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Eco-Logical:

Policy, planning & tools to support sustainable transportation, land use & resource conservation 

Conference Agenda
Thursday April 5, 2012
Ridgway Center, Missouri Botanical Garden
Presented by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District

8:00 – 8:30             Registration and Breakfast – Beaumont Room, Ridgway Center

8:45 – 9:00             Welcome & Introduction – Spink Pavilion

• David Wilson, East-West Gateway Council of Governments & St. Louis Earth Day
• Peter Wyse Jackson, PhD, President, Missouri Botanical Garden

9:00 –10:30            Keynote speakers – Spink Pavilion

• Thad Simons, President and CEO, Novus International, Corporate Leadership and Sustainable Sites
• Marie Venner, Venner Consulting, What We Can Do with Better Data—The Big Picture

10:30 – 11:00            Break/Transition, Coffee available in the Beaumont Room

11:00 – 12:15            Morning Concurrent Sessions

Session A – Missouri Room, Ridgway Center
New Data to Inform Planning – Land Cover & Natural Communities in GIS

• David Diamond, PhD, Director, Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership
• Jennifer Reiman, GIS Manager, East-West Gateway Council of Governments

Moderator: Mary Grace Lewandowski, Corridor Studies Coordinator, East-West Gateway

A discussion about benefits to planning and engineering professionals in the St. Louis region available through new regional and project-level ecological significance data that was developed from information about habitat patch size, community type composition, and landscape context (e.g. proximity to urban areas or public lands).  Important data layers include current vegetation, which was modeled from satellite remote sensing, digital soils data, and data from digital elevation models; extant wetlands; and wetland restoration potential.  New elevation and tree height data from LiDAR informs wetland type mapping and is used to create fine-resolution digital elevation models to inform wetland restoration potential. 

Session B – Garden Room, Ridgway Center

Fresh Approaches to Stormwater Control

• Jay Hoskins, P.E., Civil Engineer, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Web-based Toolbox for Best Management Practices
• Steven W. Polk, P.E, EMBA, Principle, Stormwater STL, The Real Cost of Post Construction Stormwater BMPs
• Gene L. Rovak, P.E., C.F.M, Senior Project Manager, Horner & Shifrin, Inc., Hydraulic Modeling of Best Practices (Moderator)

Managing stormwater in the 21^st Century involves much more than the traditional engineering and costs for design and construction.  Many development professionals have therefore been hit hard with unanticipated site development costs that have been budget busters if not deal breakers.  The great recession has only intensified the pain and complicated the recovery.  A new toolbox of best practices has been developed to assist planners, landscape architects and engineers. If you would like to participate in a discussion about stormwater modeling, or real life stormwater BMP successes and failures, this is a must-see workshop.

Session C – Botanical Room, Ridgway Center

New Vision for Community: Downtown Redevelopment Projects

• Sara Runge, P.E., Civil Engineer & Tim Slazinik, RLA, ASLA, Landscape Architect, Arcturis, The (Not So) Secret Garden: Citygarden Revealed
• Ryan McClure, Communications Director, CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation, CityArchRiver 2015: Enhancing the Arch Experience for Everyone

Moderator: Bill Ruppert, Horticultural Cooperative of Metro St. Louis

The Arch and Citygarden are iconic destinations for St. Louis and represent key ingredients in developing a sustainable community. CityArchRiver 2015 is a project to address the unique challenges facing the Gateway Arch and its surroundings. This historic initiative will connect, invigorate and expand our regional icon and improve the visitor experience for residents and tourists. Citygarden is a prime example of a successful public/private partnership that has transformed two blocks of downtown St. Louis while setting the bar for the continued development of the Gateway Mall.  Citygarden provides an escape within an urban setting, while incorporating and showcasing sustainable design elements.

12:15 – 1:15            Lunch and Networking, Spink Pavilion

1:15 – 2:00            Afternoon Plenary – Great Rivers Greenway’s Planning and Implementation Strategies for Sustainable Greenways across Multiple Communities

• Susan Trautman, CPRP, Executive Director, Great Rivers Greenway
• Lonny Boring, Project Manager, Great Rivers Greenway

Moderator: Scott Emmelkamp, ASLA, LEED AP BD+C, Principle, Planning Design Studio

Discover how the Great Rivers Greenway District (the District) is making the St. Louis region a better and more sustainable place to live. The session will provide an overview of the District, its history, guiding principles and sustainable design practices. The District thoughtfully approaches the challenges of coordinating projects through multiple jurisdictions and incorporates a variety of sustainable design features into its greenways.

2:00 – 2:15             Break/Transition, Light Refreshments Available in the Beaumont Room

2:15 – 3:30             Afternoon Concurrent Sessions #1

Session D  – Missouri Room, Ridgway Center

Measuring Your Success: Green Infrastructure Rating Systems

• Tom Blair, P.E., Assistant District Engineer, Missouri Department of Transportation, Green Roads Certification Standards
• Hunter Beckham, ASLA, SWT Design, Sustainable SITES
• Megan Riechmann, Matrix for the HUD Sustainability Plan

Moderator: Stephen Ibendahl, Sustainability Planner, HeartLands Conservancy

Metrics are a valuable tool for communities to use to determine the impact(s), or “return on investment”, of implementing environmental best practices and creating sustainable communities. The chair of the Environmental Best Practices Sub-Committee for the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development will summarize existing available measurement tools, present pros and cons for use in the region, and share a status report on the development and use of metrics for the new toolkit being produced as part of the committee’s work.

MoDOT is reducing the environmental impacts of roadway construction by introducing sustainable planning & technology into these projects. MoDOT’s Green Credits program, Quiet pavement, Pollution reducing  (Smog Eating) pavement, Flocculent Bags to protect Water Quality, etc., are changing the standard approach to highway construction.

The Novus International Global Headquarters and SWT Design joined the international pilot project program to evaluate the SITES™ rating system for sustainable landscapes. Sustainable landscapes can clean water, reduce pollution and restore habitats, while providing significant economic and social benefits to land owners and municipalities.  The Novus site tests performance benchmarks associated with specific credits within the Sustainable Sites Initiative. SWT Design led a multi-disciplinary team from conceptual master planning and design, through engineering and construction documentation, to the production of a long-term operations and maintenance plan.

Session E – Garden Room, Ridgway Center

What is Working; What is not? Enabling Flexible Response to Problems

• Rick Macho, Resource Conservationist, Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District, Tales from the Inspector –BMPs & results
• Bruce Litzsinger, Division of Environmental Compliance, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District – Creating Codes to Support Green Practices – Results from a Regional Study

Moderator: Steven Polk, Stormwater STL

Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) have completed 380 inspections on stormwater permitted sites in Madison County since 2004.  Inspections address erosion and sediment control issues, but the most important aspect has involved educating the developers, contractors, municipal inspectors and engineers as to the proper erosion and sediment control measures.

Based on a study of local codes and ordinances that may affect local land use and stormwater practices, the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District recommends certain chances in codes and ordinances for local governments that wish to improve water quality.

Session F – Botanical Room, Ridgway Center
Using the Data: Case Studies from Other Communities

• Marie Venner, Venner Consulting
• David Diamond, PhD, Director, Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership

Moderator: Mary Grace Lewandowski, Corridor Studies Coordinator, East-West Gateway

These consultants have worked in a number of states on issues related to the US DOT Ecological program or natural community mapping. This session provides an update on what is happening in other states and regions and draws comparisons to the St. Louis metropolitan region.

3:30 – 3:45            Break/Transition, Light Refreshments Available in the Beaumont Room

3:45 – 5:00            Afternoon Concurrent Sessions #2

Session G – Missouri Room, Ridgway Center

Looking to the Future: Cutting Edge GIS

• Stephen Kinzy, GISP, Regional Manager, Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) – St. Louis, Performance Based GIS
• Kirk Larson, Vice President of Operations, Midland GIS, Using GIS for Municipal & Utility Management Solutions

Moderator: Roland Biehl, Engineer, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District

GIS is one of the hottest technologies in Local Government because of its ability to help organizations visualize information regarding community problems and thereby develop cost-effective solutions.  Developing a successful GIS program can be a daunting challenge: establishing the necessary hardware and network infrastructure, selecting the appropriate software products, designing and implementing mission critical applications and training staff.  “Performance based approach to GIS” emphasizes high value return-on-investment GIS applications, and addresses proper data collection and management methods. The presentations will resolve common misconceptions of GPS data collection and demonstrate how, with accurate utility locations, cities can quickly and efficiently evolve from paper maps and a “file cabinet” utility management system to an easy to use, centralized system to enhance daily productivity and increase operational awareness on every level. Utilizing geo-technology to develop a utility asset management program gives cities the ability to consolidate all of their GPS-located utility features, attributes, inspections and relevant media (sewer video, as-built drawings or utility maps) into a simple, yet powerful and centralized web-based GIS program. With GIS, cities have the ability to obtain a “bird’s eye” view of their utility infrastructure. Cities can maintain and analyze this data to effectively manage resources, recognize maintenance trends, develop long-term capital improvement plans and much more.

Session H – Garden Room, Ridgway Center

What Experience Tells Us – The Future of Green Infrastructure

• Susan McCrary, P.E., Senior Engineer, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, MSD’s Green Infrastructure Pilot Program for CSO Volume Reduction in North City
• Jim Zhou, PhD, P.E. Associate Professor, School of Engineering, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville – Porous Pavers and Green Alleys

Moderator: J. Tracy Boaz, AICP, Regional Supervisor, Private Land Services Division, Missouri Department of Conservation

MSD’s Long Term Control Plan outlines a green infrastructure program to reduce Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) that are directly tributary to the Mississippi River. Green infrastructure projects on properties currently owned by the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) in North St. Louis City will redirect stormwater from reaching the combined sewer system by capturing and diverting it to locations where it is detained, infiltrated into the ground, evaporated, taken up by plants and transpired, or reused. 

Permeable pavements capture stormwater on site, reduce peak flows of runoff, recharge groundwater, and mitigate surface pollutants. A pilot study was conducted on three alleys in the City of St. Louis to evaluate the performance of permeable pavements including both permeable asphalt and bricks. This presentation introduces the technical considerations of permeable pavement as well as the status and findings from this green alleys project.

Session I – Botanical Room, Ridgway Center

Bringing Efficient Multimodal Transportation into Diverse Communities

• Ann Rivers Mack, Executive Director, Trailnet
• Laura Barton, RideFinders
• Courtney Sloger, Online Media Specialist, Metro St. Louis

Moderator: Jennifer Allen, Active Transportation Manager, Trailnet & Livable St. Louis Network

A region is more sustainable when people have multiple choices for how they travel. The key to efficient multi-modal transportation often requires strong feedback and engagement from the community to determine how best to use scarce resources, encourage use and communicate opportunities. Metro is using online media and partnerships to reach diverse communities and improve transportation optionswhile increasing customer value. Trailnet is developing bike and walk plans for communities throughout the metropolitan region in order to facilitate choice in transportation options. Riderfinders assists people who rely on motor vehicles with finding carpooling, vanpooling and alternatives to driving alone.

5:00 – 6:00            Reception: Please join us in the Beaumont Room for a networking reception with a complimentary open bar and light refreshments. Attendees may also visit Sponsor tables or tour the Garden’s rain garden and pervious pavements installation. Presented by Novus International.

 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW AGENDA FOR TECHNICAL WORKSHOP

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. TICKETS MAY BE PURCHASED AT THE DOOR: 
Both Days: $150 | Conference Only (Thursday): $110 | Workshop Only (Friday): $75