Natural Resources Planning
Orange Riverfront Park: Using Low Impact Development Techniques to Manage Stormwater Runoff
Orange Riverfront Park Design Elements.
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Photo of Riverfront Park Site on Millers River in Orange.
Project Overview
In urban areas like the Town of Orange, properly managing stormwater runoff is especially critical for a number of reasons. First, the bulk of the responsibility for regulating stormwater rests with local volunteer boards, like the Conservation Commission and Planning Board. Second, this segment of the Millers River is impacted by priority organics, metals, nutrients, and pathogens, which are pollutants typically found in stormwater. Third, maintaining baseflow of watershed streams and ensuring adequate recharge to drinking water aquifers is important as these areas struggle with sprawling growth that is encroaching on upland watershed areas.
The purpose of this project is to use an alternative to the conventional "pipe and pond" approach to stormwater management - Low Impact Development (LID). LID is an ecologically-based approach to stormwater management that creates a hydrologically functional landscape that generates less surface runoff and less nonpoint pollution, which is especially important for development projects adjacent to sensitive resource areas.
This project has created an “outdoor classroom” at the Orange Riverfront Park, which is located on the banks of the Millers River in downtown Orange. This former Brownfields site now showcases several LID stormwater management techniques, including: rain gardens, porous pavers, and bioretention swales. Three interpretive signs were installed at the park to introduce visitors to LID, the specific functions of the LID elements in the park, and how LID can be used in a variety of development scenarios. The park will not only help to educate visitors about LID but also provide access to the Millers River, a regionally significant natural resource, and offer visitors a peaceful place to picnic, take a walk, enjoy views of the river, and launch a canoe or kayak.
Current Activities
Construction of the park was completed in 2007. FRCOG staff is now working with the Town of Orange to evaluate its current bylaws and subdivision regulations and provide recommendations on how to incorporate LID.
Future Activities
FRCOG staff will develop a LID information packet for local officials in Franklin County. FRCOG staff and the Orange DPW will develop an Operation & Maintenance Plan for the LID elements at Riverfront Park.
Page Last Updated: March 28, 2008