Over the years that I conducted national readership and conference attendee surveys for Stormwater Magazine and StormCon interest in low-impact development grew rapidly and I sought to develop accredited continuing education in this area. Janice Kaspersen, then the editor of Stormwater and Erosion Control magazines, pointed me to Larry Coffman, who first created low-impact development in the 1990s while working for Prince George’s County, Maryland. Mr. Coffman not only agreed to teach a workshop at StormCon but also gave this interview to me, wherein I sought to capture how he came to invent and name low-impact development.

Laura Funkhouser Cortelyou, M.A. was a frequent contributor to Stormwater Magazine from 2004-2008. She developed accredited continuing education programming for StormCon, the national conference on stormwater management and worked in collaboration with Nikos Singelis, then the lead for education and outreach on NPDES at the US EPA Office of Wastewater, to co-present talks and organize panel discussions at StormCon.

Laura was the head of marketing for Forester Communications/Forester Media, the publisher of Stormwater Magazine, Water Efficiency Magazine, Onsite Water Treatment Magazine, Distributed Energy Magazine, MSW Management Magazine, Erosion Control Magazine, and Grading & Excavation Contractor Magazine; and the presenter of StormCon.

Find her on LinkedIn.