Minnesota GreenStep Cities Stormwater Assessment guidance and supporting information
The Minnesota GreenStep Cities Stormwater Assessment, formerly called the Blue Star Assessment, ................
Section One - Planning and Preservation
This section includes four sections that focus on ...........
Section One - Part A: Water Friendly Development Patterns
Part A of the assessment includes two sections that address sprawl-limiting strategies and strategies for redevelopment, including Brownfield redevelopment.
Sprawl-limiting strategies
Does your community comprehensive plan allow the following sprawl-limiting strategies? (Select all strategies that apply)
- Mixed-use development (1 pt)
- Compact development (greater than 3 units/acre) (1 pt)
- Transfer of development rights (1 pt)
- Other applicable (1 pt)
- No / I don’t know / not specified (0 pts)
Wikipedia defines urban sprawl as "the expansion of human populations away from central urban areas into low-density, monofunctional and usually car-dependent communities". "Low-density" is an arbitrary term typically defined in local ordinances. Housing densities lower than 1 home per acre are often considered to be low density.
Urban sprawl has many negative environmental impacts, including habitat loss and fragmentation, increased water use, and increased energy consumption. The relationship between urban sprawl and stormwater has not been extensively studied. Sprawl may reduce imperviousness on a per acre basis, but increases overall impervious acreage. High density, mixed-use development, allows for more efficient stormwater management than low density development.
- Mixed-use development: neighborhoods or buildings that include multiple uses, such as residences, shops, restaurants, and businesses. Mixed use development provides more efficient service delivery and results in reduced resource consumption.
- Compact development (greater than 3 units/acre): compact development provides for more efficient delivery of services and resources, resulting in less consumption
- Transfer of development rights: transfer of development rights (TDR), sometimes known as transfer of development credits (TDC), is a market-based tool that allows communities to channel development toward designated growth areas and away from natural areas, drinking water sources and farmland (Smart Growth America).
- Redevelopment of underutilized previously developed sites: underutilized or unused sites (e.g. Brownfields) represent an opportunity to implement mixed use, compact development (discussed above).
Further reading
- The Environmental Impacts of Urban Sprawl
- Environmental Impacts of Urban Growth
- Urban Sprawl
- Benefits of Mixed Use Development
- Compact Development is a Greener Way for American Cities to Grow
- Brownfield Redevelopment as a Strategy for Preventing Urban Sprawl
Redevelopment and Brownfields
Does your community have any of the following incentives specifically targeted to ‘brownfield’ development and redevelopment sites? (Select all that apply)
- Density bonus (1 pt)
- Funding for remediation (1 pt)
- Streamlined permitting (1 pt)
- Reduced impact fees (1 pt)
- Tax increment financing (1 pt)
- No (0 pts)
Section One - Part B: Natural Resource Preservation & Management
This section ....
High quality natural resource areas
Does your community comprehensive plan include an inventory of high quality natural resource areas and are land-use decisions guided by the inventory in order to protect these areas from development? (Select one)
- Yes, inventory used to guide protection (4 pts)
- Yes, inventoried (1 pt)
- No (0 pts)
- I don’t know / not specified (0 pts)
Filling in floodplain areas
Does your community allow filling for development within the floodplain and if so, are restrictions imposed excluding storage of hazardous materials and requiring compensatory storage for fill? (Select one)
- No fill within FEMA and locally defined floodplain allowed (3 pts)
- No fill within FEMA floodplain allowed (2 pts)
- Fill allowed with the above restrictions (1 pts)
- Fill allowed without restrictions (-1 pt)
- I don’t know / not specified (0 pts)