Project Description
City of San Diego Low Impact Development (LID) Manual
San Diego, California
Landscape Architectural Firm: Garbini & Garbini Landscape Architecture, Inc.
Principal in Charge: Gail Garbini, ASLA
Designer: Kyle Simon
Year Project Completed: 2012
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT:
The City of San Diego has begun to implement a long term strategy to minimize the quantity, and improve the quality of stormwater reaching San Diego’s canyons, wetlands, beaches, and bays. By minimizing peak flows, the overall cost of maintaining and upgrading stormwater infrastructure can be significantly reduced. The first step in this process was the development of a Low Impact Development (LID) Manual to assist City Planners and Engineers in developing innovative solutions for both new projects and the redevelopment of existing Rights-of-Way. The end product will be ‘green streets’ and parking lots that employ permeable materials and ecologically appropriate plantings to infiltrate and cleanse stormwater.
Garbini & Garbini provided Photographs, 3-D Illustrations, and a detailed Bioretention Area Plant Matrix for the LID Manual. Since the strategies employed are not yet common in San Diego, images were chosen for their unique Southern California appearance. Likewise, the plants selected for the plant matrix were those best suited to San Diego’s climate; many of which are native to the City. Close coordination with the Water Resources Engineers was essential in planning and developing the illustrative graphics that would ultimately be used in the manual.
