Well Farm at Voris Field

The transformation of a vacant 1.6-acre lot into The Well Farm at Voris Field — a community-driven urban stormwater farm by Greenprint Partners in Peoria, Illinois — aims to improve local access to fresh food, create jobs, and reduce flooding in a low-income, underinvested community. AKRF served as the project’s design/builder, preparing and implementing a collaborative site design that integrates a hybrid poplar “stormwater forest” installation that receives stormwater runoff from the surrounding roadways; 100 raised garden beds that are home to an urban agriculture apprenticeship program; flowering stormwater bioswales; and space for public gatherings. Moreover, monitoring results of observed soil and plant-water response during and following storm events are being used in the development of a calibrated hybrid iTree Hydro/EPA-SWMM modeling tool to model the performance and to assist in the design of future stormwater forest installations.