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Cumberland Housing Authority, Cumberland, RI
The Cumberland Housing Authority was experiencing a shortage of resident parking spaces and retained Caputo and Wick Ltd. to design and permit a new parking lot. The area slated for the project was located in open space maintained as lawn within the active grounds of the facility, but it was located entirely within the 100-year floodplain of the Blackstone River. Further, it was nearly level, offering little topographic relief with which to gain a design advantage. We carefully analyzed cuts and fills in one-foot vertical increments and balanced proposed parking lot elevations with those of topographically-depressed stormwater management features. The project was successful at gaining a surplus of cuts within the floodplain increments to achieve a net increase in flood storage volume. Stormwater best management practices were proposed in compliance with the RI Stormwater Design and Installation Standards Manual and included curbless pavement edges (bounded by turf to achieve a level-spreader effect), a linear stone diaphragm, and a shallowly-depressed grassed retention/infiltration basin as shown in the image above. Other project facets included driveway, curbing, sidewalk, and lighting modifications and additions. Our services comprised wetland delineation, soil evaluation, topographic survey, drainage and floodplain analyses, site design, and RIDEM freshwater wetlands and RI Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting.