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Flance Early Learning Center
Flance Early Learning Center, an Old North St. Louis school run by the St. Louis Housing Authority,
installed two 2,500-gallon cisterns to capture drainage from the building’s roof. It also added a dry
swale, a system that stores and filters water, as well as two bioretention cells designed to capture runoff
from the parking lot. The design of the project, completed in 2016, expects to retain 47,491 cubic feet of
rainwater annually.
“The St. Louis Housing Authority and its development partner, McCormack Baron Salazar, have a
dedicated team that has designed many development projects to be a beacon in the community
representing the best practices in environmental sustainability,” said Cheryl Lovell, executive director of
the St. Louis Housing Authority. “The MSD program allowed the team to pursue projects that even
further reduced the development’s impact on the environment with techniques that may not have
otherwise been economically feasible.”
Rainscaping type: Rainwater harvesting and bioretention
Challenges: The main part of the school was already constructed when the project began, which
required engineers to retrofit best management practices (BMP) to complete the bioretention cells and
rainwater harvesting system.
Solution: The design engineer, Civil Design, Inc., worked with MSD Plan Review to optimize rainwater
volume reduction and figure out how to best apply BMPs to the completed site. This required intensive
coordination between the two entities. Curbs were cut to direct water toward the bioretention cells,
ensuring the rainwater made its way to the proper area of the property.
What makes this project unique: Completion of the Flance Early Learning Center’s bioretention cells
and rainwater harvesting system required a partnership between four entities: MSD, St. Louis Housing
Authority, McCormack Baron Salazar, and Civil Design, Inc. In addition, the project provides broad
visibility of the environmental benefits bioretention cells can provide, as well as an opportunity for the
school’s students to learn about the environment and the water system.
“The Flance Center project combines best practices of both early childhood education and
environmental sustainability,” Lovell said. “Creative signage incorporated with all of the rainscaping and
green features is designed to be easily understood by preschoolers, which means the educational
benefits of this project will extend from the very earliest learners to teachers, parents, and community
residents. The children witness the benefits of rainscaping firsthand and learn to be good stewards of
natural resources,” she added.
About MSD’s Rainscaping Large-Scale Grant Program: This rainscaping grant program (previously called
the Early Action Program) seeks to engage partners to identify joint opportunities to incorporate
rainscaping into ongoing programs and future redevelopment projects. Each grant awarded allows MSD
to create a public-private partnership that contributes to the environmental, social, and economic
health of the St. Louis region. For more information or to learn how to apply for your organization, visit
projectclearstl.org.