Low Impact Development Manual for Michigan - OSEH - University ...

Case Study: Saugatuck Center for the Arts
Saugatuck, MI
The Saugatuck Center for the Arts (SCA), in conjunction with the City of
Saugatuck, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and private
donors constructed a public garden that treats rain water that falls on the
SCA roof. The original design was modified to accommodate rain water
that would otherwise have entered Kalamazoo Lake untreated. The resulting
design for the garden absorbs and infiltrates 100 percent of the rain
water from the SCA roof, resulting in zero discharge to the nearby lake.
In addition to the garden at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, the revised
design incorporated a series of alternative stormwater Best Management
Practices on City of Saugatuck property. These include porous pavers in the
adjacent city parking lot and a rain garden/vegetated swale series at Coghlin
Park to treat rain water from the city parking lot.
The design incorporated native plants to address management in an urban
setting while visually integrating with the contemporary social fabric of
Saugatuck. The design also incorporated an innovative oil-and-grit separator
to remove over 80 percent of sediment and nutrients draining from
approximately nine acres of urban land surrounding the SCA and city parking
lot. Through this series, or “treatment techniques,” the SCA and City
of Saugatuck are able to demonstrate a variety of innovative and unique
alternatives for treating and reducing stormwater.
Center for the Arts stormwater disconnection
Case Study Site Considerations
Project Type Stormwater disconnection, porous pavement, rain garden.
Estimated Total
Project Cost
Maintenance
Responsibility
$200,000
City of Saugatuck
Project Contact Gordon Gallagher, 269-857-2603
LID Manual for Michigan – Chapter 6 Page 116