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summary, the main report,
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While the environmental benefits of conservation approaches to development
are well known, cost-sensitive municipalities and developers are often
reticent to try a conservation approach. A common concern about
alternative development approaches is the perception of increased cost.
The conservation approach addresses stormwater on-site by distributing the
water across the landscape, thereby mimicking or restoring the historical
hydrological regime. On the other hand, conventional practices such as
engineered stormwater ponds or concrete lined drainage ditches have
sometimes shown negative environmental impacts not present with
conservation tools, such as increased flooding or decreased water quality.
A project group, spearheaded by the Conservation Research Institute, came
together to investigate this issue. Developers, local officials, policy
analysts and staff from several development consulting firms helped to
fill information gaps on the costs of conservation development. The
project set out to answer the following questions: Does conservation
development have the potential to help mitigate the problem of the high
cost of development? Or, does it exacerbate the current trend of rising
costs, especially for stormwater management?
To compare the stormwater management costs of conservation with
conventional development, this project undertook three studies: a
literature review, an analysis of built case studies, and a cost analysis
of hypothetical conventional and conservation design templates, or
layouts.
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