The City of Birmingham aims to establish a Rain Garden Rebate Program to address the increasing frequency of major rain events that are damaging homes in southeastern Michigan. Rain gardens, a type of green stormwater infrastructure, can help mitigate this damage.

To support the city’s future program, CLC Fellow Paige Hughart developed a comprehensive program overview, application, and a fund development database outlining potential funding sources for various program models. Additionally, Paige created a DIY Rain Garden Guidebook that provides detailed instructions for planning, installing, and maintaining a rain garden. This guidebook is designed to assist residents in installing rain gardens, regardless of the rebate program's status, with the goal of achieving widespread adoption to help reduce flood damage in Birmingham.

• Location: Birmingham, MI
• Project Team: Paige Hughart (Fellow, University of Michigan), Leah Blizinski & Nicholas Dupuis (Mentors, City of Birmingham), Ruth Kline-Robach (Technical Advisor, Michigan State University)
• Project Presentation (PDF)
• Project Deliverables:
  • Birmingham Rain Garden Rebate Program (PDF) - This completed guidebook can be used as an example for other communities. It includes information about rain gardens, an explanation of Birmingham’s Rain Garden Rebate Program, and the DIY Rain Garden Guidebook content. A lot of the language and the plant list in this guidebook is specific to clay soil because that’s what predominates Birmingham. It is meant to be shared and accessed digitally as the format spans two 8.5”x11” pages as if it were an open book.
  • Birmingham Rain Garden Rebate Application (PDF) - This application document is an example created for Birmingham. The pdf is fillable with some boxes being required. The colors are aligned with Birmingham’s branding and the rain garden guidebook design.
  • DIY Rain Garden Guidebook (PDF) - This guidebook doesn’t use Birmingham specific branding. It is meant to support individuals with installing, planning, and maintaining a rain garden in addition to giving some general information about them. The information and plants in this guidebook are suited to all soil types.
  • Downloadable ZIP Files (90MB ZIP) - contains Adobe InDesign and Illustrator files to create a customized DIY Guidebook and Rebate Application. For files to edit the Birmingham Rain Garden Rebate Program PDF, email [email protected].