Integrating Stormwater Management and Form-Based Codes in Dublin, Ohio Manuscript

Abstract

Dublin, Ohio approved form-based zoning code for their Bridge Street District in April 2012 and their revised Stormwater Management Design Manual in June 2013.The 1,200-acre District is envisioned to be a walkable, dense-built, mixed-use area at the center of Dublin. With the anticipation of a dense building configuration, Dublin recognized the challenge of meeting the City's stormwater requirements, particularly without the use of conventional basins. In addition to ensuring that it is possible and feasible to simultaneously meet the stormwater requirements using distributed stormwater control measures (SCM) and the form-based code, the City needed to provide guidance to developers and City staff defining the manner in which distributed SCMs are to be integrated with components of the form-based code. Revising the City of Dublin Stormwater Management Design Manual to overcome these challenges proved to be the most appropriate mechanism to do this.KEYWORDS: stormwater control measure, best management practice, form-based zoning code, Dublin Ohio, low impact development, water quality standards, stormwater design standards, stormwater design manual, redevelopment, urban INTRODUCTIONDublin, Ohio is grappling with an issue that is drawing the attention of the highest levels of the US EPA, Congress for New Urbanism, and others: How can communities create vibrant, walkable, mixed-use districts while protecting water quality, given the conflict between a dense built environment and stormwater pollution? In particular, Dublin faces the challenge of integrating its well-developed water quality standards with its new form-based coding. The focus on building envelope and type in form-based codes, and especially the need to expand the street grid in places to create an urban fabric, often is at odds with both the parcel-based approach to managing stormwater, and also some of the contemporary stormwater and Low Impact Development (LID) guidance that stresses reduced impervious cover, less roadway and fewer sidewalks, and reservation of open space on individual parcels.