A step

An item this week in Annapolis newspaper The Capital reports a move made in builder-developer cooperation with environment protection interests, toward improved stormwater handling in the area. Only one builder, in only one of its ‘luxury home’ developments, but evidence of a turn to better practices underway, nevertheless. The builder-developer, consulting with a landscape architect and a Baltimore ecosystem conservation company, replaced standard stormwater collector construction for the site with construction adapted from stream restoration methods. The new approach promotes on-site absorption by plants and drainage through soil, rather than funneling large collection volume via pipe directly into a natural stream.