Leavenworth/Barker Park

The Leavenworth/Barker Park Project involves capturing stormwater runoff from numerous adjacent streets and allowing it to infiltrate through several different green infrastructure features. Stormwater will be captured from Matty Avenue, Park Avenue, Barker Avenue, Wilkinson Street, and Tracy Street as part of this project. Around the perimeter of Leavenworth Park, vegetated swales atop stone infiltration beds capture roadway runoff and allow it to infiltrate directly into the groundwater below. These swales will be planted with two groundcover species and a native wetland grass species that can tolerate both wet and dry soils.

At the adjacent Barker Park, a rain garden will be installed between Tracy and Wilkinson streets. The rain garden will be planted with a mixture of native shrubs, flowering perennials, and grass species that will foster evapotranspiration and infiltration, preventing runoff from entering the combined sewer system.

The final feature of Barker Park is a new basketball court that will be made of porous asphalt, allowing stormwater to infiltrate directly through the asphalt surface and thus making the court playable even after a rain storm. This basketball court will be done in conjunction with the Courts4Kids, an initiative of the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation and the Carmelo K. Anthony Foundation.

The green infrastructure at Leavenworth Barker Park is designed to capture up to 1” of rainfall at a given time, reducing annual stormwater runoff by approximately 1,574,000 gallons.