Smart Stormwater Management: A Public-Private Partnership for Resilient Watersheds

Howard County
Troy Hill Association (including Prudential Real-Estate, ProLogis, St. Johns Properties, Merritt Properties)
Cushman & Wakefield
OptiRTC, Inc.
Envirotrac Limited
JNM Engineering
National Stormwater Trust

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, stormwater runoff is a major cause of pollution, harming swimming areas, killing fish, eroding streams, and flooding homes and businesses. Climate change intensifies these problems. To address these challenges, Howard County, MD, created the Commercial Stormwater Solutions Work Group in 2016. This group developed strategies to encourage commercial property owners to reduce stormwater runoff, protecting the environment and the community. This initiative led to the Commercial Stormwater Solutions Partnership Program, where the County funds the majority of commercial stormwater mitigation project costs and reduces their annual watershed protection fees.

In 2020, Howard County and Opti evaluated potential stormwater mitigation projects at the Troy Hill Association property. The property has 16 parcels, 14 owned by 9 commercial developers and 2 by Howard County. Over two years, the County, Opti, and the Association formed a creative win-win-win partnership. The team overcame numerous challenges, including ownership equity, maintenance responsibilities, capital offsets, fee reductions, access agreements, and the diverse interests of the landowners.

In addition to a creative public-private-partnership, the project incorporated Continuous Monitoring and Adaptive Controls, an innovative technology that increases retention time for water quality treatment, prepares storage in advance of storm events, and maximizes flood control potential of a pond. In 2024, 3 ponds were commissioned with CMAC technology, including a dry pond which was recently approved by the Maryland Department of Environment for water quality credits.