Coffee Creek Center, Indiana


The Lake Erie Land Company is developing an 640-acre mixed use community based on innovative sustainability concepts. When completed, the new community of Coffee Creek Center will contain up to 2,000 residential units and over 3 million square feet of commercial, office, and retail space.
 
The development aims to “prove the concepts of civil engineering without traditional expensive and destructive storm water management systems.” Instead, the public storm water system is based on level spreaders and/or infiltration fields.  Over 200 acres of the site will be reserved in greenspace, parks, and constructed wetlands. The design of these open spaces and the built environment is intended to reintroduce the natural infiltration of rainwater into the ground and Coffee Creek. This is to be accomplished through the following:
 
  • designating critical greenspace areas
  • preserving and restoring native biodiversity
  • collecting rainwater and infiltrating it into native planted areas using innovative drainage features
  • constructing new wetlands to absorb and clean run-off from nearby farm fields
  • re-sloping and re-shaping creek banks

Commercial developments are prohibited from employing dry detention ponds or sand filters.  Rather, the Design Code for Coffee Creek Center provides a number of alternatives to for on-site conveyance and filtration of storm water, such as:
 
  • wetlands
  • wet vault detention areas (wet basins in which storm water infiltrates into the substrata)
  • infiltration trenches (stone-filled trenches in ditches)
  • infiltration fields (hillsides on which storm water is distributed evenly)
  • structural inlet basins (manholes which remove pollutants)
  • vegetation (such as grassed ditches and grassed swales)
  • green roofs
  • lowered landscape islands in parking lots

In addition to these innovations in hydrology and conservancy, the Coffee Creek Center applies other smart growth concepts. The master plan calls for a mix of housing types including Live-Work units; a range of non-residential uses to provide shopping, employment, and other services close to home; substantial open space in proximity to all residents; and integrated pedestrian amenities.
 
For more information, visit http://www.coffeecreekcenter.com/