This team created and tested a set of watershed-sensitive design standards in three developments in the Great Lakes basin (in Huron, Ohio; Niles, Michigan; and Germantown, Wisconsin). Team members presented these standards in a Conservation Development Evaluation System (CeDES) tool and distributed the tool to over 500 parties in the basin. They also created incentives for its use by developing a handbook on Ohio’s Clean Water Revolving Loan Program—a service providing low interest loans to developers who apply watershed-sensitive techniques. The team then joined work in three conservation development projects in the south suburbs of Chicago that are more affordable and available to moderate and low-income communities.

The team’s work was featured in major journals and trade publications including Land Development Magazine, Builder Magazine, Nonpoint Source News-Notes and Watershed Protection News. Additionally, one of the three collaborating developers, Belinski, began specializing in conservation subdivisions as a result of this project.