Low Impact Development Standards

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

Leon County’s Low Impact Development Standards program (LIDS) is a comprehensive land planning and engineering approach toward maintaining and enhancing watersheds in their native condition prior to development. LIDS prescribes certain land development standards that seek to protect lakes, rivers, streams, and channels; native habitat; and groundwater recharge. It also protects water quality by minimizing the pollutant loading to surface waters from developed areas. Additionally, LID-based stormwater mitigation applications reduce the need for large (and often aesthetically unpleasing) stormwater management facilities. The LIDS program was designed to address existing development patterns and design standards that have produced certain undesirable effects, including loss of water captured in a stormwater basin due to excess runoff; excess flow of pollutants into lakes, ponds, and other surface waterbodies; and erosion of watercourses such as swales and ditches due to increased flow rates. Through a focused process that included strategic planning and visioning, research of best practices in stormwater and environmental management, and citizen engagement, Leon County developed LIDS as an innovative program that achieves the goals of a variety of citizen and stakeholder groups.