Vernon Low Impact Development Project

This page supports the Vernon Low Impact Development (LID) Steering Committee, including access to supporting documents.

Background

LID is an innovative approach to stormwater management. It applies the basic principle modeled after nature: manage rainfall where it lands. LID's goal is to mimic a site's pre-development hydrology by using design techniques that infiltrate, filter, store, evaporate, and detain runoff close to its source.

A fourteen member Steering Committee, comprised of members of Vernon land use commissions, town planning & engineering staff, the development community, and interested citizens, worked with Fuss and O'Neill, Inc. on developing LID regulations.

The project was undertaken by a collaboration of local organizations and the Town of Vernon that came together in 2006 to understand existing conditions in the Tankerhoosen watershed, and to identify future protective measures. The collaborative group includes the Friends of the Hockanum River Linear Park, the North Central Conservation District, the Belding Wildlife Trust, and the Town of Vernon.

The project has been funded by a grant from National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Long Island Sound Futures Fund. A key goal of the project is protection of the high water quality in the Tankerhoosen Watershed. This is the third grant that has been awarded to the collaborative group by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.

» For more information on LID.

Status

The LID project held its kickoff meeting in April 2011. Three other meetings were held during 2011 to provide input to Fuss & O'Neill and feedback on their material. Three material sets were produced and reviewed. On April 26, 2012 a public presentation to town officials and to the public was held culminating the year long project to develop LID regulations and an LID design manual.

The next step is for the Planning & Zoning Commission working with the Town Planner's office to review the results and recommend specific changes to our zoning regulations.

Documents

The following pdf documents were developed by Fuss & O'Neill as part of the project work scope.

• Project Scope and Schedule
• Agenda for Project Kickoff Meeting 4/20/2011
• Notes from Project Kickoff Meeting 4/20/2011
• Land Use Regulatory Control in the Tankerhoosen Watershed: Material Set 1, July 2011
• Land Use Regulatory Control in the Tankerhoosen Watershed: Workshop 1 Summary Notes, 7/27/2011
• Land Use Regulatory Control in the Tankerhoosen Watershed: Material Set 2, September 2011
• Land Use Regulatory Control in the Tankerhoosen Watershed: Material Set 3
• LID Stormwater Quality Manual

Steering Committee Members

Members of the Steering Committee are land use commissioners Charles Bardes, Vic Riscassi, Tom Ouellette, Ryan Goad, Mark Kalina and John Kopec (now a Town Council member); town land use staff Len Tundermann, Terry McCarthy, and Craig Perry; David Askew of the North Central Conservation District; Eric Peterson, of Gardner & Peterson Associates; Ann Letendre, Friends of the Hockanum River Linear Park; and Chip Bellows and Jon Roe, interested citizens.

Engineers Erik Mas and Jim Reardon performed the technical work for Fuss & O'Neill.