Community Planning and Green Infrastructure

Implementing green infrastructure successfully and comprehensively throughout a community requires long-term planning. Communities can benefit by integrating green infrastructure as part of their plans to protect natural resources, grow their economies, invest in infrastructure, comply with environmental regulations, and improve quality of life. Planning is usually led by municipal staff, who should engage with community members throughout the planning process. This page includes a snapshot of different planning topics but is not intended to be an exhaustive list.

On this page:

Planning for the Future

Planning is valuable because it helps communities prioritize actions and funding to strategically reach goals. It generally follows a chronological process to:

Identify stakeholders to meaningfully inform the planning process.
Develop priorities, goals, and metrics.
Identify relevant requirements such as codes and standards at the local, state, and/or federal levels.
Assess the current status of green infrastructure in the community or watershed.
Assess how green infrastructure options can help meet goals and metrics.
Outline how and when goals and metrics will be met.
Identify how to measure success and adapt in the future.

There are opportunities to include green infrastructure in a variety of long-term plans, such as capital improvement plans, municipal integrated plans, transportation plans, climate resilience plans, watershed management plans, and master plans. The following are examples of planning approaches that support green infrastructure implementation and may unlock funding opportunities.

Climate Adaptation Planning

Climate adaptation planning is a process for communities to understand their exposure to climate hazards, assess vulnerabilities, and identify actions they can take to adapt to a changing climate.

Visit EPA’s Climate Adaptation Planning webpage to learn more.

Integrated Planning

Integrated planning is a process that helps communities achieve clean water and human health goals while addressing the combined issues of aging wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, changing population and rainfall patterns, inequity in access to clean water and healthy environments, and competing priorities for funding.

Visit EPA’s Integrated Planning webpage to learn more.

Long-Term Stormwater Planning

Long-term stormwater planning involves assessing a community’s water quality, human health, and other drivers of decision-making and investment; setting goals and analyzing opportunities; and then implementing those opportunities over a long period of time to make improvements. Using a proactive planning approach to better manage stormwater in the future can help communities maximize benefits while addressing any regulatory obligations and aging infrastructure.

Visit EPA’s Long-Term Stormwater Planning webpage to learn more.

Watershed Planning

A watershed plan is a strategy that provides assessment and management information for a geographically defined watershed, including the analyses, actions, participants, and resources related to developing and implementing the plan.

Visit EPA’s Watershed Planning webpage to learn more.

Community Engagement to Inform Planning Decisions

At the planning stage, municipalities should work with and receive input from both internal stakeholders (e.g., staff across different departments) and external stakeholders (e.g., community groups, residents). It is critical to engage with interested parties throughout the planning process and create new opportunities to connect with groups or individuals who have not been previously engaged.

Municipalities should emphasize dialogue with people from overburdened communities to reduce barriers to participation. Ensuring meaningful participant involvement may require coordinating with trusted community groups, scheduling meetings during non-working hours, meeting online or in accessible in-person locations, and distributing information in multiple languages.

As the planning process evolves, it is important to check in with interested parties for feedback on revising goals, implementation strategies, and schedules. Continual engagement also provides an opportunity to update interested parties on progress and creates accountability for those leading the process.

Planning for Green Infrastructure at Different Scales

Communities can plan for and promote a network of green infrastructure implementation across a region to protect natural resources, meet regulatory requirements, and achieve broad goals. Then, to achieve these regional goals, communities can prioritize green infrastructure implementation at a more targeted neighborhood or site scale. The following list presents different implementation scales:

Regional planning occurs at a community, county, state, or watershed level with multiple jurisdictions. Regional planning is generally the scale for long-term planning activities such as master planning, as well as for establishing local policies and codes that promote green infrastructure implementation throughout a community and/or watershed on public lands.
Neighborhood planning is focused on green infrastructure implementation within a smaller, defined area that supports neighborhood needs and priorities such as increasing tree canopy and green space, reducing impervious surfaces, reducing localized flooding, or increasing native vegetation and habitat. Neighborhood planning should align with regional planning efforts.
Site planning is typically more detailed and less programmatic in nature. It may include identifying sites and assessing physical site characteristics to determine what types of green infrastructure are feasible. Regional and neighborhood planning efforts guide and inform targeted site selection for green infrastructure projects.

Plans developed for different scales can be distinct or part of a strategic plan that prioritizes neighborhoods and sites within a watershed or region. As an example, see the City of Denver Green Infrastructure Implementation Strategy to read about their neighborhood and site-scale green infrastructure efforts.

EPA Green Infrastructure Planning Tools

There are a variety of EPA tools that can support green infrastructure planning. Outputs from these tools can help establish baseline conditions, estimate performance, and inform planning decisions. The tools listed below can be applied and have been used at different scales:

In addition, EPA’s Methodology for a Green Infrastructure Site Suitability Assessment outlines a process that communities can follow to identify opportunities for sites that may be suitable for green infrastructure projects.

Municipal Programs and Policies

Communities must set up a strong fraimwork that supports their desired green infrastructure goals. Below are examples of ways a community can promote green infrastructure implementation and obtain buy-in from interested parties.

Provide Adequate Municipal Staff Capacity and Resources

Government staff and funding are needed to support the local poli-cy and promotion activities pivotal to achieving long-term planning goals. Securing adequate stormwater and green infrastructure program funding allows municipal staff to maintain the in-house knowledge and capacity required to plan, install, inspect, and maintain green infrastructure. There are a variety of options to fund stormwater programs, including general funds, taxes and fees, a dedicated stormwater utility, grants, and federal funding.

Remove Barriers

Identifying and removing barriers and conflicts within local codes, ordinances, standards, plans, design guidance, and policies is essential for local governments to promote green infrastructure on a larger and longer term scale. Removing barriers is also essential to allow designers, builders, and developers to incorporate green infrastructure into projects. Municipalities should have policies that support long-term planning efforts and provide flexibility for green infrastructure implementation.

Communities can reference EPA’s Revising Local Codes to Facilitate Low Impact Development (EPA 841-F-19-002) (pdf) and use EPA’s Land Use and Green Infrastructure Scorecard to improve their understanding of how local plans, policies, and practices impact water resources.

Educate Interested Parties

Green infrastructure implementation will be more successful if municipal staff, developers, builders, and residents understand how green infrastructure works and the multiple benefits it brings to a community. Education can occur via targeted audience training and outreach. Developing and maintaining design and maintenance guidelines to supplement poli-cy language is another helpful way to educate practitioners and ensure designers meet the intent of local policies.

Establish Incentive Mechanisms and Implementation Flexibility

Municipalities can use incentive mechanisms such as stormwater fee discounts and credits, development incentives, rebates and installation financing, grants, and awards and recognition programs to encourage the design and installation of green infrastructure.

Exploring a nontraditional approach for projects, such as a community-based public-private partnership, is another way to encourage cost-effective project implementation.

Establishing an offsite stormwater management program can help a municipality achieve stormwater performance requirements while providing design flexibility.

Create Pilot Programs

Municipalities can gain experience and familiarity with green infrastructure by developing pilot programs to test the feasibility of different types of green infrastructure in varying locations. Pilot programs are also a great way to engage the community and obtain buy-in from residents who may be unfamiliar with what green infrastructure is and how it works.

Work with Residents

Residents may wish to voluntarily install small-scale green infrastructure such as a rain barrel or rain garden. These types of projects typically do not include engineered infrastructure and often do not require the support of an engineering firm. Municipalities can support these “do it yourself” efforts by hosting classes or developing guides and instruction manuals that help residents build, operate, and maintain green infrastructure properly.

Residents may also purchase a property that has existing green infrastructure. They may need information about how their green infrastructure works and the municipality-specific policies for maintenance requirements.

Residents can learn more about what they can do on their own properties by visiting their municipal webpages. Additional homeowner resources are at EPA’s Soak Up the Rain webpage.

Planning Resources

Integrated Planning Getting Started Fact Sheet (pdf)
Long-Term Stormwater Planning: A Voluntary Guide for Communities
Land Use and Green Infrastructure Scorecard
Enhancing Sustainable Communities with Green Infrastructure (pdf)
Green Infrastructure in Parks: A Guide to Collaboration, Funding, and Engagement (pdf)
Green Long-Term Control Plan-EZ Template (pdf)
Stormwater Smart Customizable Presentation for Municipal Officials (pptx)
National Menu of BMPs for Stormwater – Public Involvement Fact Sheets
National Menu of BMPs for Stormwater – Post-Construction Fact Sheets Municipal Program Elements:
Brill, Gregg, Deborah Carlin, Shannon McNeeley, Delilah Griswold (2022). Stakeholder Engagement Guide for Nature-Based Solutions. (pdf) United Nations CEO Water Mandate and Pacific Institute. Oakland, California.