CCAPA Session: How Can Smart Growth Improve Water Quality

On October 1, 2007, I attended the CCAPA conference held at the Fairmont Hotel and sat in the session dealing with water quality. There were three presenters for the topic: Clark Wilson, Jack Sylvan, and Jeff Oberdorfer. It was a very interesting session and I was glad that I was there from the beginning to the end of the session. The first person o present was Clark Wilson.

Clark Wilson was a very punctual person who was very comfortable talking to a crowd. His topic dealt more on how businesses can integrate low impact development that will benefit the business as well as the environment. His PowerPoint Presentation was visual helping those who knew nothing about the products being explained. He used examples of the Gap Corporation headquarters being ahead of the game. Their buildings are friendly to the environment. They installed green roofs and have permeable pavements. He then talked about the beneficial aspects of permeable pavement. The example he gave was the city of Portland. Being a city with great precipitation, it was common sense for them to have some form of stormwater runoff control. The permeable pavements have been very useful for the city and are very eye appealing to many of the residents. He explained that it costs about the same and that cities need to look at alternatives such as green roofs and permeable pavement.

The second presenter, Jack Sylvan, talked about the development of Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. There is a plan to turn the artificial island into an environmentally friendly development for residential and commercial. They are still at the planning stage. I had concerns about the project. The island was artificially made and does not have high ground level making it more susceptible to flooding due to the rising sea level. Though they have plans to deal with the issue, I do not believe that it will solve the problem. In time, it will cost a lot of money for people who will live in this development. The last presenter was Jeff Oberdorfer who presented development in San Jose that was more sustainable. He explained how their future development would be required to go through the LEED certification. Jeff seems like he truly is dedicated to his work.

Overall, I enjoyed my day at the conference. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend this session because of my prior commitment to green an event for the City of San Jose. The speakers were great. I would love to go to the conference again if given the chance.