Ryan, Michael

Michael has over 12 years of experience performing the planning, modeling, design, and permitting associated with stormwater facilities in the Midwest and throughout the country. Michael leverages green infrastructure techniques along with aspects of traditional stormwater management to deliver stormwater projects that meet multiple goals. Michael specializes in designing projects with complex regulatory requirements and design constraints that warrant context-sensitive, site-specific solutions that are tailored to each project to maximize project function and public amenity.

Titles from this speaker

Alternate: A Collaborative Vision: Regional Stormwater Management at 325 Blake Road

Abstract

Just over 10 years ago, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) recognized an opportunity with a 17-acre aging industrial site bordering their Creek. The property was a missing link in the Minnehaha Creek Greenway, borders a popular regional trail system, is located next to a planned METRO Green Line station, and has two urban stormwater discharge points that drain 270 acres directly into Minnehaha Creek. Inquiries were made with the property owner, and MCWD purchased the 325 Blake Road site in 2011. Following several years of site preparation and community outreach, MCWD and the City of Hopkins developed an innovative vision for the site centered around MCWD's ethos of 'balanced urban ecology.' The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District spans 178 square miles, including prominent waterbodies such as Lake Minnetonka, the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, Minnehaha Creek, and Minnehaha Falls. The watershed includes eight major creeks, 129 lakes, and thousands of wetlands. The MCWD includes all or part of 27 cities and two townships in Hennepin and Carver counties. The concept for 325 Blake Road involved having MCWD retain a 4-acre portion of the site for regional stormwater treatment, riparian preservation, and public amenities; while fostering development of the remaining 13 acres of the parcel with transit-oriented, water-centric residential, commercial, and public spaces that would complement and enhance the MCWD site. In 2020, MCWD selected an HDR team as the designer for their project. In 2021, Alatus Development was selected as the developer for the remaining parcel and began advancing towards construction with an extensive range of stakeholders, including: -City of Hopkins (Public roads/utilities/parks and Tax Increment Financing) -MetroTransit (Nearby light rail corridor/station and station access Three Rivers Park District (Shared trails and access) -Hennepin County (grant funding and parcel development) -Neighborhood residents and business owners (amenities and impacts); and -MN Public Facilities Authority ($4.5M grant for stormwater treatment) MCWD and the design team understood the importance of transforming MCWD's original vision into a shared vision amongst the stakeholders to successfully advance the project. Several public listening sessions were held to establish public priorities. These priorities were carried into a design charrette with public and private partners including elected officials, planners, designers, developers, architects, and engineers. Over two days, approximately 30 participants engaged in a creative and collaborative process to refine and establish concurrence on the site layout and objectives. With the community, developer, designers, and agencies on board, the project design is approaching 100% with a portion of construction already underway. The design continues to follow the charrette concept very closely. To compensate for design constraints, an innovative treatment train was established that includes a pumped and filtered stormwater cascade. This process is embraced by MCWD and the developer, anticipated to remove nearly 100% of TSS and 74% of TP on an average annual basis. Stormwater treatment also serves as a feature for the thriving development and public realm amenities. The extensive stormwater treatment train concept includes underground pre-treatment vaults that are in line with the regional storm sewer, extended detention basins separated by a weir wall for aesthetics and long-term maintenance, a pump that conveys detained stormwater through manufactured treatment devices, and a stormwater cascade that manages hydraulics and provides filtration throughout the vegetated channel. Ultimately, regional stormwater is discharged back into an extended detention basin for a constant cycle of stormwater treatment through the system. Elsewhere on the site, green infrastructure practices including permeable pavement, rain gardens, tree trenches, and stormwater cisterns are planned for site stormwater management. This presentation focuses on reviewing key elements of project planning, stakeholder coordination, and the design charrette collaboration that helped establish consensus with key project partners and enhance the project design. The anticipated benefits of the project will be reviewed, including water quality and conservation, which was the genesis for MCWD's initial curiosity about the site, carried through to a collaborative vision of a balanced urban ecology at 325 Blake Road.

This paper was presented at the WEF Stormwater Summit, June 27-29, 2023.

SpeakerRyan, Michael

Presentation time

08:30:00

12:15:00

Session time

08:30:00

12:15:00

SessionSession 08: Modeling and Water Quality at the Watershed Scale

Session number08

Session locationKansas City Convention Center

TopicWatershed-Based/Integrated Planning, Innovation and Technology in Stormwater Management

Author(s)

Ryan, Michael

Author(s)M. Ryan1;

Author affiliation(s)HDR Engineering, Inc.1;

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Jun 2023

DOI10.2175/193864718825158925

Volume / Issue

Content sourceStormwater

Word count12

Description: West Riverside Energy Center: How Nature Based Stormwater Solutions Led to Envision...

West Riverside Energy Center: How Nature Based Stormwater Solutions Led to Envision Platinum Verification

Abstract

To transition toward cleaner energy production, Alliant Energy embarked on the development of the most environmentally friendly, natural gas-fired energy facility in the Midwest. The newly constructed West Riverside Energy Center (WREC) provides enough power to support more than 550,000 homes in the region. Located on a 90-acre site in Beloit, Wisconsin, the WREC became the first Envision Platinum-verified project in Wisconsin by following the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure's framework for assessing sustainability, resiliency, and equity in infrastructure. The planning, design, and construction of the WREC leveraged Nature-Based Solutions to restore natural systems on the site. The project restored nearly 67 acres of natural environment surrounding the facility through the conversion of agricultural cropland to native prairie grasses and wildflowers, creating new habitat and improving habitat connectivity. In addition to the landscape restoration, the project was designed to mimic pre-development hydrologic conditions. Innovative techniques, including stormwater harvesting and re-use for process water, stormwater pond retrofits, and treatment train including rain gardens and bioswales helped the project achieve the Restorative designation for stormwater management, becoming the first Envision-certified project to reach this performance standard, in which stormwater management was not intended as the primary purpose of the project. The WREC manages nearly 170 acres of stormwater runoff through best management practices (BMPs) that include vegetated swales, a 1-acre infiltration basin with engineered subsurface media, 5,000 gallon stormwater harvest and re-use cistern, and land use conversion. HydroCAD and WinSLAMM were used to model project performance, indicating that event-based peak flow rates would decrease between 14% to 20%, and the property would reduce stormwater runoff by 65,000 CF on an average annual basis. WinSLAMM estimates that total suspended solids (TSS) will be reduced by 84% on an average annual basis as a result of the stormwater design. The design achieved ISI's Restorative designation for stormwater management by maintaining or improving pre-developed hydrologic conditions and retaining or repurposing more than 100% of the pre-development infiltration capacity of the site. These stormwater solutions complemented WREC's One-Water approach for the site. The facility minimized water consumption by implementing unique water treatment solutions, re-using water within the facility, and treating wastewater prior to discharge to the Rock River. A process water pre-treatment system allows for 8 to 10 cycles of process water concentration, compared to an industry typical standard of 4 to 5 cycles of concentration from untreated well water. The team also utilized a land management approach outside of the main building as part of a Phosphorus Trade Agreement to meet or exceed Wisconsin's nutrient discharge requirements. Co-benefits associated with WREC development and sustainable water management include a new multi-modal trail connection to a 12-mile walking, hiking, and biking trail. A 4 MW solar field was constructed to provide the generating station with the ability to quickly and efficiently adjust for power demands in real time. An energy lab provides an interactive forum for public education to communicate the benefits of the prairie restoration and renewable energy production. By following the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure's sustainability framework, the WREC was completed under budget, and the facility was online in time for increased summer power demand. Successful planning, design, and construction of the WREC serves as a model for Nature-Based Solutions and sustainable water management in the Midwest. This presentation focuses on project goals, regulatory and design criteria management, modeling, design, and results. By implementing a one-water approach and nature-based solutions, this award-winning project incorporated sustainable water and environmental practices to contribute toward Envision Platinum verification.

This paper was presented at the WEF Stormwater Summit, June 27-29, 2023.

SpeakerRyan, Michael

Presentation time

13:30:00

14:00:00

Session time

13:30:00

16:45:00

SessionSession 05: Strategies for Stormwater Sustainability and Resiliency

Session number05

Session locationKansas City Convention Center

TopicResiliency and Sustainability