the city for the site. A series of
small green parking plazas will move storm water
through a bioswales system that will collect, cleanse,
and recycle storm water into the environment. The
system will be incorporated attractively into the
landscape. Densely landscaped islands will feature
plants chosen for their ability to remove pollutants from
water. The lot will have special night lighting and
encourage alternative transportation by including solar
shades to generate electricity for charging
hybrid/electric cares, bike racks, and a trolley stop. EPA
grant funds will be used to integrate sustainable
environmental strategies into the planning and designing
of the parking lot.
INNOVATION
This pilot fosters innovative approaches to
environmental challenges by incorporating many new
and existing but underused technologies into a common
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feature of the American landscape: parking lots. By
providing project partners and consultants with an
opportunity to work on a formerly contaminated
property and build green to an extraordinary degree, the
pilot may help to change the culture for residential,
commercial, and public development in the area. The
parking lot will serve as an environmental educational
tool that encourages visitors to consider the
consequences of typical parking lots.
BENEFITS
The parking plaza will benefit the natural environment,
the city and immediate neighborhoods, and the
environmental awareness of visitors. The natural
environment will benefit through conversion of a
contaminated property into a constructed wetland,
recycling of stormwater, prevention of soil erosion and
water pollution, use of recycled materials, and planting
of native trees and other vegetation. The city and
adjacent neighborhoods will benefit through creation of
137 new jobs, increasing tourism, creation of new
greenspace near the downtown, and elimination of
stormwater runoff from the site. The parking plaza also
will encourage environmental stewardship by
demonstrating environmentally friendly approaches to
construction and designing green development projects.
CONTACTS
Mary Kemp, EPA Region 6, 214-665-8358
For additional information, visit the EPA OSWER
Innovations web site at: www.epa.gov/oswer/IWG.htm.
Solid Waste EPA 500-F-03-017
and Emergency July 2003
Response (5101T) vwwv.epa.gov/oswer/
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