Guest Series: Doug Skiles

[Metro Jacksonville]

Guest Series: Doug Skiles



Last summer when I had just taken the role of San Marco Preservation Society president we were informed by certified letter from the Director of Public Works that the city would no longer be maintaining the Town Center landscaping.  There were a few newspaper articles, several meetings and lots of emails.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-jan-guest-series-doug-skiles

[Noone]

Nice article. What type of tree is that in the swale? Edgewood Ave. with traffic on both sides. Just more of a safety issue.  The resolution of maintenance cost is the issue. Looking forward to hearing how other communities have resolved this expense.

[dougskiles]

Those are Cypress trees.

[mfischer0]

Great to know all the details behind that project at the library.  Many of us were taken aback when the oaks disappeared, but the replacement makes sense.

[avs]

This is a great project to lead the way on designing more public landscaping that is self-sustaining and not resource consuming.  Sustainable Springfield is very supporitve of this project and its great design - way to be progressive and think outside the box Doug and SMPS!

[Tacachale]

Excellent article, Doug. Very informative. People need to be better educated on the necessity of proper maintenance of all kinds. Without that, we'd end up paying significantly more for significantly less benefit.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

While definitely a good idea, I have a few questions regarding the system itself. 

There are times during heavy rainfall that even our existing drainage system (especially in San Marco) gets overwhelmed.  Based on the diagram, everything seems to flow back into the earth at whatever rate it gets absorbed and it's in conjunction with the existing storm drains, so essentially you would be pooling a lot more water during the heavy storms, thus causing even more flooding, right?

That's the bad as I see it. 

The good and potential awesomeness that I see from it.  In planned developments and during infrastructure improvements when applicable, could you use the same type of system, except tie it in with new stormwater lines via a modified french drain?  From the ground down - landscaping, mulch, earth, rock bed, french drain with risers, sand bed, stormwater drains connected via the risers in the french drains.  This way during normal events, the french drains would do what they do.  In the event of moderate to heavy rains, the water level in the french drains would rise over the risers and then dump directly into the storm drains, alleviating all of the excess water. 

If there was a stepback of say 4-6 feet from the curb to the start of the sidewalk, not only would you add a visible and necessary border between pedestrians and automobiles, it would enhance the surroundings.  Utilities would then have to be located either under the sidewalks or on the other side.

[dougskiles]

Great questions, NRW.

While definitely a good idea, I have a few questions regarding the system itself. 

There are times during heavy rainfall that even our existing drainage system (especially in San Marco) gets overwhelmed.  Based on the diagram, everything seems to flow back into the earth at whatever rate it gets absorbed and it's in conjunction with the existing storm drains, so essentially you would be pooling a lot more water during the heavy storms, thus causing even more flooding, right?

That's the bad as I see it. 

The conventional system of underground storm pipes remained in this system.  The water initially flows into the bioswale, but during an extremely heavy rain it would fill up and then any additional water would flow directly into the storm inlet, and out.  The primary objective of these systems is to clean the 'first flush' of water that carries most of the pollutants.

During the design, I checked the water table and percolation rates to confirm that water will not stay in the swale longer than 36 hours (it percolates into the ground).

It won't solve the major flooding problems in San Marco, but it won't add to it.  It will solve some of the minor ponding that we experienced along this section.

The good and potential awesomeness that I see from it.  In planned developments and during infrastructure improvements when applicable, could you use the same type of system, except tie it in with new stormwater lines via a modified french drain?  From the ground down - landscaping, mulch, earth, rock bed, french drain with risers, sand bed, stormwater drains connected via the risers in the french drains.  This way during normal events, the french drains would do what they do.  In the event of moderate to heavy rains, the water level in the french drains would rise over the risers and then dump directly into the storm drains, alleviating all of the excess water. 

If there was a stepback of say 4-6 feet from the curb to the start of the sidewalk, not only would you add a visible and necessary border between pedestrians and automobiles, it would enhance the surroundings.  Utilities would then have to be located either under the sidewalks or on the other side.

Many of them work exactly as you say.  For this project, we had a limited budget (mostly through a Coca-Cola Foundation Grant), so we kept it as simple as possible.  A more complex system, similar to what you described above, will be installed soon at the North Florida Sustainability Resource Center.

[Spar Council 1869]

A fantastic project, Doug.

[dougskiles]

^They are coming soon to your area, too.  The Hogans Creek master plan talks about extensive use of these systems.

[Dashing Dan]

FWIW Jax Beach has a huge underground tank, beneath the east end of Beach Blvd, that holds storm water and then pumps it over to their golf course.

[jaxlore]

great article and interesting ideas!

[jaxlore]

The whole point about maintenance is so true. I took somebody on the skyway to go to lunch a while back and it smelled like, well you know, and the carpet was stained and nasty and as much as I wanted to not drive downtown from san marco for lunch it was a hard sell because of the way jacksonville lets stuff just fall apart. I know maintenance of landscaping is a little different but not really it' still quality of life.

[Tacachale]

^It's all related. Properly maintaining anything, from a median to a road to a building, is far cheaper than buying a new one. Cutting maintenance to save money now always leads to wasting money later.