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Green Infrastructure Planning Resources

†To obtain Power Point versions of PDFs marked with a dagger, please contact the CCCWP at cleanwater@pw.cccounty.us or 925-313-2360.

*To obtain Word or Excel document versions of documents marked with an asterisk, please contact the CCCWP at cleanwater@pw.cccounty.us or 925-313-2360

Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit Provision C.3.j. requires most Bay Area municipalities to complete and implement a Green Infrastructure Plan for the inclusion of Low Impact Development drainage design into storm drain infrastructure.

Each municipality's Green Infrastructure Plan describes how, over the long term, the municipality will shift their streets, roads, storm drains, parking lots, and building roofs from conventional “gray” storm drain infrastructure—where runoff flows directly into storm drains and then to creeks and the Bay/Delta—to a more resilient, sustainable system that slows runoff by dispersing it to vegetated areas, promotes infiltration, and uses bioretention to clean runoff. 

The municipalities’ Green Infrastructure Plans were submitted to the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board in September 2019 (The cities of Antioch, Oakley, and Brentwood submitted their Plans in September 2020.) 

The Plans include the following required elements:

  • Targets for the amount of impervious surface to be retrofitted by 2020, 2030, and 2040
  • Prioritized projects and areas for potential projects for implementation
  • Process for tracking and mapping completed projects
  • Updates to planning documents (General Plans, Storm Drain Master Plans, Complete Streets Plans, etc.)
  • Design guidelines
  • Standard specifications and details
  • Evaluation of funding options
  • Policies and ordinances needed to implement
  • Outreach and education

Municipalities were also required to review their current infrastructure projects, identify and prioritize where Green Infrastructure can be included as part of these projects (“no missed opportunities”), and include a workplan for completing prioritized projects.

Resources

Early Implementation/No Missed Opportunities

Green Infrastructure Plan Preparation--Contra Costa Clean Water Program

Permittee Shared Resources for Green Infrastructure Plan Preparation

Staff and consultants who prepared Permittees' local Green Infrastructure Plans assisted each other by sharing draft text, references, and other resources.

  • Draft generic text for Plan sections (PDF)*  addressing Provision C.3.j.i.(2)(a), ("a mechanism... to prioritize and map areas for potential and planned projects..."; this text describes the development of project lists through the Contra Costa Watersheds Storm Water Resources Plan), and  addressing Provision C.3.j.i.(2)(d), ("A process for tracking and mapping completed projects, public and private, and making the information publicly available; also addresses C.3.j.iv.). This text was prepared by Geosyntec Consultants for the City of Walnut Creek.

Policies to Support Green Infrastructure Implementation

Green Infrastructure Project Planning and Design

Here are some useful guidance manuals, design examples, and engineering details:

Maintenance of Green Infrastructure Facilities

Public Outreach

CCCWP’s outreach efforts to promote Green Infrastructure have included the following:

Costs

Funding

In April 2018, BASMAA published a Roadmap of Funding Solutions for Sustainable Streets (PDF). Funded by a USEPA grant and managed by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, the roadmap includes specific actions designed to improve the availability of funding for Green Infrastructure Projects in the Bay Area and statewide.

Laura Prickett of Horizon Water and Environment prepared a memo (PDF) that includes a summary of the Regional Roundtable process that led to preparation of the Roadmap.