Sustainable sites maintain and/or regenerate soils and vegetation, manage and filter stormwater, and create advantageous microclimate conditions.
Healthy landscapes provide numerous benefits to humankind that can be endangered by development. Sustainable site practices minimize development impacts and restore disturbed landscapes.
- Water – capture, slow, and treat stormwater by reducing impervious surfaces, creating rain gardens, green roofs, bioswales, and wetlands.
- Soils – protect and preserve healthy soils by minimizing grading, soil compaction and native vegetation removal.
- Vegetation – preserve and restore trees together with climate-adaptive, non-invasive native vegetation.
Locate and manage vegetation to mitigate potential fire hazards, block winter winds, and shade walls, walkways, and hard surfaces during warm periods.