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7 <br /> <br />Green Infrastructure <br /> <br />The City’s latest permit for discharge of storm water to the San Francisco Bay, the <br />Municipal Regional Permit or MRP, issued by the Regional Water Board requires the <br />City to prepare a plan for the transition of storm drain facilities within the City from their <br />current configuration to a system that includes low impact development components <br />(LID). LID typically consists of vegetated areas that filter storm water before it enters <br />the collection system. Any portion of the storm system that has LID is referred to as <br />green infrastructure. <br /> <br />The Water Board revises the MRP on a five year cycle; the most current version went <br />into effect on January 1, 2016. While the current permit has no specific amount of the <br />storm system that must be converted to green infrastructure, the Water Board has <br />indicated that over the next several permit cycles the permit will require increasing <br />amounts of the City’s storm system to contain LID components. Staff anticipates that <br />targets for the percentage of the system that is green infrastructure with deadlines will be <br />established, however; it is assumed that these deadlines will be spread over several <br />decades. <br /> <br />The plan to transition our storm drain to green infrastructure includes a requirement that <br />the City include LID to the extent practical. At this time it is only considered practical to <br />include LID when the project constructs new or replacement facilities such as buildings <br />and parking lots (regulated projects as defined in section C.3.b of the MRP). <br /> <br />The inclusion of green infrastructure in a CIP project generally increases the cost of that <br />project. <br /> <br /> LID at Downtown Garage <br />26