The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency hired Barr to develop a conservation-design prototype for a residential development in the City of Hanover. The green-infrastructure and landscape architectural design aimed to minimize environmental impact, provide great places for people to live, and preserve the city’s rural character. Conservation design is a process of preserving a site’s natural habitat and natural drainage as open spaces within a development. Small, manageable lots are placed around preserved open spaces to create distinct neighborhoods. Streets wind around preserved forests and wetlands, while pedestrian trails connect neighborhoods and allow children to visit friends without using streets. Another key goal was to preserve pre-development stormwater flow patterns and to retain and infiltrate stormwater on site.
After conducting an ecological site evaluation, Barr developed two plans for alternative housing densities and a conservation design ordinance that was adopted by the Hanover City Council. We also developed graphics and visuals to help the community better understand future development options.