Tacoma City Council Tuesday approved a resolution to formally accept a $1 million grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology to help pay for a stormwater improvement project at Cheney Stadium.

According to documents prepared by city staff, the project will retrofit approximately two acres of an existing parking lot with porous asphalt and landscaping improvements. Cheney Stadium is located at the headwaters of Leach Creek and Chambers Creek, and the area has been selected by the city to be a demonstration site for stormwater management and sustainable design. In addition, the city hopes Cheney Stadium will provide an opportunity to spread the water quality message to thousands of baseball fans each year.

The nearly $1.5-million project is scheduled to begin before the end of this year and be completed by the end of 2014. The resolution approved by councilmembers also directs the city to contribute $487,000 in matching funds from the its surface water fund.

The parking lot at Cheney Stadium has recently undergone major infrastructure improvements.

Tacoma’s Clay Huntington Way, the north entrance of Cheney Stadium formerly known as Cheyenne Street, was the focus of a low-impact development project that used porous asphalt to reduce the amount of runoff pollution by allowing rainwater to soak into the ground naturally. In addition, a portion of the south parking lot was also upgraded with porous asphalt and landscaping islands. Two rain gardens, low-maintenance plants and more than 100 new trees also help filter rainwater and keep it from carrying polluted runoff downstream.

The project also added 10-foot-wide sidewalk and energy-efficient LED streetlights from 19th Street to the north ticket entrance at the ballpark to increase pedestrian safety, widened the roadway to include shared bicycle lane markings, installed bicycle racks at the north ticket entrance, and installed electric vehicle charging stations in the north parking lot.