With the goal of developing and promoting more sustainable solutions for stormwater infrastructure, the City of Indianapolis worked with a team of consultants, including Empower Results, to identify and overcome obstacles that were impacting the adoption of Low Impact Development (LID) projects and principals.  We coordinated the activities of the City’s LID Steering Committee, including meeting agendas, materials, presentations, and follow-up.  Subcommittee meetings were conducted with several City departments to identify needed ordinance changes and discuss incentive opportunities.  We also conducted national research on LID and green infrastructure programs and provided recommendations and program direction to the City.  Team members led discussions and facilitated efforts that connected other City initiatives to LID.  Primary outcomes included the development of a comprehensive Rain Garden program, specific ordinance language revisions, a complete web resource center, and the roll-out of a master presentation tool that is able to be tailored to a variety of audiences.

PROJECT TASKS

• Focused and synthesized diverse input from the LID committee and several department heads
• Developed cross-department LID preparedness checklist
• Prioritized and recommended language changes to key ordinances
• Identified and implemented incentive programs where practicable among existing design review processes
• Developed detailed materials for a comprehensive rain garden program
• Created city-wide, multi-departmental permit process for green infrastructure projects
• Presented to governing boards, partner organizations, & the design community
• Identified and expanded public education opportunities