Fishbeck has partnered with Plaster Creek Stewards on several green infrastructure retrofits throughout the Plaster Creek watershed. At Grace Episcopal Church and The Branch Church, Fishbeck and Plaster Creek stewards collaborated to convert portions of their parking lot to rain gardens and green open space.
Grace Episcopal Church is a historic church over 100 years old at 1815 Hall Street SE, Grand Rapids. Runoff from their parking lot flows directly into Silver Creek, a tributary of Plaster Creek, carrying oil, dirt, and salt in the winter. The project converted 3,000 square feet of the asphalt parking lot bordering Silver Creek into a landscaped rain garden. The rain garden will capture, store, and infiltrate all of the runoff from the 2-year, 24-hour rainfall event. The rain garden also includes walking paths and educational signage for the preschool located in the Church.
The Branch Church is located at 973 28th Street SE. Runoff from their parking lot flows directly into Little Plaster Creek. The project converted 9,400 square feet of asphalt parking lot into landscaped green space including two rain gardens. The rain garden will capture, store, and infiltrate all of the runoff from the 2-year, 24-hour rainfall event and will reduce estimated runoff into Little Plaster Creek by 375,000 gallons per year. In addition to the rain gardens, the project included grass open spaces with native trees and a limestone walking trail for members of the Church.
