&EPA

SEPTEMBER 2022

CASE STUDY | Taking Steps to Protect Our Communities

THERE'S LOTS TO LOVE ABOUT
THE'GREENING OF VACAismi™,
SPACES IN CLEVELAND • '

To prevent storm water from polluting Lake Erie, the Cleveland Botanical
Garden and a local sewer utility installed rain gardens and bioretention
features in vacant lots in the Slavic Village area of Cleveland, Ohio. The Slavic
Village rain gardens and bioretention areas have helped to improve local
water guality, add green space, enhance aesthetics of otherwise empty land,
and improve safety and guality of life for residents of Cleveland. This case
study demonstrates the challenges of implementing green infrastructure and
how those challenges can be met to achieve community goals.

BACKGROUND

For the past two decades, Cleveland
has faced two significant challenges:
a steady decline in population and
continued pollution of Lake Erie from
stormwater runoff and sewer overflows.

Population decline has led to a reduction
in occupied residences throughout
the city, often leading to vacant lots. By
2008, an estimated 20,000 vacant lots
accounted for 3,300 acres of unused
space in Cleveland. Additionally, the city
demolishes about 1,000 residences each
year, leaving empty land that can attract
trash and pests.

Cleveland has a combined sewer system,
where wastewater and stormwater
runoff share the same underground
pipes. Heavy precipitation can overflow
the system, causing diluted sewage to
be released into local waterways.These
combined sewer overflow (CSO) events
can dump nutrient pollution, high
levels of pathogens such as E.coli, and
chemicals such as pesticides into public
water bodies.

Cleveland saw the dual problems of
vacant lots and CSO pollution as an
opportunity to use the empty spaces
to control stormwater with green
infrastructure.Two groups, the Cleveland

AT-A-GLANCE

PROJECT NAME:

Slavic Village Vacant Lot
Renewal

TIMELINE: 2011 - 2014
LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

SQUARE FOOTAGE:

Nine 4,000-square-foot lots
for the Botanical Garden and
approximately 48,000 square
feet of lots for the utility

BUDGET:

$5,000 per lot ($45,000
total) for the Botanical
Garden and $329,000 for the
utility lots

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE:

Rain garden, bioretention
cells

RESULTS:

More than 600,000 gallons
per year of stormwater
captured

BENEFITS:

Improved water quality,
enhanced aesthetics, public
safety

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GRANT PROGRAM

This program focuses on
funding local development

NEORSD also has a

NEORSD'S GREEN

INFRASTRUCTURE

groups, government entities

and non-profits to install

green infrastructure on their

properties. The program has

granted $8.3 million in project

awards using sewer fees

These projects have reduced

stormwater runoff by up to

26.3 million gallons per year.

Excavation of vacant lot. Courtesy of the
Cleveland Botanical Garden.

Both organizations identified the Slavic
Village neighborhood, which is located
atop a combined sewer system, as a
great place to demonstrate the benefits
of green infrastructure. Slavic Village is a
neighborhood in the southeast section
of Cleveland that was hit particularly
hard by the 2008 recession, and one area
with the most vacant lots in the city. At
the time, the regional U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) office and U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) were working
in the area to characterize soil guality
and permeability, so CBG and NEORSD
partnered with these agencies to develop
green infrastructure projects in the area.

PLANNING AND FUNDING

In addition to partnering with EPA
and USGS, CBG and NEORSD worked
with Slavic Village Development, a
local organization that advocates for
community development in the area,
to select the best vacant lots for green
infrastructure installations.The CBG-led
project selected nine sites that were
owned by the Cleveland Land Bank. All
the selected sites had a slope suitable
to direct water to green infrastructure
on the lot, which reduced the need
for additional construction to alter the
lot. Additionally, CBG tried to select
sites that would not be developed

,4 vacant lot prior to construction. Courtesy of the
Cleveland Botanical Garden.

Botanical Garden (CBG) and the
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
(NEORSD), initiated projects to use vacant
lots for stormwater management and
to improve local communities. CBG
developed its plans after participating in
a Vacant Land Working Group focused
on how to repurpose the large number
of vacant lots in Cleveland for the
community's benefit. Meanwhile, in
2011, NEORSD had started a program
to implement green infrastructure as
part of the Cleveland Consent Decree,
which is a legal mandate for NEORSD
to reduce CSO pollution events using
green infrastructure, as well as gray
infrastructure such as underground
storage tunnels.

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for 20 to 30 years to ensure the green
infrastructure would have a lasting
impact in the community. For the
NEORSD-led initiative, Slavic Village
Development focused on selecting lots
to add to the existing green areas in the
neighborhood, settling on three sites
near an existing hiking and biking trail.

After initial site selection, Slavic Village
Development created fliers, hosted
community meetings, and worked
directly with landowners to gather their
feedback and help remove obstacles
to the projects. For example, some
neighbors stored broken down cars
on the lots. Slavic Village Development
worked with the owners to remove the
vehicles.

The two groups each took a different
approach to the design of their projects.
CBG's initial idea was to create replicable
rain gardens in each of the nine vacant
lots.The design team proposed curb
cuts and downspout disconnections
to direct water from neighboring
rooftops, roadways, sidewalks, and
driveways into the vacant lots. However,
the group did not receive the reguired
permission from city officials to install
curb cuts on the sidewalks or permission
from neighboring property owners to

A NEORSD vacant lot during the construction
process. Courtesy of the Northeast Ohio Regional
Sewer District.

GREEN

INFRASTRUCTURE
TERMS DEFINED

RAIN GARDEN: Vegetation
planted in a shallow
depression to retain
stormwater.

BIORETENTION: Green
infrastructure that treats and
filters stormwater through
layers of soil, sand, gravel, and
other substrates.

CURB CUT: A depression in a
curb that allows stormwater
to flow into a certain area.

DOWNSPOUT

DISCONNECTION: Rerouting
a spout to direct stormwater
to an area where it can be
stored, such as a rain garden
or rain barrel.

install downspout disconnects across
multiple properties. Without these two
elements, the planned gardens would
not capture as much rain as possible at
the site. Meanwhile, NEORSD focused on
creating sites that would help meet the
reguirements of the consent decree and
would help enhance the aesthetic value
of the neighborhood.

To fund their green infrastructure
installations, CBG and NEORSD took
different paths.The CBG team applied
for a grant from EPA's Urban Waters
Small Grant program and was awarded
approximately $5,000 per lot, for a total
amount of approximately $45,000 for the
nine lots. NEORSD used sewer district
funds designated for green infrastructure
as part of the consent decree for its three
lots.

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A CBG vacant lot following clean up and excavation of the shallow depression. Courtesy of the Cleveland
Botanical Garden.

PROJECT DETAILS

In October 2013, CBG's contractor graded
each of the nine sites to direct water into
a shallow depression. The contractor
then filled each depression with layers of
mulch and a soil mix blend. Next, native
plants were added to create rain gardens,
and the rest of the lot was seeded with
yarrow, micro clover, dwarf perennial
ryegrass, and at least 10 species of native
flowers.

CBG calculated that the rain gardens
help filter over 55 percent of the rain that
falls on each lot, reducing the amount
of stormwater runoff from each lot from
approximately 600,000 gallons per year
to 225,000 gallons per year. However,
the installations were not guite as
successful as expected.The first major
problem was the inadeguate drainage
in the rain gardens. Most of the gardens
stayed damp after rainfall, most likely
due to layers of mulch and soil mix.
The dampness stunted the growth of
the plants in the rain gardens. Next, the
rain gardens were only able to treat
stormwater that fell directly on the lot,

because they did not receive runoff
from nearby properties via curb cuts or
downspout disconnections. However,
the lots still provided a benefit to the city,
since the soil helped filter any stormwater
that fell on the lot. Of the nine original
rain gardens, sixare still functioning
today, while three of the gardens have
been replaced with housing.

NEORSD installed bioretention features
in the Slavic Village on the three vacant
lots near the hiking and biking trail. First,
the contractor excavated each property
to create three deep depressions for the
bioretention installations. Next, layers of
sand, pea gravel, aggregate stone, and
soil mix were added to help filter and
slow water down as it soaks into the
ground. On top of the layers of gravel and
soil, the contractor added native plants to
beautify the site while also helping soak
up runoff.

RESULTS

The combined work of CBG and NEORSD
greatly improved the Slavic Village
neighborhood and laid the foundation
for more investment in vacant lot renewal

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One of the completed NEORSD b Pretention
features. Courtesy of the Northeast Ohio Regional
Sewer District.

in the greater Cleveland community.The
NEORSD bioretention features, designed
to capture approximately 300,000
gallons of stormwater per year, are still
functioning today. As permanent fixtures
in the community, the rain gardens help
to beautify an area next to the local bike
and hiking trail, Overall, the rain gardens
and bioretention features—as well as
the overall renewal of a dozen vacant
lots—created a variety of benefits in the
community.

IMPROVED WATER
QUALITY:

The green infrastructure
installations hold and filter
stormwater, which helps to
protect local waterways from pollution
and reduce CSO pollution events.

ENHANCED AESTHETICS:

The addition of native plants
and attractive landscaping
to both projects helps to
enhance the appearance of
the vacant lots and show investment in
the local community.

IMPROVED SAFETY:

Vacant lots can contain
debris from previous
demolition projects and
become dumping grounds

A CBG rain garden just after planting and seeding
with native plants. Courtesy of the Cleveland
Botanical Garden.

for trash, furniture, and appliances from
neighbors. Vacant lots can also attract
pests and affect the overall public safety
of the neighborhood. Cleaning up these
lots helps improve the safety of the
neighborhood for the local community.

LESSONS LEARNED

The combined work of the Botanical
Garden and sewer utility illustrates the
challenges and benefits of completing
a green infrastructure initiative and
highlights the importance of constantly
learning and adapting to make future
projects a success. Both groups learned
valuable lessons including how to select
the best green infrastructure for a vacant
lot, how to achieve community buy-in on
a project, and how to choose the right
soil mix or vegetation.

Following are some tips and strategies
that both teams learned from this effort:

•	Partner up. Partnering with local
community development groups is
necessary to gather feedback on

a project. For vacant iot projects,
it is important to understand how a
community would like to use the land
before developing plans.

•	Right-size. Green infrastructure
features should be sized based on the

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Adding a tree sapling to one of the CBG rain gardens. Courtesy of the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

amount of stormwater the feature will
receive. Even small installations can help
to reduce stormwater runoff from lots.

•	Choose carefully. CBG faced
problems when the rain garden
plants did not grow because the
chosen soil mixand mulch held too
much moisture. It is important to
select the right soil mix to filter water
guickly, while providing a good soil
bed for your chosen vegetation.

•	Keep it simple. Simple designs such
as the easily replicable CBG rain
gardens ensure a project can get up
and running guickly at a low cost.

Every project does not need to be a
large-scale installation.

CBG was also able to use the lessons from
the Slavic Village project to inform its next
large initiative, Vacant to Vibrant. Funded
by the Great Lakes Protection Fund, the

Vacant to Vibrant project worked to
revitalize vacant lots in several Great Lakes
cities, including Cleveland. CBG identified
lots that were connected and owned by
one entity so they could add features
such as downspout disconnections. They
revamped engineering of the rain gardens
to include two feet of engineered soils, one
foot of aggregate, and one foot of soil mix
to help collect stormwater. Additionally
the group took lessons learned in
community outreach into the Vacant to
Vibrant project, such as working with
local community development groups to
determine community needs for the land
in the early planning stages.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Cleveland Botanical Garden and the
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
provided information and photos for this
case study.

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