Low Impact Development and Transportation in the City of Mesa, AZ

Abstract

The Cities of Mesa and Glendale, with a grant from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA), partnered and developed a Low Impact Development (LID) Toolkit. This toolkit is a 100 page document that responds to the need to better manage the storm water runoff and reduce the need for very expensive expansion of drainage infrastructure. The solution to this problem justifies the need to use LID in Mesa. In 2014 the City of Mesa experienced flooding which affected many. Although LID solutions was considered at the time of this flooding event, it became a priority to identify potential solutions. The LID toolkit responded to this and is intended to minimize the harmful impacts of flooding by setting best practices related to the management of the rainfall-runoff process. The LID toolkit identifies and lists best storm-water City of Mesa management practices and national and regional LID best practices. This list and publication is intended to encourage City and private planners, designers and residents alike towards the practice of more sustainable design. The article presents the history of LID design and discusses the benefits of using LID tools.