Howard Community College Campus Master Plan

Project Description

Biohabitats provided integrated stormwater management and ecosystem enhancement planning services for Howard Community College in support of the Campus Master Plan effort being led by Ayers/Saint/Gross Architects and Planners.

Using existing electronic data, coupled with an extensive on-the-ground field review of the campus, Biohabitats’ engineers, ecologists, and landscape architects began by developing a sound understanding of the existing ecological conditions and green infrastructure resources of the campus and surrounding areas, examining pre-existing stormwater related infrastructure, key drainage and stormwater management features, potential stormwater retrofit opportunities that provide improved water quality, ecological function, and habitat connections. Biohabitats then explored opportunities to enhance and integrate these assets throughout the campus while also providing the highest level of water quality and quantity controls within the context of expected expansion. 

An emphasis was placed on “green infrastructure” practices that provide shallow groundwater recharge, volume reduction, and restoration and reconnection of natural landscapes that provide vegetative filtering and uptake of pollutants. The recommended green infrastructure strategies consider fiscal efficiency of treatment measures that optimize treatment capability, ecological function and landscape position. The overall planning approach for this project focused on conservation, stream restoration and retrofitting for BMPs, and sustainable landscape and stormwater management for future development.