Green Parking at the Beach |
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Construction of the one-acre Beach Green project, just north of Ocean Park Boulevard, was completed last May, and it is an experiment. If it works as expected, it will help to improve water quality in Santa Monica Bay and maintain the groundwater supply. City engineers estimate that the lawn will capture 80 percent of the stormwater that falls on it or drains to it from an adjacent parking area, and that (assuming typical runoff) as this water percolates down through the soil, virtually all pollutants will be removed. To stabilize the lawn to allow parking and to create a biological filter in its root-zone, a patented lawn system, Netlon Advanced Turf, is being used. Specifically, the design incorporates a large quantity of coarse polypropylene mesh, in several-inch pieces, into the topsoil mix. The linked strands of the mesh form a stable matrix that includes the topsoil and the roots of the grass. The final installation, about 14 inches thick, is made up of layers: grass, topsoil, sand, gravel, and rock. Unique to this project, drainage pipes were installed at the base to allow for drawing test samples of water at two depths. The grass used is a variety that was developed in Israel, tested in Florida, grown in Arizona, but never before used in California. It tolerates salt and sun. The plants surrounding the lawn are California natives, including dune grass, two varieties of buckwheat, and Catalina ironwood trees, according to Joshua Rosen, a designer with Mark Tessier Landscape Architects of Santa Monica, who worked on the project. During four storms of the 2008-09 rainy season, the City will analyze water collected at the surface and subsurface ports, and test it for insecticides, various organic chemicals, bacteria, and other substances commonly found in runoff. "Hopefully this will be a successful demonstration project, and others will be swift to take it up," said Neal Shapiro, water resources section supervisor and urban runoff management coordinator for the City's Environmental Programs Division. Don't anticipate that grassy parking lots will replace the asphalt kind very quickly, though, cautioned Karen Ginsberg, assistant director of the City's Community and Cultural Services, which oversees the project. This one cost $900,000, far more than asphalt paving does. The State's Clean Beaches Initiative provided about $700,000, with funds coming mainly from Proposition 13 (2000), the State's Water Quality Bond Act, and the City contributed a match of $200,000, largely in staff time. If the evaluation shows that the turf is effective in clearing the runoff, however, and the model is adopted widely, installation costs should come down. Perhaps, if one factors in the gain of recreational space and the aesthetic value of the grass surface, plus the water conservation and public health benefits, such projects could prove to be a good investment. |
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