Last week, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
announced its funding of a demonstration project in Escambia County, Florida,
that will include, among other things, the state’s largest green roof. The money
came in the form of a $1.4 million Urban BMP Research and Demonstration Grant,
designed to support innovative land use and stormwater BMPs. Fittingly, the
project’s site is a facility that will process county building permits and
development applications. It will also include a pervious pavement parking lot.
In the last few years, the DEP has
funded two other green roof projects in the state, with its funds paying for
construction and for monitoring stormwater quality after installation, and local
matching funds paying mainly for the land, the design of the building, and
ongoing maintenance.
Monitoring and research on the
previous projects have yielded results that can be used by others planning and
designing green roofs in the region. For example, a green roof project in Ft.
Meyers helped determine which plants are most successful in Florida’s climate
(and showed that a cistern and irrigation system is necessary to maintain them
during some seasons). The other project helped determine by how much a green
roof reduces heat transfer through the roof.
With this third green roof
project—more than 33,000 square feet of it—the DEP says it hopes to provide a
hands-on site where local builders can “touch and feel” the roof and see how it
works before incorporating similar features into their own projects. Other
cities have targeted the public directly; Portland, Oregon’s Bureau of
Environmental Services, for example, highlights stormwater management features
around the city by mapping out bicycle and walking tours of sites that lead
visitors past green roofs, rain gardens, pervious pavement installations, and
other Green Streets features.
Does your city, county, or state
encourage stormwater demonstration sites? How effective do you think these are
in encouraging imitation of the practices shown—and who is most effectively
reached, the public at large or specific groups such as builders and developers?