First Street Rain Garden
In 2022-2023, the City created a rain garden at the southwest corner of First Street and Golden Gate Way in downtown Lafayette. The project was completed in 2023, with a Dedication Ceremony held on 4/15/23. See Photos from the Dedication Ceremony.
The Rain Garden project is one component of the Downtown Creeks Preservation, Restoration and Development Plan which the city adopted in 2017.
The Lafayette Creeks Committee encourages beautification of Lafayette's more than 16-miles of creeks and improves residents' awareness of creek maintenance and pollution prevention policies. Learn more about the Creeks Committee.
What does a Rain Garden do?
A rain garden is an engineered depression that collects, filters, and absorbs stormwater runoff. Rain gardens can reduce local flooding and creek bank erosion by slowly soaking up stormwater. These gardens also remove pollutants (like oil, chemicals, and metals) from street runoff. In a process called biofiltration, street runoff percolates through layers designed to reduce pollutants. Microbes on plant roots also capture and reduce pollutants. Plant roots increase soil permeability, allowing the filtered water to make its way down to the underlying groundwater.
At the First Street Rain Garden, rainwater enters from storm drains on Golden Gate Way. The water slowly percolates through a layer composed of plant roots, compost, sand, and soil. Next, it goes through a layer of pea gravel before it is discharged into the groundwater table (or directly into Lafayette Creek during heavy storm events).
Rain Garden Plantings: When you visit the rain garden, take note of the landscaping featuring California native species. These plants are adapted to local conditions and provide food and habitat for wildlife. Some of the native plants in this garden include:
- Red-flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum)
- California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
- Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
- Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana)
- Red Fescue (Festuca rubra)
- Red-flowered Buckwheat (Eriogonum grande var. rubescens)
Stormwater Runoff - Gray versus Green infrastructure: Traditional stormwater drainage systems use gray infrastructure - systems of gutters, pipes, and culverts - to move rainwater away from developed areas as fast as possible. Today, the focus is on creating green infrastructure, which mimics nature more closely by absorbing and filtering rainwater where it falls.
A rain garden is one example of green infrastructure you can implement at home. Other examples include connecting your downspout to a rain barrel and using the water to irrigate plants and replacing your asphalt driveway with pervious concrete or permeable pavers. Using these alternatives to traditional methods of managing storm runoff helps keep our creeks healthy.
Project Construction Information
The Lafayette City Council, at its meeting on August 8, 2022, awarded a contract to Grade Tech Inc. in the amount of $546,883.00 (after the original low bidder had withdrawn its bid) for construction of a rain garden project at the southwest corner of First Street and Golden Gate Way.
BID INFORMATION:
Bids opened: Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 2:00 PM
PRE-BID DOCUMENTS:
Project Plans: To obtain a link for viewing and downloading the Plans, please email your contact information to tkain@lovelafayette.org.