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Presenter urges 'depave' pilots, parking reforms to cut runoff, heat and sprawl
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Summary
RF Khan told the committee that reducing excessive pavement through measures such as removing unneeded parking, shared‑use lots, pervious pavement, tree wells and pilot depaving projects can reduce stormwater pollution, heat‑island effects and sprawl; he cited grants and volunteer 'Depave' chapters as models.
RF Khan, introduced to the Energy, Environment & Sustainability Committee on April 13 as a long‑time regional entrepreneur, urged the county to pursue "pavement reduction" strategies that he said would improve safety, reduce stormwater pollution and restore habitat.
Khan argued that excess pavement contributes to faster driving and more severe crashes, increases impervious surface that drives flooding and stormwater pollution, and raises local temperatures via urban heat‑island effects. "Why are we paving paradise?" Khan asked, quoting a lyric to frame his point, and later said, "Pavement. It's pernicious." He described pilots and tactics including reducing parking minimums, allowing shared‑use parking (for example church lots), installing pervious pavements and tree wells, tightening turning radii to slow traffic, and community‑led "Depave" projects that convert asphalt to planted, permeable space.
Khan said asphalt is highly recyclable and listed funding sources used by Depave and similar pilots in other jurisdictions: federal and state grants, soil and water conservation grants, environmental services funds, foundation grants and private gifts. He noted his organization recently received a $25,000 grant from the Landscape Architect Society of America to study best practices nationally.
Committee members pressed for maintenance and cost details for porous surfaces and asked about examples in Ulster County; Khan and staff referenced local permeable paving retrofits and county projects that had used permeable materials and environmental grants. Legislator Peters asked for the slide with book recommendations; Khan suggested The High Cost of Free Parking and other texts.
What happens next: Committee members expressed interest in advocacy and pilot projects; staff offered to provide local examples and tours of retrofit sites. Khan suggested the committee could play an advocacy role and fund audits, studies or small pilot projects to test depaving approaches in the county.
