By Lizzie Stone, city council reporters
Harrisonburg’s Public Works Department staff are planning to create more green spaces downtown, install more stormwater management infrastructure across the city and take over some maintenance for some of the city schools’ stormwater infrastructure.
As part of an update to the city council on Tuesday, city staff said they plan to create “green corridors” by planting trees along Main, Mason and Water streets, and to add planters to major intersections throughout the area. They will adapt their plan for downtown greenery depending on the final resources available for the project.
Funding for planting will come through an Urban Forestry & Community Forestry grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry the Virginia Tech Community Design Assistance Center, who also offered planning help.
A “dream” plan would include a “green corridor network” connecting downtown parks to street tree corridors, and landscaped parking lots that bring in greenery, said Jeremy Harold, the city’s green sites manager.
Council members discussed other ideas for downtown plants, including fruit trees and community gardens. Harold said the final plan will mainly be limited by funding.
“We can take this to the next level,” Harold said. “Wherever you want it to go, we’re willing to be.”
The city staff will conduct a public survey in June to gather community feedback. They plan to review and update their plan accordingly, then present it to the city council for approval in August.
Council member Nasser Alsaadun said he had already heard from people who are concerned that the city will plant invasive species downtown.
Harold said the department had received planting recommendations that included non-native plants, but the staff “does not plan to move forward with planting any invasive plants at all” in their final proposal.
The public works staff also presented their ongoing stormwater improvements plan. Council members approved the updated plan, which will meet new state requirements for reaching water quality targets. It includes plans for managing stormwater across the city, including immediate priorities and areas to develop over time.
Additionally, the new plan will reassign some maintenance responsibilities for stormwater infrastructure on Harrisonburg City Public Schools properties. The Public Works Department will now be responsible for non-routine maintenance such as repairs, while the city schools will continue routine maintenance like mowing.
City Manager Ande Banks said the school district will “contribute financially to support the city maintaining the stormwater infrastructure within their property,” which staff said could include paying for updates or redesigns. The school district will also fund a new full-time public works position in the next fiscal year budget.
Public works staff said this will also allow the department to add future improvements to make existing infrastructure more effective, rather than building more stormwater management on undeveloped lots.
“This is now becoming a long-term major infrastructure operation for us, like water, sewer, transportation,” city council member Dany Fleming said. “We’ll have to change how we think about this in the long term, and how we fund this.”
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