Newport, Oregon City Hall Ocean Friendly Garden

Description

The Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation, Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District and the City of Newport designed and planted an Ocean Friendly Garden project for Newport City Hall. The project began with a rain garden workshop that the chapter hosted in partnership with OSU and the above partners. The City of Newport identified stormwater infrastructure which needed replacement to connect to City Hall downspouts. The Ocean Friendly Garden project was conceived to take the place of such costly stormwater piping and infrastructure, while also redirecting stormwater for retention on site. A 6' x 160' garden was designed to receive all of the rain water from city hall and downspouts were redirected to the garden for retaining and filtering the roof runoff. The existing soil was amended to increase permeability to a depth of 4', due to the large volume of water and roof drainage area (over 5,000 sq. ft). The garden's size, permeability and location was all engineered utilizing volunteers and partners and the Surfrider Ocean Friendly Gardens how-to guide. Over 200 native plants were planted to encourage native wildlife and require little to no maintenance and watering after the first year of establishment. The project costs were considerable due to the concrete curbs that surround the garden and redirect downspouts. The curb was put in primarily to make City of Newport maintenance around the garden easier.

Features