Oaks Designer Resource Guide (Canada)

Economics Of PICP

CAPITAL COST ANALYSIS To prepare a true capital cost comparison between Permeable Pavements and traditional practices, three areas of the development need to be considered: 1. Road Infrastructure – permeable pavers are installed the same way as standard pavers, with significant cost saving through mechanical installation (see Page 11). 2. Storm Water Infrastructure – permeable pavements can reduce and even eliminate the need for traditional storm water infrastructure. The entire pavement surface is one large catch basin/filter, with base/sub-base aggregates providing retention/detention and lateral flow where required. 3. Income Generating Footprint – when retention/detention ponds are used, they can take up a lot of property. Consider the profitability of that portion of land if it were available for development, as well as its possible effects on property values. Oaks can provide you with capital cost comparison spreadsheets to help identify the different cost components that should be considered.

< Option 1 – Traditional storm water management uses a retention pond that consumes 20% of the property footprint. PROPOSED RETAIL STORE

MINNESOTA AVENUE

RECOVERED DEVELOPMENT AREA Using PICP created a 20% increase in usable (i.e. revenue generating) land

RETENTION POND

PROPOSED RETAIL STORE

ENTRANCE ROAD

MINNESOTA AVENUE

PROPOSED LOT 3

PROPOSED LOT 2

PROPOSED LOT 3

PROPOSED LOT 2

RECOVERED DEVELOPMENT AREA

RETENTION POND

PROPOSED RETAIL STORE

ENTRANCE ROAD

Option 2 – Using PICP to manage onsite storm water, gains 20% of the property footprint for additional parking and revenue generating buildings. > ENTRANCE ROAD

PROPOSED LOT 3

PROPOSED LOT 2

PROPOSED LOT 3

PROPOSED LOT 2

LIFE CYCLE/BENEFIT COST ANALYSIS We recommend using the TRCA Report “Assessment of Life Cycle Costs for Low Impact Development Storm Water Management Practices” and the “Low Impact Development Costing Tool” at the site-specific level. These were developed to help assess the design, installation, maintenance and rehabilitation costs over a 50 year period, based on northern conditions. We can help you work through the analysis to determine if Permeable Pavements can save you money. A number of reports are available for reference at the municipal level. For example, the Philadelphia Water Department determined that Low Impact Development initiatives would provide 20 times the benefits of traditional storm water infrastructure of an equal value.

LID practice life cycle costs were between 35 and 77% less than conventional Source: TRCA

APPLICATIONS AND SOLUTIONS