Stormwater management part of SwedishAmerican Riverwest Clinic site design

SwedishAmerican, a division of UW Health, saw a need for a medical clinic on the west side of Rockford, Illinois, so hospital officials decided to build an 8,000-square-foot clinic on the city's northwest side. PG Architecture hired Fehr Graham to the design team to provide site civil engineering and landscape architecture services.

Traditional stormwater detention was not feasible at the site, so our team designed a rain garden to meet the requirements for stormwater management. This approach provides water quality and quantity control at the site. We used plants tolerant to dry and wet conditions and water quality typical of runoff from the parking lot in the design. We also included bioswales to direct the stormwater to the rain garden.

One of the biggest obstacles was the 15-foot change in elevation across the 1.3-acre lot. We designed rock outcropping walls to help achieve adequate grades in the parking lots and provide an aesthetic feature.

AT A GLANCE
» Surveyed site.
» Prepared site grading, paving and drainage plan.
» Completed stormwater management design and report.
» Prepared soil erosion/sedimentation control plan.
» Completed landscape design.
» Created irrigation plan.