Landscaping for Stormwater Management on Chicago Commercial Properties

There is a serious risk that comes with failing to manage stormwater on your commercial property. As a property manager, that’s a hassle, headache, and expense that you don’t want to deal with.

Fortunately, stormwater doesn’t have to cause headaches for you. There are ways you can better manage stormwater on your commercial property to limit liability risks, costly repairs, and hours of stress and worry.

Jump to Section

• How Chicagoland Weather Patterns Impact Stormwater
• What are the Consequences of Not Solving a Stormwater Management Issue?
• How Can Landscaping Help Prevent Flooding on Commercial Properties?
• The Best Flooding and Standing Water Solutions for Commercial Landscaping
• FAQs About Commercial Landscape Drainage
• Choosing Commercial Landscape Drainage Services in Chicago

But finding a commercial landscape partner who truly understands stormwater management landscaping isn’t always that simple. There can be a lot of complexities involved in managing stormwater.

Let’s talk about commercial stormwater management and how important it is for Greater Chicago property managers to include it in their grounds maintenance plans.

How Chicagoland Weather Patterns Impact Stormwater

When it storms, water falls on hard surfaces like parking lots, roads, sidewalks, walkways, driveways and rooftops; it can’t seep into the ground, so it runs off into other areas. This can cause local flooding.

Both heavy rains and rapid snowmelt can lead to problems with drainage and runoff. Our rapidly changing weather patterns also make water woes more likely.

High volumes of water can even cause areas on your commercial property to erode, leading to landscape instability and increasing your chances of spending excess funds on replacements and renovations.

What are the Consequences of Not Solving a Stormwater Management Issue?

Ignoring stormwater management issues can lead to costly property damage, erosion, flooding, and increased maintenance expenses. It also creates safety hazards, exposes property owners to liability and regulatory fines, disrupts business operations, harms the environment, and reduces property value.

We always recommend using commercial property flooding prevention strategies. Addressing drainage issues early is significantly less expensive than repairing the damage they can cause over time.

How Can Landscaping Help Prevent Flooding on Commercial Properties?

Strategic landscaping helps prevent flooding by improving drainage, increasing water infiltration, and slowing stormwater runoff. This is important as it can play a huge role in preventing problems on your property.

Features such as landscape grading for drainage, bioswales, rain gardens, permeable surfaces, and well-designed plantings reduce erosion, protect infrastructure, and help keep commercial properties safe, accessible, and compliant during heavy rainfall.

The Best Flooding and Standing Water Solutions for Commercial Landscaping

The best drainage solutions for commercial landscapes depend on the site's conditions but often include proper grading, catch basins, French drains, bioswales, retention or detention ponds, permeable pavement, and underground stormwater systems.

The process begins with a thorough evaluation to determine the right solutions for you. But the goal is the same no matter what. A well-designed drainage plan manages runoff efficiently, prevents flooding and erosion, protects infrastructure, and ensures long-term performance.

Let’s look at a few potential solutions.

Detention Pond vs. Retention Pond

A detention pond temporarily stores stormwater runoff. It collects stormwater and releases it slowly until it drains. A retention pond, on the other hand, is designed to permanently hold water.

On commercial properties in Greater Chicago, we deal more with detention ponds.

Maintaining detention and retention ponds to ensure they properly collect stormwater on commercial properties is an important part of commercial grounds management.

Without proper detention pond maintenance, you could risk losing the stability and stormwater management capabilities of your detention pond.

KD Landscape uses a technique called riprap to mitigate erosion on detention ponds. Riprap is a method of installing a permanent layer of large, angular stone, cobbles, or boulders. These help armor, stabilize, and protect the soil surface against erosion.

You also need to properly manage the vegetation around your detention pond. This might include weekly mowing or cutting grasses down annually. Hydroseeding can help restore greenery around your detention pond if erosion occurs.

Remember to clear any detention pond blockages to ensure water can flow freely. Blockages tend to happen near inflow/outflow areas. Regular weeding and trimming, along with consistent trash and debris removal, can help.

One more detention pond maintenance task to keep on your to-do list is managing critter damage that can compromise the integrity of embankments. Groundhogs, for instance, can burrow in and disrupt these areas. Fixing holes and reseeding damaged areas is important.

Bioswales for Stormwater Management Landscaping

A bioswale is a conventional ditch or swale, modified and planted with appropriate native and Greater Chicago-friendly plants with the goal of increasing water percolation and pollutant removal as stormwater flows through it.

Basically, bioswales consist of a low-lying drainage course with gently sloped sides and lots of vegetation (think of them as linear rain gardens). They’re planted with native plants that receive and absorb stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces, like parking lots, walkways and driveways.

In a bioswale, the water’s flow path, along with the wide and shallow ditch, is designed to maximize the time water spends in the swale, which aids the trapping of pollutants and silt. Bioswales make a lot of sense as stormwater management solutions near parking lots because they help filter contaminants from vehicles like oil and grease as rainwater carries them off of the hard surface and into the bioswale.

Permeable Paving Solutions

Permeable pavers are great additions to high-traffic commercial landscaping, especially if the area you’re looking at tends to collect a bit more water than other areas.

These pavers reduce runoff volume by trapping and slowly releasing rainfall into the ground instead of allowing it to flow off into storm drains and erode nearby areas, making them excellent stormwater management solutions.

FAQs About Commercial Landscape Drainage

What causes standing water on commercial properties in Chicago?

Standing water on commercial properties in the Chicago area is commonly caused by poor grading, compacted soils, clogged or undersized storm drains, aging infrastructure, and increasingly intense rainfall. Flat terrain and freeze-thaw cycles can also contribute to drainage issues, leading to flooding, pavement damage, safety hazards, and costly maintenance if left unaddressed.

Can poor drainage damage pavement and landscaping?

Yes. Poor drainage can cause pavement to crack, settle, and deteriorate while eroding soil, killing plant material, and damaging turf and landscape features. Over time, excess water can compromise infrastructure, increase maintenance costs, create safety hazards, and reduce the overall appearance and value of a commercial property.

How do retention ponds help manage stormwater runoff?

Retention ponds help manage stormwater by collecting and storing runoff during and after rainfall, allowing water to slowly infiltrate the ground or be released at a controlled rate. This reduces flooding, minimizes erosion, improves water quality by filtering pollutants, and helps protect surrounding infrastructure and waterways.

How can property managers reduce liability from stormwater issues?

Property managers can reduce liability by proactively addressing drainage issues through routine inspections, preventive maintenance, and timely repairs. Proper grading, clean storm drains, effective drainage systems, and stormwater management practices help prevent flooding, standing water, ice formation, and other hazards that can lead to property damage, accidents, and costly claims.

Choosing Commercial Landscape Drainage Services in Chicago

Stormwater doesn’t care about your tight budget or your busy schedule. It will continue to flow regardless, so managing it deserves some consideration and proper planning.

After all, with everything else on your plate, the last things you want to add to your list are stormwater damage repairs. Imagine what that would do to your budget.

We get it. Being diligent and planning for a rainy day now can save you so much time, money, and headaches throughout the year. Don’t wait until the last minute. KD Landscape can help you with commercial stormwater management in Greater Chicago so you can put your facility in the best position possible for a safer facility.

Want to learn more about how KD Landscape can help you manage stormwater challenges on your Greater Chicago commercial property? Get started today with an on-site consultation. We’ll review your options together so you can feel confident and make a great choice.