Creating a Stormwater Park in the City Meadow of Norfolk, Connecticut

This paper will describe the process the Town of Norfolk, CT, utilized to address water quality impairments in the Blackberry River by the creation of a "stormwater park" in the town center. Norfolk is a small community in the northwest corner of Connecticut. Commercial development in the town center is located on the east and west side of what is known as the "city meadow." Historically, the city meadow was used for grazing of cattle in the early 1900s. At the current time, it has become a degraded wetland with the dominant species being phragmities. Stormwater from state and local roads is discharged into the meadow and was determined to be the primary source of the nutrient impairment in the Blackberry River. The Board of Selectman appointed a group of concerned citizens to a committee to investigate and develop a plan to address the stormwater issues in the city meadow. The committee first reached out to the Northwest Conservation District (NCD) to evaluate the extent and quality of the wetlands in the city meadow. The author along with a representative of the NCD suggested that the committee hold a Charette for members of the public to obtain ideas for the city meadow. In addition to addressing stormwater issues, the public expressed a lot of interest in creating a public focal point in the meadow that would encourage the public to passively use the meadow area. Based on the feedback from the Charette, the author developed a conceptual design plan to address the stormwater quality issues while also creating an area where the public could gather. The city meadow committee developed a report based upon this concept and obtained funding from the Selectman to design the project. Two local landscape architects volunteered their time to assist in the layout of the public access components of the plan. To address the nutrient and other pollutants in the stormwater, a treatment train approach was utilized in the design. A forebay, wet swales, stone swales, constructed wetland system, and deep water pond were incorporated in the city meadow. Stone swales were incorporated to create an open water feature where two small waterfalls will increase the oxygen levels in the water. Fully compliant handicap paths were incorporated to provide"connectiveness" between the two commercial areas in the town center. Native plants will be used for all of the stormwater systems and for restoring the natural wet meadow areas, which are currently covered with invasive species. Educational signage is proposed to increase public awareness of the impacts of stormwater and how the newly constructed treatment systems will improve the water quality by natural processes. One of the goals of this project is to demonstrate how stormwater treatment can be incorporated into a public setting and become a public and environmental enhancement. This paper will also discuss methods used to engage the public and build community support for the project.