Technical Assistance to Integrate Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development

Location: Cities of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona  |  Client: U.S. EPA Office of Community Revitalization  |  Project Date: September 2019 – July 2020

Project Images

Links and Resources

Recommendations for Integrating Green Infrastructure into the Maricopa County Multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan

Project Description

Situation

EPA has a history of collaborating with FEMA to provide technical assistance to communities that are seeking to become more resilient to natural disasters and which have already been impacted by natural disasters. In 2019, EPA and FEMA were working together to provide technical assistance to communities seeking to integrate Low Impact Development (LID) and Green Infrastructure (GI) into local FEMA Hazard Mitigation Plans. Within the Cities of Tempe and Phoenix, they recognized an opportunity for EPA to create a new technical assistance toolkit and resources that can be used by other communities to integrate GI/LID into Local Hazard Mitigation Plans.

Solution

Skeo was contracted by U.S. EPA to support the Office of Community Revitalization and assist the Cities of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona to integrate LID and GI strategies into their local plan updates for the 2020 Maricopa County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan (MHMP).

Outcome

As part of the project, Skeo (1) reviewed existing research/studies and summarized the research findings; (2) designed and conducted a 2-day technical assistance workshop to convene nearly 60 agency and local government representatives to develop recommendations on how GI/LID can be integrated into the MHMP and other flood management strategy documents; and (3) is developing a final report and presentation to guide local governments in integrating GI/LID into the  MHMP update process.