Historic Fourth Ward Park’s natural beauty and appealing public spaces belie the fact that it is a large, complex civil engineering and infrastructure project. Built on 17 neglected acres of mostly contaminated soil and invasive plants, the park’s centerpiece is a stormwater retention pond that reduces neighborhood flooding, relieves local sewer systems and features a fountain through which stormwater enters the pond (GivingPress). The park boasts a skate park designed by the local skating community and an amphitheater for formal performances or informal gatherings. The park also preserves and maintains the environmental quality of the surrounding community and is located on the Atlanta BeltLine trail system, adjacent to a variety of housing types and connected to the Ponce City Market development.

This stormwater park is one of the best precedents in the state of Georgia. It really shows the benefit of rejuvenating a lost landscape, such as a brownfield, and giving it back the community. Not only has this park had success in solving the City of Atlanta's problem of stormwater management and wastewater treatment in Old Fourth Ward, but it has had the added benefit of giving residents a new space to recreate and come together.

• Stormwater detention ponds can be a central amenity.

• Stormwater management helps to reduce flooding and water contamination.

• Communities benefit economically and holistically from brownfield cleanups. 

For more information:

https://www.h4wpc.org/history-of-the-area-park/

https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/historic-fourth-ward-park-phase-1

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Regional Stormwater Management Program addresses water quality, flooding, and erosion issues throughout our service area, which includes the City of Parma. As part of the program, the Sewer District is designing a project to reduce flooding in the neighborhoods downstream of Upper Ridgewood Basin (Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District).

This project is scheduled to be completed November 2023, upon completion residents can expect to see the following enhancements:

• During rainstorms, the basin will fill with water and slowly release it.

• Additional trees and robust native plants which will provide color around the basin throughout the year.

• Structures to remove sediment and regular maintenance of the basin, including sediment removal. Currently, 75% of the basin is filled with sediment; there is about 6 feet of sediment at the bottom, affecting storage capacity of the basin with no existing mechanism to remove it (Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District).

• Maintaining the current level water (about about 18 inches in depth) in the basin but lowering it to the bottom of the basin with permanent pools.  This means that there will be significantly more space to hold stormwater (Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District).

• Reduction of flooding by 40% in the neighborhood based on our latest engineering models. Currently, about 150 houses, garages and other structures are flooded during heavy rain events (Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District).

• An ADA-accessible path will wrap around the basin from Ridgewood Lakes Drive, south to the splashpad and east to the gazebo.

Ridgewood Basin project is another stormwater management project that will serve to reduce flooding in areas adjacent the Upper Ridgewood Basin. In addition, it has the added benefits of ADA accessibility and native plantings. 

• ADA routes make a park easier to navigate and should be prioritized.

• Native plantings make a site easier to maintain and can significantly reduce water runoff and, therefore flooding. 

• The surrounding community will benefit from a reduction in flooding.

For more information:

https://www.neorsd.org/upper-ridgewood-basin-improvements-project/

Moncus Park fosters connections to enrich lives and strengthen community through nature. Guided by this principle, the Park is committed to sustainability efforts and provides activities and events for community engagement.

For 100 years, this space belonged to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and was used for agricultural education purposes. In 2005, while under threat of commercial development, a community-wide campaign to “Save the Horse Farm” allowed this property to be purchased from the university to turn it into a world-class park. In 2018, the “Horse Farm” now named Moncus Park, signed a 100-year lease with the city of Lafayette as a promise to develop, maintain, and operate this incredible piece of land (See the Vision). Today, the park includes a variety of amenities including a playground, splash pad, open recreation space, amphitheater, and pavilion.