LANSING, MI—November 6, 2007—The City of Eaton Rapids marked the opening of a new environmentally-friendly parking lot with a ribbon-cutting ceremony conducted by Mayor James Davidson. C2AE designed the “green” parking lot system, which consists of a pervious concrete pavement, rain gardens and riverbank stabilization. This system will facilitate the City’s efforts to ‘give the Grand a hand’ by reducing pollutant-laden runoff to the Grand River, and at the same time, provide some much needed parking in the downtown area.
“The use of pervious concrete parking lots and rain gardens is relatively new to Michigan, but I expect to see more applications as both public and private development becomes increasingly aware of the short- and long-term environmental benefits,” said Charles “Rusti” Owens, Director of Planning/Landscape Architecture/Civil at C2AE, a full service engineering, architectural, and planning firm with offices in Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Gaylord.
Storm water drains through the porous concrete parking lot surface into the storage reservoir layer and then filters through the underlying soils. Additionally, trench drains allow for excess storm water to overflow from the storage reservoir into adjacent rain gardens with native plantings. The City’s public relations campaign included banners designed by students and the Art Council; educational signs describing the parking lot/rain garden system and its environmental impacts will be posted at the site.
The City’s environmental stewardship was applauded by representatives from the governor’s office, MDEQ and the City of Grand Rapids. While MDEQ grant funds were utilized to complete the current project, the City anticipates that pervious pavement/rain garden technology will be incorporated into future projects as well.
C2AE has designed numerous rain gardens for municipalities and private developments throughout Michigan. C2AE (previously, Capital Consultants/Design Works A׀E) serves the project needs of a broad spectrum of market sectors, including commercial and retail, education, health care, hospitality, industrial, libraries, military, municipal, recreation, transportation, wastewater/water and worship.
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