GRAEF is proud to announce the Green Infrastructure Guidebook for Schools, a project of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) has been awarded an outstanding achievement in planning award from the American Planning Association – Wisconsin Chapter (APA-WI). The award recognizes the exceptional work of the planning team, led by MMSD and GRAEF, in addition to Stormwater Solutions Engineering, LLC (SSE), Bray Architects, the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust Inc., and The Urban Ecology Center.
The Green Infrastructure Guidebook for Schools serves as a roadmap and instructional tool to improve schoolyards and buildings with green infrastructure. Green infrastructure is a complementary or alternative approach to gray stormwater infrastructure, as it reduces and treats stormwater with added environmental, social, and economic benefits, by using vegetation, soils and other elements to restore some of the natural environmental processes. The Guidebook was awarded for innovations in planning by APA-WI. MMSD and GRAEF, a Wisconsin-based engineering planning and design firm, is joined in accepting this award along with the planning team at the conference awards luncheon on Friday, October 27, 2017 at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center.
“We were thrilled to accept the challenge to create an original plan that provides the full cycle of green infrastructure,” said Stephanie Hacker, Practice Area Leader of the Planning + Urban Design Group at GRAEF. “From planning to maintenance and monitoring, we feel this unique plan will help scale-up green infrastructure in the region.”
Released in 2017, the Green Infrastructure Guidebook for Schools addresses the 524 schools and the seven watersheds with 91-square-miles of impervious surfaces in MMSD’s jurisdiction. The plan, however, may be applied to any land use, beyond schools. The plan is built to help MMSD meet its ambitious goal of capturing the first 1⁄2 inch of rainfall on the impervious surfaces of its jurisdiction by 2035.
“This plan, which acts more like a toolkit to its users, has already been instrumental in the planning of future schoolyards and buildings,” said Lisa Sasso, Project Manager at MMSD. “This guide successfully addresses broader efforts in green infrastructure, including stormwater management and reduction of impervious surfaces.”
Company:
GRAEF
