Low Impact Development (LID)

Low Impact Development (LID) is a stormwater management and land development strategy applied at the road right-of-way, site plan and subdivision scale. This strategy emphasizes conservation and use of on-site natural features, integrated with engineered, small-scale hydrologic controls to more closely mimic pre-development hydrology. The goal of LID is to prevent measurable harm to streams, lakes, wetlands and other natural aquatic systems from commercial, residential or industrial sites. LID technologies and related design practices are used by GREENLAND® clients (wherever feasible from a functional perspective) for municipal infrastructure and land development projects.

Our LID planning and design strategy (by our engineering and landscape architecture teams) can include:

  • Green roofs;
  • Rainwater gardens;
  • Rainwater harvesting systems;
  • Permeable pavement structures
  • Bio-swales;
  • Artificial floating islands; and,
  • Other innovative ‘smart systems’ developed from the principles of bio-mimicry.

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Client Testimonials

County of Simcoe

The County of Simcoe is the upper tier government and planning authority for most of the South Georgian Bay – Lake Simcoe Source Water Protection Region. The County, in partnership with its member municipalities, other levels of government, floodplain management agencies and two (2) conservation authorities, also provides leadership through policy, and actively in the restoration and protection of the environmental health and quality of these watersheds. As you know, in order to comply with, and be environmentally proactive with respect to the Province of Ontario’s “Places to Grow” legislation, the County of Simcoe utilized innovative decision support tools such as Greenland’s CANWET™ model. In 2012, CANWET™ was also used by the County to prepare a “Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Visioning Strategy”. To this day, the information in the Strategy’s final report is used by local municipalities, development interests and other stakeholders as a background reference to help identify sustainable development solutions.
 
This letter confirms the County of Simcoe's commitment of support which includes initially facilitating the introduction of this landmark international collaboration with all 16 local municipalities, other governments (small and large) and other agencies that partner now with the County of Simcoe on land use planning; infrastructure renewal; and flooding risk/damage reduction initiatives.
 
As always, I look forward to our continued working relationship with you and your colleagues and the significant benefits these efforts will have for our residents and environment. The County of Simcoe appreciates your efforts towards developing information based decision making tools and we are confident that this project will prove beneficial in our collaborative goal to improve watershed health for all County residents.

Mark Aitken
Chief Administration Officer
The Corporation of the County of Simcoe

October 19, 2015
 

City of Greater Sudbury

Re: Capreol Downtown Waterfront CIP and Whitson River Waterway Trail

The City of Greater Sudbury has used the services of Greenland International Consulting Ltd. for the design of the Capreol Downtown Waterfront and the design of the Whitson River Waterway Trail.

Greenland delivered both projects on budget and provided consistency in its leadership from the landscape team. This stability in project management meant that we were working with a company who was familiar with the City’s project and consultation processes.

The Capreol Downtown Waterfront improvements were constructed in 2018 in time for the community’s 100th anniversary and incorporated the community’s railway history into the design. Greenland was skilled at integrating the wishes of the community into cohesive and creative designs that provide great connections between the Community’s main street areas and natural features.

Melissa Riou, MCIP, RPP
Senior Planner
Community and Strategic Planning
Growth and Infrastructure Department

City of Greater Sudbury
December 23, 2020
 

Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority

RE: Town of Innisfil (Community of Alcona) Flood Reduction Class Environmental Assessment

On behalf of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA), I would like to thank GREENLAND® International - Consulting Engineers for the excellent work undertaken to complete the Flood Reduction Class Environmental Assessment for the Community of Alcona. I also want to provide you our sincere appreciation for the support GREENLAND® provided both in-kind and financially which allowed the project to proceed. The approved strategy will now enable the LSRCA and Town of Innisfil to move forward with the next phase of the project so that the science-based, publicly supported solution, can be implemented to alleviate flooding impacting residents in Alcona as soon as possible. 

The project goal was to develop a sustainable - engineering solution to reduce significant annual flood damages currently occurring within the Community of Alcona (Town of Innisfil) and located within the Belle Aire Creek subwatershed. The project included a Class Environmental Assessment (EA) process with extensive public and other stakeholder consultations to advance a solution involving enhancing a wetland (green infrastructure) to provide flood mitigation. The project was proposed over a decade ago and was then adopted in the Town’s Master Drainage Plan as required under the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan. It is now one step closer to completion. 

The project deliverables produced by GREENLAND® included an Environmental Study Report (ESR) which now provides a science-based, well-engineered, thorough and systematic understanding of the chronic flooding that has impacted the affected settlement area in the Town of Innisfil. The Environmental Study Report (by GREENLAND®) also developed a proactive flood mitigation and resiliency plan that can now be implemented by the LSRCA, Town and other stakeholders. Finally, the project work plan satisfied requirements of Ontario's Class Environmental Assessment process and with an effective/collaborative spirit of a "public-private partnership” utilizing and ecosystem approach. The timelines to complete the project were very aggressive and I was pleased that GREENLAND® was able to complete the project on-time and budget. 

In conclusion, the role that GREENLAND® played to prepare the funding application for Canada’s National Disaster Mitigation Program; securing in-kind participation of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (ICCA) at the University of Waterloo; providing in-kind Intellectual Property leveraging resources, and the financial contribution helped ensure the project was a complete success. I look forward to working with your company again on other partnerships of mutual interest and would be pleased to serve as professional references on similar projects. 

Michael Walters
(Former) Chief Administrative Officer
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority

November 6, 2020
 

Corporate Partnerships & Associations

Partnerships and Accreditations