I'd like your opinions on a phrase in Protect or Restore Habitat: "Project teams may exclude vegetated landscape areas that are constructed to accommodate rainwater infiltration from the vegetation and soils requirement ...".
We have a downtown project that will include almost exactly 30% restored habitat (100% previously developed site). In order to infiltrate the maximum rainwater volume, 10% of the site, overlapping with the restored habitat (1/3 of our restored habitat, to use not quite correct but round numbers) will have to have rainwater infiltration infrastructure 2 meters underground, with a layer of sand, and possibility of a thin layer of soil, meaning we will be limited in our choice of plants (no trees etc.).
1. How does the exemption phrase in the guide apply here? : does it mean that this 10% of the site used for rainwater infiltration could be excluded from the "100%" of the site, and we calculate the 30% restored habitat area based on the 90% that does not participate in infiltration? Is there another reading of this?
2. Alternatively, if we can plant shallow native species in the soil layer above the sand, can this area count towards our total?
3. If I understand correctly, v4.1 will allow us to use any soil as long as it does not come from farmland, greenfield, or is peat moss, without other testing requirements - but does this apply to sand/soil layers, over our rainwater infiltration area, for example.
Thank you!
