Natural & Built Environment

Develop a low-impact development implementation strategy for City projects.
City-funded public projects are the most immediate opportunity to lead by example on LID. Be it through general obligation bond funds, an iteration of MAPS, or federally fund-supported programs and projects, the City can nurture and grow expertise in LID internally plus familiarize local and region architectural, engineering, and construction firms with LID practices.

Policies
NB-1: Provide LID training for City staff involved in design, review, inspection, and maintenance of LID systems.
NB-2: Initiate a multi-departmental process to develop an LID implementation strategy.
NB-3: Incorporate LID techniques developed in NB-2 in City projects and new facilities.
NB-4: Promote LID features at City facilities with signage and online map.

Establish design criteria for low-impact development techniques. While engineering standards and guidance are important, LID practices must be allowed to achieve drainage standards for development. The City should set standards for design and maintenance and encourage the use of LID by incorporating LID best practices.

Developers and property owners need clarity from the City to successfully implement LID practices. The City, too, needs to articulate standards to ensure, at minimum, LID is done correctly so as to ensure it functions successfully over time. This clarity must come in the form of formal policies such as new or updated ordinances as well as informal guidance to provide the greatest range of opportunity for those in the private sector to incorporate LID practices into their properties.

Create a low-impact development manual for architects, engineers, and developers.
The Drainage Criteria Manual refers to a LID manual to guide landscape designers but one does not presently exist. Creating a LID manual would help remove perceived barriers to implementation of these practices.

Enhance the City’s landscape ordinance.
Developers and property owners are already bound to landscape requirements per the City’s landscaping and screening regulations. The present landscape ordinance is a point-based system to afford flexibility to developers and property owners through a menu of options. Given the ordinance’s purpose to “promote the enhancement of Oklahoma City’s urban forest,” expanding the ordinance’s foundation and scope would be a strategic means both of improving development and mitigating heat.

Promote water quality programs, resources, and policies.
The City’s Storm Water Quality (SWQ) division of the Public Works department provides education and outreach about storm water quality and actively promotes programs like Curbs to Creek and concepts like LID. The Office of Sustainability can partner with SWQ to help boost the reach of water quality education.

Develop watershed master plans.
LID practices often function to reduce runoff from localized impervious surfaces. Research has found LID planning on the scale of a watershed can identify high impact locations for LID intervention and, in doing so, inform cost-effective planning decisions for LID siting. A watershed-based planning approach could also help the City maximize use of public land such as parks, right-of-way, and City buildings to achieve water quality benefits.

Policies
NB-5:Create a low-impact development guide/manual for architects, engineers, developers, landscape architects, and planners.
NB-6: Increase promotion of water quality resources and programs, like Blue Thumb, on the City's website.
NB-7: Review and update list of nuisance vegetation and invasive species in municipal code.
NB-8: Inventory use of herbicides and pesticides in parks and other public properties, develop strategy, and establish targets to reduce use.
NB-9: Conduct ecological assessments and develop long-term management plans for watersheds.

Collaborate to improve our Community Rating System (CRS) score.
Under the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP’s) CRS, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reward community actions that reduce flood damage to insurable property, support the insurance aspects of the NFIP, and encourage a comprehensive approach to floodplain management. With approximately 112 sq. mi. of Oklahoma City (~18% of the city’s area) designated as a floodplain or floodway, staff should collaborate between 5-year certifications to improve the city’s CRS rating to increase affordability of flood insurance for residents.

Survey properties in vulnerable areas including flood plains.
Identifying and receiving proper reimbursement for historic properties after severe weather events is challenging and sometimes impossible. Properties endangered by severe weather and flooding should be surveyed and documented prior to disaster events to better preserve our history and streamline the FEMA reimbursement process.

Discourage alterations to the 100-year flood plain.
Alterations to flood plains can have negative effects on downstream, neighboring properties that can cause unexpected flooding. Enhancing requirements for developing in the 100-year flood plain – the area with a 1% chance of major flooding every year – will prevent loss of life and property and reduce the cost of recovery. FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program uses insurance discounts to incentivize specific flood plain management activities, such as preserving open space, discouraging development in certain areas, establishing clustering or setback rules, or encouraging green infrastructure or LID techniques in new development. Oklahoma City can pursue deeper insurance discounts for property owners by using projections rather than only historical data to inform regulatory maps.

Encourage resilient building practices in the 500-year flood plain.
Over time, flood risk shifts and changes, in part due to development, and maps are updated to reflect areas of high risk. As demonstrated by the three 500-year flood events Oklahoma City experienced over the course of five years, what was once a 100-year floodplain may turn into a 25-year floodplain due to increased frequency of inundating rainfall events or changes to nearby topography due to development.

Encouraging developers and property owners to plan for the life of the development will protect investments and prevent costly major losses from future catastrophic events.

Policies
NB-10:Work with Historic Preservation Office to map historic properties in areas vulnerable to flooding.
NB-11:Discourage alterations to the flood plain with 1% annual chance of flooding (100-year).
NB-12: Conduct historical flood damage assessment and inventory of properties in flood plains.
NB-13:Update municipal code to increase elevation requirements for new construction and substantially-improved structures in the 500-year floodplain.

Assess current tree canopy and set a coverage target.
Tree inventories can be conducted in detail on the ground or at a high-level using aerial images and analysis software. Understanding first where the City’s vegetative coverage gaps are, in addition to demographic data, will help prioritize mitigation activities to the most vulnerable areas.

Develop methods to measure, monitor, and report local urban heat island conditions.
To develop the best efficacious and efficient mitigation policies, consistent and reliable data is a necessity. available to property owners and residents.

In the same way the quality of our water and air is monitored, we need a similar quantitative approach to our own urban heat island to understand and counteract its impacts.

Urban heat islands are multivariate and many factors, including seasonality, water usage, time of day, and climate influence their impacts. A robust incorporation of standard monitoring methodology should be the first step into integrating urban heat island effects into City decisions and, ultimately, policies.

Eliminate minimum parking requirements.Oklahoma City mandates the amount of surface parking required for new developments. This translates to added costs to developers, a reduction in developable land, and increased impervious surface that contributes to flooding and the urban heat island. The City should either default to parking maximums or, as has already been done with development in downtown, remove such requirements entirely and allow developers and their financiers to determine parking needs on a project-by-project basis.

Use highly reflective roofing materials when constructing new or replacing roofing on City facilities.
Whether amidst a densely-developed area or surrounded by impervious surfaces, large roofs can be used to deter the intensity of urban heat islands. Whether new construction or retrofit, alternative roofs can reflect rather than absorb thermal radiation and thereby limit increases of ambient air temperature.

Such alternatives include light-colored, highly reflective materials or paint to boost albedo; vegetative or “living” roofs; planters to accommodate urban agriculture; or photovoltaic solar arrays.

Develop guidance for green roof installations.
Green roofs provide both cooling and storm water benefits that will reduce pollution, electricity demand, and other effects of the urban heat island. Materials selection and proper installation is critical for a successful green roof. Standards and best management practices should be developed to maximize benefits, reduce maintenance costs, and streamline the review process.

Preserve trees and expand shade cover.
Preserving mature trees is a vital step in realizing the ecological service and public health benefits now and in the future. Removing mature trees not only visibly alters the landscape, but can also drastically affect drainage and effects of the urban heat island. Activities on both public land should prohibit mature tree removal and private developments should be incentivized to preserve mature trees.
Vegetative cover and trees in particular will reduce the effects of the urban heat island and provide additional storm water and air quality benefits. Programs such as the Arbor Day Foundation’s Energy-Saving Trees provide a platform for organizing tree-planting initiatives that assists property owners in siting prospective trees where they will block heat-gain from direct sunlight and maximize energy efficiency gains. Shade structures should be encouraged in areas where tree growth is not feasible.

Assess current tree canopy and set a coverage target.
Tree inventories can be conducted in detail on the ground or at a high-level using aerial images and analysis software. Understanding first where the City’s vegetative coverage gaps are, in addition to demographic data, will help prioritize mitigation activities to the most vulnerable areas.

Develop methods to measure, monitor, and report local urban heat island conditions.
To develop the best efficacious and efficient mitigation policies, consistent and reliable data is a necessity.In the same way the quality of our water and air is monitored, we need a similar quantitative approach to our own urban heat island to understand and counteract its impacts.Urban heat islands are multivariate and many factors, including seasonality, water usage, time of day, and climate influence their impacts. A robust incorporation of standard monitoring methodology should be the first step into integrating urban heat island effects into City decisions and, ultimately, policies.

Eliminate minimum parking requirements.
Oklahoma City mandates the amount of surface parking required for new developments. This translates to added costs to developers, a reduction in developable land, and increased impervious surface that contributes to flooding and the urban heat island. The City should either default to parking maximums or, as has already been done with development in downtown, remove such requirements entirely and allow developers and their financiers to determine parking needs on a project-by-project basis.

Use highly reflective roofing materials when constructing new or replacing roofing on City facilities.
Whether amidst a densely-developed area or surrounded by impervious surfaces, large roofs can be used to deter the intensity of urban heat islands. Whether new construction or retrofit, alternative roofs can reflect rather than absorb thermal radiation and thereby limit increases of ambient air temperature. Such alternatives include light-colored, highly reflective materials or paint to boost albedo; vegetative or “living” roofs; planters to accommodate urban agriculture; or photovoltaic solar arrays.

Develop guidance for green roof installations. 
Green roofs provide both cooling and storm water benefits that will reduce pollution, electricity demand, and other effects of the urban heat island. Materials selection and proper installation is critical for a successful green roof. Standards and best management practices should be developed to maximize benefits, reduce maintenance costs, and streamline the review process.

Preserve trees and expand shade cover.
Preserving mature trees is a vital step in realizing the ecological service and public health benefits now and in the future. Removing mature trees not only visibly alters the landscape, but can also drastically affect drainage and effects of the urban heat island. Activities on both public land should prohibit mature tree removal and private developments should be incentivized to preserve mature trees.Vegetative cover and trees in particular will reduce the effects of the urban heat island and provide additional storm water and air quality benefits. Programs such as the Arbor Day Foundation’s Energy-Saving Trees provide a platform for organizing tree-planting initiatives that assists property owners in siting prospective trees where they will block heat-gain from direct sunlight and maximize energy efficiency gains. Shade structures should be encouraged in areas where tree growth is not feasible.

Policies
NB-14: Determine methods to measure, monitor, and report local urban heat island conditions.
NB-15: Develop and adopt a tree preservation ordinance.
NB-16: Update municipal code to eliminate minimum parking requirement for new developments.
NB-17: Use highly reflective materials for new or replacement roofs on City facilities.
NB-18: Develop guidance for green roof installations in Oklahoma City.
NB-19: Develop a cooling plan for the Central Business District.

Develop a pilot leasing program for urban garden plots on public land. Several successful program examples exist in other cities that allow leasing of underutilized public space for the purpose of gardening. Program partner commitments, maintenance agreements, and routine renewal reviews can ensure the land is used for productive, community-building purposes.

Policies
NB-20:Develop a pilot leasing program for urban garden plots on public land.