As Avon Increases Low Impact Development Emphasis, Does It Matter to You?

A new village center on Ensign Bickford's Avon Park North property might be far in the future in for Avon, but town officials have been considering low impact development options for quite some time. 

Low impact development is a "design strategy that aims to preserve or restore pre-development water quality and hydrology, principally by infiltrating stormwater to the ground, and reducing effective impervious surfaces," according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection website.

Revisions to proposed low impact development regulations for the conceptualized village center are slated for further review at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday evening.

"Rather than mandating LID, our conversation has always sort of been eliminating the barrier to it," John McCahill, Avon planning and community development specialist and assistant zoning enforcement officer, told The CT Mirror for an article published Oct. 18.

The commission adopted a new plan of conservation and development in 2006, Avon Town Planner Steve Kushner previously said, as part of the initiative.

The town of Avon received a $50,000 Farmington River Enhancement Grant from the state to review its land use regulations and make recommendations for accomodating more low impact development practices, "with an emphasis on a village center," according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The grant is part of the state's Farmington River Municipal Land Use Evaluation Project, which piloted in 2008.

Avon own officials hired consultants from Milone & McBroom, Inc. to work with them on low impact development strategies and present the information to the Planning and Zoning Commission, Inland Wetlands Commission and Natural Resources Commission, as well as Ensign Bickford representatives and the public.

A draft of the proposed amendment to the regulations includes features like "hydrologic design elements," "permeable pavement and disconnected impervious surfaces;" "roadway, parking lot, driveway and pedestrian circulation design;" "structural design elements" like green roofs, rain water harvesting and foundation planting;" and landscaping design elements" like "soil amendments, street trees [and] selection of appropriate plant species."

The topic of low impact development is a gradually progressing trend. Barkhamsted, East Granby, Harwinton, New Hartford, Plainville, Simsbury and Torrington are other towns working on low impact development under the grant.

The Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the .