Hope College
OP-22: Rainwater Management

Hope College approaches LID and sustainability is framed at the level of the Campus Master Plan. The 2017 Master Plan has multiple sections focused on land use, open space, and stormwater improvement. https://hope.edu/offices/physical-plant/campus-master-plan/
-The land use and open space section addresses current driving forces, critical issues, and patterns of campus context, land use, and open space. It also identifies where there are opportunities to strengthen overall campus sustainability that spring from Hope College’s urban setting and the City of Holland’s focus on resiliency. Perhaps most important, this section recognizes the critical nature of planning for property when the campus is landlocked, open space is a precious commodity, and future campus development will take place within an established urban environment that is regulated by a strong local planning context.
-The stormwater improvements section outlines measures for: flood control, stormwater quality, groundwater recharge, open space preservation, education/interaction, heat island effect reduction, rainwater harvesting, and wetland restoration.
-The Campus Master Plan process sought to build on the strength of past planning efforts undertaken by Hope College and complement the College’s Strategic Plan, Hope for the World 2025. The core values, vision, virtues, and six Strategic Plan goals therefore formed an important lens for analysis and concept development. Completed in 2015, the Strategic Plan laid out actionable objectives and key performance indicators under the following six goals: Academics, Christian Formation, Global Engagement, Community, Reputation and Influence, and Value. The Campus Master plan situates these goals in the physical environment of the campus and the City of Holland and establishes physical experience objectives that complement the underlying objectives in the Strategic Plan. In addition, four planning principles were developed with the Campus Master Planning Committee to translate these goals and objectives into physical strategies that will serve as living guidelines for future campus development decisions and that communicate – through environmental design – the values of the College. Both the Goals and Objectives and the Planning Principles are rooted in the Strategic Plan, as well as planning efforts of the Sustainability Committee, Boerigter Task Force, Learning Commons Committee, and various academic and administrative departments.

Hope employs a variety of initiatives to reduce rainwater runoff into the stormwater drainage system for the City of Holland. A major focus with projects has been to collect rainwater, filter it, and then slowly release it into the groundwater system:
-The college utilizes permeable pavement throughout campus and continues to install more when redoing spaces. An example comes from from 2021 when a new patio area was requested by Student Congress to provide more outdoor spaces, permeable pavers were used for this project to allow for rainwater to soak into the ground. Another similar permeable paver patio area was installed in the fall of 2022 as well. Permeable pavers are planned for a project involving a major walkway through the center of campus.
-The addition of trees all over campus have helped to reduce direct rain runoff in increasing amounts for the future as the trees become larger.
-Three of our parking lots have underground drain water storage and slow release areas designed to hold and filter the runoff water from those sites.
-Three large parking lots collect surface water runoff and it is stored in an underground detention basin until it can slowly soak into the groundwater system and not go into the stormwater drains.
-Rainwater from Jack Miller, Bultman Student Center, and Dow sites all collect, filter, and slowly release.
-The Grounds Department collects roof rain water in soaker catch basins instead of using the stormwater system for this runoff. At the campus athletic fields (football, soccer, and tennis), retention ponds and vegetative waterways surrounded by 6 ft. no mow zones are maintained instead of using drain tubes. This decreases the rate of water flow into creeks that drain into the nearby lake. All turf is cut at three inches in an effort to catch and slow water run off from those areas.
-Hope College also has three green roofs on campus.
-With each of our LEED projects we utilize recommendations for retention and filtering of storm water run-off on-site.

--Hope College meets or exceeds the new regulations created by Ottawa County and the City of Holland in terms of stormwater retention on site. https://ecode360.com/HO3221/laws/LF1078303.pdf These rules require all stormwater to be contained on site.

--The college also works very closely with the Macatawa Area Watershed Project to implement best practices. http://www.the-macc.org/watershedproject/ One example is listed below:
In the spring of 2022, Hope College worked in partnership with the City of Holland, Macatawa Area Coordinating Council (MACC) and ODC Network to install a community demonstration curb-cut rain garden in front of the student cottages. The City of Holland has been partnering with the MACC and ODC Network since 2020 to incorporate curb-cut rain gardens into road reconstruction projects as part of a grant provided by the EPA's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Curb-cut rain gardens are gardens installed in the City parkway (area between the street and sidewalk) that have an opening in the curb to allow stormwater to enter from the street, flood the garden and soak into the ground. The garden is excavated to a shallow depth and planted with native grasses and wildflowers, adding color, texture and pollinator habitat while managing stormwater. Planning for the Hope College project began in 2021 when the neighbor at 345 College Ave heard about an opportunity to install a curb-cut rain garden as part of the College Ave reconstruction project. The parkway is contiguous at 337 and 345 College Ave, so it made sense for the neighbors to work together to install one large rain garden. Hope College is working with the neighbor to make sure the rain garden is maintained and will continue to function into the future.

--Training for Rainscaping
As part of our partnership with the Project Clarity Team we partnered with the MACC, ODC, City of Holland, and Holland Board of Public Works on a grant from the EPA to host a "train the trainer" educational series for community members.
Training for Rainscaping volunteers was held in 2021 and 2022. The first part of the training included classroom instruction that occurred virtually in 2021 and at the DeGraaf Nature Center in 2022. The second part of each training involved visiting a site and practicing what was learned in the first part, including completing a site assessment and making recommendations for adding rainscaping practices to manage stormwater. In 2021, the site portion of the training was held at Keppel House on Hope College's campus on April 21, an unusually cold and snowy day. Eight (8) people participated in the training. In 2022, the site portion was held at the Kooiker Cottage on Hope College's campus on May 24, and ten (10) people participated. Participants were also able to walk just around the corner to see the curb-cut rain garden (see up above for details about that project).

Hope College Master Plan
https://hope.edu/offices/physical-plant/campus-master-plan/internal/campus-master-plan.pdf