2006 PUGET SOUND SECTION LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE AWARD PRESENTED AT HOLIDAY PARTY

This year's recipient of the Leadership and Service Award was an obvious choice, unanimously agreed upon by the PSS Section Board. After an enjoyable holiday party dinner with clear views across the Seattle skyline, Richard Hart and Board President Bob Thorpe invited Joseph Tovar to the podium to accept the award. Joseph was recognized for his outstanding leadership and commitment in the planning profession through education and dissemination of critical and factual public information resulting in the defeat of initiative I-933 in the State of Washington. An award plaque and $100 was presented.

In accepting the award, Joseph relayed entertaining stories of leading many battles that lead to our success. A most appreciative audience greeted him with rousing applause and standing ovation.

Joseph Tovar receives Leadership Award
for his work on the defeat of I-933

The Section thanks Foster Pepper PLLC for sponsoring our access to the facility and we thank our sponsors, IBI Group, RW Thorpe & Associates, AJEM, Jones & Stokes, BHC Consultants, Ogden Murphy Wallace PLLC, NW Center for Livable Communities, Charles R Wolfe Attorney, and The Watershed Company

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Greetings:

We celebrated a great 2006 Holiday Party, attended by nearly 100 colleagues and friends. Thanks to all the PSS Officers for a great event, lead by Hiller West and Richard Hart.

In past letters I have spoken in broad terms about the goals of the Puget Sound Section of the APA, and the goals of the State APA, and, more recently have talked about "taking issues", either condemnation or partial taking. I would like to look at an issue on which we as planners have not taken a strong stand. I hope to engender discussion, interaction, and participation in this important decision - the Seattle Viaduct.

I tend to look at issues, first from a very simple approach that comes from growing up in a smaller community in western Nebraska, as well spending summers on cattle ranches with my cousins and watching how problems were addressed and solved - oftentimes simple approaches based on common sense are good indicators of policy direction. The second approach will be a more complex one of economics and the real numbers associated with this project, which haven't been, in my opinion, fully applied to the process of the rebuild, tunnel or surface options. It is my view that we join other professional s, i.e., architects, landscape architects, engineers, Allied Arts, etc., who have come out requesting either a tunnel or a surface street. This could be a "cut and cover alternative" where the tunnel goes one way and the surface street goes the opposite.

My simple approach first:

1. Having traveled to 5 continents, and viewed a number of major cities and how they treat waterfront development combined with transportation, cargo, industry, tourism, and economics, I have yet to see a city that rebuilt a viaduct. Panama, New Mexico, Portugal, Spain, China, and a number of cities - Lisbon, Toronto, Panama City - where this type of viaduct has been removed and not replaced. Add to that Boston, Tampa, San Francisco, and New Orleans in the U. S.
   
   Thus, to my fellow planners, the quiz for the New Year is: Can you name one city that repeated a mistake such as a viaduct that blocks off a community, depresses economic values, and in turn, creates a dead hand on future taxes and economic development of the waterfront?
   
   
2. The viaduct is tremendously ugly. Today, we would not build it. We would not survive NEPA, SEPA, or Shorelines Management. The Seattle City Council has got it right. Permitting for this process will be an extreme challenge.
   
   
3. Economic development benefits have been estimated by a number of experts anywhere from over the next 40-50 years of 10 to 40 billion dollars in tax benefits, community benefits, and economic development. This, compared with 1 or 2 billion difference in the tunnel or cut and cover combination vs. rebuild, seems very worthwhile.

SNOHOMISH AND KING COUNTY NEWS

Snohomish County News

The winter Brown Bag seminar will take a trip up north for the first time in quite a while, when Snohomish County and the City of Lynnwood host the event on January 31. The subject will be Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) programs, featuring speakers from the City of Arlington, the City of Everett, and Snohomish County. The City of Lynnwood is kind to host the event at their fire department training room, 18800 44th Avenue W.

King County News

Those PSS members who have lived in the Puget Sound region for quite some time have noticed quite a number of changes, including increased density, population, and unfortunately, a significant increase in traffic. One thing that hasn't changed for quite sometime is the beauty of one of our most respected and cherished rural areas: the Snoqualmie River Valley. However, you may not be aware that the area's growth has finally reached the Snoqualmie Valley. And the city of Duvall is one of the places which will see some exciting changes taking place within the next 10 years.

In August 2005, the City "reopened for business" after a 6-year sewer moratorium. Prior to the lifting of the moratorium, City staff and community residents spent several years drafting City-wide and Downtown visioning plans, updating the Comprehensive Plan, and updating the Unified Development Regulations. Once all these plans were in place, the City was ready for new development activity that would enhance the character of Duvall and make the city a more attractive and liveable community.

In 2006, Duvall staff has approved over 25 new projects including approximately 270 new single and multi-family homes, 3 commercial projects, with more to come in early 2007. Duvall's current population is just over 6,000 residents. The City has projected the population to reach 12,000 within the next 10 years.

With the adoption of new policies and regulations and a significant population growth, this has allowed Duvall to become an attractive community for new cutting edge commercial and housing projects, including:

• Cam West/ Lake Washington Technical College: 60 acre mixed use project, including 180,000 square foot satellite campus for Lake Washington Technical College, ~ 375 houses and up to 140,000 square feet commercial space (will be annexed in 2007, development agreement to follow)
  
  
• Washington Holdings: 20 acre mixed use project, including ~ 150 residential units and up to 70,000 square feet of commercial space just east of Main Street (SR203) (anticipate rezone request early in 2007; development agreement likely)
  
  
• Duvall Village: 115 houses, including carriage houses, cottages and detached units and 70,000 square feet of commercial space on Main Street (SR203).
  
  

Water Resource Planning

In keeping with the December 2006 release of the Puget Sound Partnership final report to Gov. Chris Gregoire outlining recommendations to reach a healthy Puget Sound, this issue of PSS News addresses innovative water resource planning issues. The Partnership report titled "Sound Health, Sound Future - Protecting and Restoring Puget Sound" contains a 2020 action agenda which addresses five top priority areas. One area is to significantly reduce polluted stormwater runoff. The Partners recommend a significant increase in state funding to reach these goals. In a policy brief, Gov. Gregoire stated she will help cities and counties meet new standards to improve stormwater management, retrofit old stormwater systems and pilot low impact development techniques that reduce the amount of toxic stormwater runoff.

Source: http://www.pugetsoundpartnership.org/

PLANNING FOR STORMWATER

Planning for Stormwater

By Greg Giraldo, PE, LEED, and Amalia Leighton, PE, SvR Design Company

How stormwater is managed significantly impacts a jurisdiction, developers, and the environment. Updated environmental regulations and acts such as the Growth Management Act have resulted in stricter requirements for treating stormwater runoff.

Due to tighter regulations, GMA, lack of available land for development and the cost of land, governments should consider offering developers and project design teams creative, low cost and low impact methods to effectively treat stormwater. Because regulations have tightened, the space required in a site to treat stormwater runoff can be significant. Moreover, slight miscalculations can result in costly site redesigns. To help new developments progress in a predictable, even environmentally responsible fashion, planners need to become involved in how their jurisdictions mitigate runoff.

Runoff Basics

The detention pond at High Point was designed into the community. Photo courtesy of SvR Design Company. At High Point, bioswales serve a functional and aesthetic purpose. Photo courtesy of SvR Design Company. Design for a vegetated bioswale at High Point. Growing Vine in Seattle raises stormwater to the surface, integrating it in a visually appealing manner into the street. Photo courtesy of SvR Design Company.

Growth and redevelopment typically results in increased stormwater runoff - usually because the development increases the amount of impervious surface, limiting an area's ability to absorb rain water. Runoff from roofs, parking areas, and streets is often accompanied by various pollutants: phosphorus, metals, sediments, oils, and grease. To protect our environment, society has developed viable strategies for runoff: "flow" control and water quality treatment, which can be separated into three or four basic principles.

Flow control involves storing water and slowly releasing it, mimicking a predevelopment runoff environment (tank). There are several Water Quality means by which to treat runoff. One method is to pass the water through a filter media, separating out the pollutants (concrete box filter). Another option, bioswales, is a vegetated path that water flows through at a calculated rate, giving the pollutants time to settle out. These traditional or conventional approaches to managing stormwater often require significant space or expensive underground treatment systems.

These conventional systems are not the only option for treating stormwater. In fact, there is a growing movement to use natural methods. These natural treatment methods have been applied at sites across the country, and there are a variety of reasons why planners should take note.

The Environmental Approach

Snohomish County and the cities of Seattle and Olympia are among the agencies that have re-evaluated the conventional approaches and who are taking progressive approaches to managing stormwater.

These communities are recommending and encouraging Low Impact Development (LID) solutions. According to the Low Impact Development - Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound: "LID is a stormwater management and land development strategy applied at the parcel and subdivision scale that emphasizes conservation and use of on-site natural features integrated with engineered, small-scale hydrologic controls to more closely mimic predevelopment hydrologic functions."

Simplified, LID takes advantage of the earth and the site's features to treat pollutants. These alternative solutions not only treat stormwater on-site, many of them beautify or enhance the site by adding vegetation.

• Detention Ponds, in many designs are large, rectangular, fenced in spaces, providing volume for large storm events. Detention ponds are a straightforward approach to hold the runoff and release it over time. In contrast, retention ponds maintain an amount of water, using the above-live storage as detention space and the lower-dead storage area for water quality. Retention Ponds can help by releasing stormwater slowly into the drainage system, keeping large amounts of water from flooding the downstream system.
  
  
• Natural Drainage Swales not only slow the movement of water and allow it to infiltrate into the soil for water quality treatment and flow control but also increase green space and can be used to create buffers between pedestrians and vehicular traffic. This makes for a nice contrast to the grassy roadside swales.
  
  
• Rain Gardens allow water to infiltrate into the ground and provide water quality treatment by filtering runoff through soil lenses.
  
  
• Rainwater Harvesting / Cisterns can store water for irrigation uses, containing rainwater on site and lowering the amount of water needed for irrigation.
  
  
• Porous pavement allows stormwater to pass through it for ground infiltration, thereby reducing the runoff from smaller storms.
  
  
• Green Roofs/Green Walls keep rainwater where it falls and reduce the heat island effect. Green roofs can create a roof-top park that adds to a building's aesthetic.
  
  

OLYMPIA'S UGLY PONDS

Olympia's Ugly Ponds: List Server Responses and Proposed Changes

By Craig Tosomeen

In October 2006 I sent a request for help to prevent the spread of ugly stormwater ponds to Washington Chapters of the APWA Stormwater Managers and the American Planning Association.

The request was:

The City Of Olympia is reviewing its stormwater pond design regulations. We would like to have ponds built in our city which are irregular shaped, well - landscaped and an amenity to the community. We are getting ponds that are boxes dug straight into the ground with minimal landscaping.

Does anybody have regulations which have been successful in creating attractive stormwater ponds? Do you have open space requirements for developments and are these open spaces being incorporated into the pond area?

How do we regulate aesthetics into stormwater pond design?

Responses

I received responses from 24 people. The responses varied in opinion as to whether stormwater should be aesthetically pleasing and what constitutes a good-looking stormwater pond.

Several engineers pointed out the irregular shaped ponds can have low efficiencies for water treatment if the design allows flows to short circuit the facility. The point I take from this comment is that first and foremost stormwater ponds must provide their primary function: stormwater water quality and flow control treatment.

Several people pointed out that allowing ponds to be used as open space is not always a benefit to the pond designer. The side slope and grade restrictions of open space require shallow ponds sometime to a point where it is more efficient from a land area perspective to provide separate open space and stormwater ponds.

Many people pointed out that aesthetics such as side slopes and irregular shapes takes land area. These responses generally consider that we want dense housing in urban settlings, it benefits the city and the developer of the land. Any land area given to the stormwater ponds takes area away from housing density. They also point out that stormwater ponds are not intended for people to recreate in or as habitat, thus the goal of making aesthetically pleasing stormwater ponds does more harm than good.

There is a similar argument that storm ponds are regulated as single use facilities and as such, aesthetic considerations should not be a part of the design. If a community wishes their storm water ponds to include habitat for wildlife or recreation for people then they should be regulated as multi-use facilities and design according. It is not appropriate to regulate for one function and require multiple functions.

A couple of people pointed out that landscaping does not always make a pond look better. In appropriately landscaped ponds can actually result in hazard trees and increased work for those maintaining the ponds. It was also apparent that there are different opinions on what is good looking landscaping. Some see lawns as attractive and diverse dense vegetation as un-kept and ugly. Some people think the reverse is true.

I had two responses that pointed me to a specific set of regulations that they felt was working well. I had responses from regulators in both of those jurisdictions who felt that their regulations where not working well and that they were still getting ponds that they considered to be ugly. One of the jurisdictions also allowed stormwater ponds to be considered as open space and yet they still felt that some of there ponds in open space were ugly. The only advantage of being in the open space was that the pond was less visible.

I reviewed the codes and regulations for pond designs that I was pointed to as being examples that resulted in good looking stormwater ponds. All of the regulations are written as guideline, suggestions or shoulds. The pond shape should consider the natural topography of the site. The pond should be irregular shaped. The pond designs should be attractive. Some regulations do limit side slopes to 3:1 or flatter. Many regulations say the pond must be landscaped but they vary on what the landscaping requirements are.

One person pointed out that there are enough regulations now to get good looking stormwater ponds. The problem was a matter holding the ponds designers to implement the current regulations and the effort required to do so.

The Olympia Experience

Olympia is typical of the jurisdictions that have ponds aesthetics covered in our regulations as should. For example we have stormwater ponds ' … shall be attractively landscaped and integrated into the site design'. We do not provide shall requirements for how the pond will be integrated into the site or what is attractively landscaped. We provide plenty of guidelines and suggestions but no requirements.

Olympia has adopted a stormwater manual equivalent to the current Department of Ecology Manual (2001 with WWHM sizing). Olympia has a lot of till soils due to it being sited over an area that was covered in glaciers many times. This results in soils that infiltrate very slowly or not at all. Olympia requires tree tracts within our developments but takes a fee-in-lieu of open space which is used to fund a regional park system. Olympia allows 2:1 side slopes and retaining walls within stormwater ponds.

The conditions above results in stormwater ponds that need a large storage volume and provides very little other area in which to provide aesthetic considerations. We recently tried to enforce the full extent of our current regulations in regards to pond shape and aesthetic considerations. We request that a rectangular 2:1 side sloped pond be altered to added further shaping or contouring in the pond layout. The hearings examiner determined that "In the absence of any citation of a requirement by the Staff, further shaping or contouring should not be required." Bottom line is we cannot enforce a should or guideline.

Olympia's landscaping requirements include native shrubs and trees. We find that the majority of the vegetation dies within the first summer after planting. We struggle with getting developers to replant the ponds and generally have ponds with invasive plants and weeds in them when the home owners take them over. Thus we are getting ponds which are hard to maintain as the ponds vegetation becomes more of a problem than an amenity to the facility.

We have had complaints about the fences around our storm water ponds. Typically the complaints are about 6 foot high fences that have no air space and are placed on the lot line. Fences are typically installed because of either the perceived or real liability concerns of standing water in the pond. Olympia requires slopes steeper than 2:1 to be fenced and building code has a requirement that drops greater than 2.5 feet be protected with a railing or fence.

Several people responding to the request for help suggested that Olympia follow what Lacey is doing as they felt Lacey's pond are more attractive than Olympia's. I agree with these people that generally ponds in Lacey are better looking than ours. Unfortunately, there are some differences between the two cities that may not make this possible. Lacey was not as extensively covered in glaciers as Olympia was. There soils generally infiltrate very well. Lacey has not adopted the latest DOE stormwater manual, this means that their regulations generally require smaller pond volumes. Lacey requires open space in developments and allows stormwater ponds to be within the open space.

Given the experience of others above it is not guaranteed that simply providing open space will result in good-looking ponds with Olympia. The most significant factor in whether ponds are attractively shaped appears to be the volume requirements of the facility based upon standards in place and the native soils infiltration capacity. These factors are outside the control of Olympia. Hence, Olympia will have to have a solution to making better looking ponds, which work with the regulations we have in place and the soils and topography of our city.

Proposed Changes to Olympia's Regulations

Given the experience we have seen in Olympia and that of others there does appear to be some things that we can do to make our ponds better looking. I propose we make the following changes:

1. Change the stormwater manual to only allow earthen side slopes that are 3:1 or flatter.
   
   
2. Change the stormwater manual requirements for retaining walls. Individual retaining walls shall have a maximum height of 2.5 feet high as measured from the ground to the cap. Walls may be benched but there must be at least a 5 feet wide bench between walls. The exterior face of all retaining walls must be architecturally textured.
   
   
3. Require that there shall not be fences on the sides of stormwater facilities that boarder a public right of way or common tract. Fences that boarder a back or side yard of a residential lot may be 6 feet high all other fences must be 4 feet high or less and are 50% open to air.
   
   
4. Require temporary irrigation of stormwater pond landscaping. Landscaping shall not be planted until the irrigation is operation. Temporary irrigation shall be continued for at least 3 years.
   
   
5. Require 90% survivability on landscaping at the end of 3 years. Contractors to bond for plant establishment period.
   
   
6. Require a landscape architect prepare and stamp the stormwater pond landscape plan. Set requirements for the minimum number of different plant species to be used and a plant density requirement.
   
   
7. Allow the area upslope from a stormwater facility's 100-year flood elevation plus one foot to be platted as tree tract. Tree tracts must be separately plated lots and can not include stormwater access roads and conveyance features.
   
   
8. Ensure that the current regulations for composted amended soils in dispersed pervious areas is applied to the stormwater pond area.
   
   

WINTER '07 BROWN BAG SERIES

Announcing the Puget Sound Section Washington APA Winter '06 Brown Bag Series

Come to the FREE session you need to do your job better! APA-subsidized lunches, only $2!

Please RSVP by the preceding Monday at 9 AM to Steve Ladd, ladds@ci.bonney-lake.wa.us, or (253) 447-4350.

Topic	Time	Place	Great speakers!
How to work with Public Works Departments Engineers may be from Mars and planners from Venus, but a happy marriage is necessary for proper infrastructure planning and development review. We have assembled some successful couples for group counseling on how to coordinate our efforts.	Noon to 1:15, Wed., Jan. 24	Renton City Hall, 1055 S. Grady, 7th floor	Scott Greenberg, Burien Comm. Dev. Director Steve Clark, Burien PW Director Fred Satterstrom, Kent Community Dev. Director Larry Blanchard, Kent Public Works Director Jack Pace, Tukwila
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) TDR programs redirect development pressure from lands to be conserved, such as farmlands, to urban areas where services are available. To succeed they must cope with both political and market conditions. Come hear how cities and counties are crafting TDR programs.	Noon to 1:15, Wed., Jan. 31	Lynn-wood Fire Station,, 18800 44th Ave. W. (SW corner of 44th & 188th)	Tom Niemann and Ryan Hembree, Snohomish County Brad Collins, City of Arlington Allan Giffen, City of Everett
Alternative Street Types Are there better alternatives to the traditional local access street? Green streets, SEA streets, traffic-calmed streets, and even Woonerfs are gaining prominence. What would best fit your community? A strong inter-disciplinary team will help you answer that question.	Noon to 1:15, Feb. 7	Mercer Island City Hall, 9611 SE 36th St.	Lucy Sloman, Planner CityWorks, Inc. Dan Ervin, RH2 Engineering Stephen Antupit, Mithun Partnership Peg Staeheli, SVR Design
Urban Design in the Puget Sound Region: a cooperative, comprehensive approach These volunteers have been working to interject regional design into PSRC's VISION 2020+20 plan. They will present initial ideas and engage attendees in a discussion regarding the initial draft, next steps, examples of "good design practices," and characteristics of the Puget Sound Region's identity and design character.	Noon to 1:15, Wed., Feb. 14	Mercer Island City Hall, 9611 SE 36th St.	John Owen, Makers Rocky Piro, PSRC Dennis Ryan, UW Bill Trimm, Mill Creek Michael Hintze, AHBL Jill Sterret, EDAW Ron Turner Roger Wagoner, BHC Consulting
Stormwater Design for Planners II The popular fall stormwater event showed how storm facilities can double as art and open space. We now present a recap of the landscape architects' vision plus a counterpoint from stormwater engineers and public works managers, with background on calculations, modeling, and maintenance demands.	Noon to 1:15, Wed., Feb. 21	Renton City Hall, 1055 S. Grady, 7th floor	Peggy Gaynor, Gaynor Inc. Dan O'Leary and other stormwater engineers from CH2MHill Ron Straka, Renton Public Works

BROWN BAG SERIES RECAPS

Recaps of the Summer 2006 Brown Bags
By Brown Bag Coordinator Steve Ladd except as noted

Stormwater Design for Planners
10/18/06

Greg Geraldo and Amalia Leighton of SVR Design explained traditional stormwater management and presented innovative alternatives that are and have been successfully implemented in the High Point and Northgate projects in Seattle. For more information, see their article, "Planning for Stormwater" in this issue of PSS News.

Michelle Whitfield, PSS Newsletter Editor, discussed the planning challenges of implementing these innovative techniques including:

• Planning for a dual functioning space: a space that earns credits for open space / recreation / and stormwater plus functions from a safety perspective.
• The challenge of enforcing design guidelines; see the article on stormwater ponds by Craig Tosomeen.
• Fear of high maintenance costs / or unknown maintenance cost ofdoing something different

Michelle and the team presented several resources useful to planners, the first two provide highly detailed methodology for managing stormwater:

• Integrated Management Practices (IMP) found in Low Impact Development Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound (January 2005) available at http://www.psat.wa.gov/Publications/LID_tech_manual05/lid_index.htm
• Best Management Practices (BMPs) found in the latest Department of Ecology Storm-water Management Manual for Western Washington.
• The Integrated Pond: Enhancing the Design and Value of Stormwater Ponds, Published by King County in 1998 and available at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/dss/pond.htm is an outstanding reference on creating attractive ponds. Peggy Gaynor was instrumental in the production of this manual.

Peggy Gaynor presented an evolution of design for stormwater ponds that were largely linear fragments left over from transportation projects. Over the years and after much "playing" with what works, Peggy's projects have evolved to include innovative ways to retain stormwater in ponds, swales, rain gardens, and cisterns. Examples include "Growing Vine" in First and Vine, a "Green Street" and currently the Thornton Creek Daylighting project at Northgate Mall.

Many projects have used volunteer labor for plantings. It's important to note that it is not more expensive to create an aesthetic pond - the design fee is more than worth the investment.

Reinventing Suburban Commercial Strips
10/25/06

John Owen of Makers placed the problem of aging commercial strips into a regional context. We all have them. The "team" for solving the problem includes property owners and businesses, and WSDOT if the strip is on a state highway. All transportation projects should be multi-modal, and should be linked to community development projects. John advised planners to break the strip down into small segments and prepare unique plans for each, looking for special opportunities. When sidewalks are lacking, first globally define the curb line so improvements can begin parcel-by-parcel. Sometimes all you realy need is landscaping. Design standards are a way of saying "I care," but Main Street standards won't work out in areas oriented to the automobile. Landowners sometimes need hand-holding, such as by preparing free site planning advice for them. Even low-rent commercial land uses like nail parlors serve a need as strands in the web of the community.

Janice Soloff of Kirkland presented the 85th St. Corridor Subarea Plan as a case study. The community accepts its auto-orientation but wants to avoid big boxes and commercial creep into residential neighborhoods. The parking is in front and the center turn land and multiple driveways are dangerous. Kirkland hopes to convert parts of it to mixed use, multi-level centers while pushing the parking away from the intersections. New buildings should be perpendicular to the street with screened parking on the side and rear. Driveways need to be consolidated and parking lots need to be shared.

George Rolfe of the University of Washington advocated small-scale planning to reinvent strips. The layout needs to accommodate cars, for arrival at the store or mall, and pedestrians, for getting from their car to the attraction. The ability to orient to pedestrians is limited, but sometimes shopping areas can be tied to adjacent residential areas. The business people in strips may resist change and reinvestment. Sometimes the city's best contribution can be to provide an incentive, such as municipal parking, in exchange for a design improvement, such as a rearrangement of entrances and parking.

Planned Actions
11/1/06

Richard Weinman of Weinman Consulting said that the Planned Actions appeared as part of the 1995 Regulatory Reform legislation as a way to do SEPA up-front, facilitating permitting in subareas or master planned communities. The jurisdiction must do an EIS and pass an ordinance establishing mitigation measures. Subsequent "planned actions" implementing the subarea plan must be "qualified" but otherwise require no SEPA action. Ten Planned Action EISs have been adopted, six more are underway. Most are to revitalize city centers. The average EIS cost has been around $200,000. The process has generally worked well.

Hiller West of the City of Monroe presented the North Kelsey case study, where the City owns 60 acres it is developing commercially north of the downtown on SR 20. In addition to the EIS process, the City prepared a market study and design guidelines, then obtained developers through a RFP process.

Jack Pace presented the North Tukwila Manufacturing and Industrial Center case study. This is a big one, covering 1,300 acres with many owners. The EIS covered build-out based on the Comp Plan, supplemented by discussions with landowners and staff-prepared "prototypes" of how certain areas are likely to redevelop. The EIS process addressed specific aspects such as stormwater, parking, driveway locations, and pollution sources in detail. 33 planned actions, $2 million in development, have been processed under the Planned Action EIS so far.

Planning Sustainability
11/8/06

Vicki Colgan, Sustainable Building Coordinator for WSDOE, sees sustainability as an integration of all the design variables allowing us to live within our bounds. Aaron Adelstein with Built Green spoke of the huge growth of the Built Green movement and how we each need to shrink our ecological footprint. Buildings consume almost half of our nation's energy so they are an obvious focus of concern. We also need to reduce building material waste, improve indoor air quality, and many related challenges. He feels local governments should provide incentives for LEED certification. Marni Kahn of the Cascadia Region's Green Building Council spoke of the economic benefits of green buildings, like 40% less water use and 30% less energy use on average, and offered speakers for further education.

Avoiding Archaeological Disasters through Enhanced Permit Processes
11/15/06

Janet Rogerson of CTED introduced the panel, convened to help planners ensure that development doesn't impact archeological and historical resources. Stephenie Kramer of the WA Dept. of Archeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) listed the federal and state laws that mandate identification and preservation - see RCW 27.53, 27.44, and 68.60. SEPA and SMA have preservation components too. At the federal level, federal funding or permits trigger Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The penalty for violation is $5000. Historic resources are generally above-ground and known. But how does a local government know when to require an archeologist's report? What to do with all those slap-dash SEPA checklists that cast no light on the possibility of on-site archeological resources? DAHP has maps of known and likely resources and the tribes are a wealth of information. Isaac Blum of Applied Preservation Technologies said his organization can provide the training, analysis, and archeological / historical resource planning to help local governments avoid bad headlines, such as the City of Blaine got when they built a sewer through an Indian cemetery! Reuben McKnight, Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Tacoma, talked of the on-going challenge of getting adequate pre-development archeological advice and the importance of agency commenting. Convincing other city departments like Public Works that they have to worry about archeological / historical resources is yet another challenge. In summary, local governments are advised to understand their resources, develop good relationships with agencies with expertise (especially the local tribe), and keep archeological resources on their radar screen in development review.

Editorial Note: To find out about future Brown Bag Series events, please visit the Puget Sound Section homepage on the Washington APA site.

A JOURNEY INTO PLANNING

A Journey Into Planning -- Where Land Meets Water

By Colleen Whitten Sax

Part 1 (The next issue will continue with Part 2)

This winter solstice offered time for reflection, an opportunity for synching up in a season of hibernation. Along with spending treasured time with family and friends, I thought about my purpose in the larger picture of our Earth and communities. So much is in turmoil. So much change is needed on so many fronts. And in our lives, each of us is at the helm of a complicated universe of sorts. Here, dormant seeds of intention contain the power for spring growth…

I wonder on the seeds of our individual decisions to enter this field. What inspired you to seek this challenging path? Mine began several years ago, when I made a brave leap from a secure corporate job that became "too virtual." My concerns about this beautiful place I commuted through daily were calling me. At a rapid pace, forested land was disappearing, making way for more corporate campuses. I wanted to understand how this came to be. I heard the message to come use my skills to help the land. Return to yourself, the Earth said. I was also witnessing great stress on my co-workers' minds and bodily health, and on their families. I wondered what would become of community. My view was it sure didn't appear sustainable.

While a graduate student of planning, I was very curious to understand what does sustainable development look like? What direction should we be heading in, in this practice of urban planning? After exploring many facets, I came to be most compelled with the interdisciplinary study of landscape ecology, or the analysis of an urban area within a landscape or basin context.

Ecosystems and human systems were described in terms of patterns and processes, actors and drivers. Land uses were interpreted through a palette of land cover types - vegetated or paved, grassy or bare soil. I enjoyed "flying over" all those digital orthophotos like a bird looking for an inviting place to land. Cities and suburbs edged into rural areas, developments were carved out of forested wildland. Wetlands were difficult to find. Historic photos highlighted how much had been transformed, land that had fragmented so quickly.

It seemed "sustainable development" could be discovered in certain neighborhood patterns with connected, mature landscapes. I held this ideal beside another: compact, mixed-use development in urban village hubs was the ideal, "efficient" use of land. That cities plan for both seemed to make sense from the "urban-to-rural-to-wildland gradient," a model offered by the urban ecology folks. It made ecological sense to locate most development near existing infrastructure. The urban fringe is where we should focus, to preserve what is most threatened.

If an area is heavily urbanized, many folks say we shouldn't waste money restoring it. Better to invest in preserving what is mostly intact, and wedge in more dwelling units with infill development. But what is the cumulative effect of even more impervious surface on the basin? Asking this question reminds me of a bunch of blind men feeling an elephant (over-simplified to make a point)… Shoreline planners don't look at upland impacts. Flood hazard planners don't factor urbanization into floodway maps. Habitat planners want bigger buffers, lots of plants, large woody debris and less flashiness in the stream. Engineers want to design the pond and the pipes. Water quality folks want bigger management plans, not less to manage. At this point, I am wishing for a more comprehensive approach to land use and water. You too, folks?

While with King County's natural resource agency, I served as a project manager to watershed jurisdictions under an interlocal agreement. Working for a WRIA meant I got to work with ecologists and hydrologists, basin stewards, as well as city planners. I learned much about the salmon recovery effort, water quality, and natural resource management, and how disconnected these functions often are from city planning.

Working first in a mostly rural context, the Snoqualmie Watershed was a unique group of jurisdictions that tackled joint products beyond the voluntary Chinook Habitat plans. Together with a consultant team, we produced a watershed-wide BAS Issues paper, Model CAO and LID incentives. Individual cities could adopt these locally, and some did, with mixed results. This collaborative process provided benefits of an ecosystem-based framework, sharing the work and knowledge, cost sharing, and was fun.

Working in a more urban context with WRIA 9, I looked at several parallel projects in Washington and Oregon to see how their science-to-policy processes were informed. I was curious to see what linkages were being made between watershed analyses and comprehensive plans. I was surprised to see very little connection or follow-through, such as, were land cover maps or hydrologic modeling fed back into informing long-range plans? Few were doing this.

Recently, the Governor announced a blueprint to restore Puget Sound, while acknowledging gaps in addressing stormwater threats. A group of senior scientists expressed concern, claiming that runoff is currently degrading Puget Sound streams and ecosystems, and with adding another million residents to the region, will become even more threatening. They have identified a range of proposed solutions to partially meet this need, however it seems the planning community needs to have much more discussion to adequately weigh in on this issue.

Many groups are catalyzing the solutions we seek. When we care for this beautiful place we live in, we inspire creative cooperation in the New Year.

Editorial note: Part 2 of this article will focus on solutions to these problems. If APA members have ideas on this subject, please e-mail them to Colleen.

Colleen Whitten Sax can be reached at: colleensrull@earthlink.net.

A PLANNER'S IMPRESSIONS OF CHINA

A Planner's Impressions of China

By Ron Turner

Introduction

My wife and I visited China, on an Elder Hostel tour in October, for about three weeks. The trip was an intense experience seeing many crowded Cities, green farms, gorges, rivers, monuments, museums and we constantly had experiences that caused us to stop and ask why China is what it is. I offered to put down some of my thoughts about the trip for the Newsletter in a non-technical, impressionistic way - just the way I reacted.- but still responding as a planner. Not many facts and certainly little analysis. I just wanted to share my observations and reflections. I did some fact checking, after I returned, shown in italicized script below each section to avoid my understandings being too far from reality

The Larger Framework

The obvious fact about China is that it is continuing to go through a monumental transformation from its traditional social system that ruled its life for centuries (or millenia) into its current interim form that can only be described as a complex mixture of traditional culture, attitudes and patterns, Marxist theory and controls and capitalist market's energy, extravagance and excesses. This transformation that began in the early 19th century and accelerated in the last half of the 20th century is effecting the lives of 1.3 billion people - all in a powerful physical context of mountains, high plateaus, deserts, lowlands and fertile deltas that influence and constrain the shape and form of those changes. China is also changing in reference to the outside world: .from a vulnerable, defensive, highly centered society (remember the Great Wall and Loa ts's admonition to stay within boundaries) to a world power that competes with the existing economic and military centers. As a planner, my most significant aid in understanding the most recent changes is Lewis Mumford's partitioning the development of our country into "three migrations". Contemporary China loosely fits into the second period- the industrialization period accompanied by great movement to the cities supported by the changes in agricultural and manufacturing technology, foreign migrants and capitalist investment, production and distribution of goods. China's enormous changes also happen within a special political system dominated by a single political party that still exerts control over public policies that attempt to bridge the "contradictions" between Marxist theory and capitalist practices: a daunting and perhaps desperate task. Similar to 19th Century industrialization the friction within this transformation in China seems to be enormous: and while increasing goods and standards of living for many is also the cause of profound inequities and class divisions: a severe problem that is recognized by the political leadership but not as yet reflected in new programs. In fact, the "safety net" of free health services, pensions and free public schools has apparently been eliminated. Why the leadership did not emulate the "social democratic" models of Western Europe still confounds me. My superficial portrayal of the years since 1949 and the establishment of the new China is of a country bouncing from curb to curb - trying to find the right course and adapting ideology to pragmatism and opportunism - while still sustaining some critical elements of the socialist philosophy and historical culture. Applying western analogies to the changes in a different culture is not an unqualified exercise but current urban development patterns and techniques in China are clearly derivative of extreme entrepreneurial models: implemented at larger and exaggerated scale.

The Haze

Photograph of Hong Kong Skyline

We spent about 23 days in China and only saw clear skies and bright sun for one afternoon in Beijing after a brief shower. A haze, of varying opacity, was a constant from Hong Kong, to the karst mountains of Jangshuo, to the Three Gorges Dam to Shanghai. The feeling that I was part of a bad science fiction film watching the mysterious and threatening mist ingesting Hong Kong was very uncomfortable. In some ways the uncertainty and vagueness of edges and limits was interesting and reminders of traditional paintings, but not as a permanent and unhealthy state of being. When I returned I checked on the issue of air quality and discovered that the haze was not benign and even in the farming communities of Southwest China there were days that high pollution warnings that limited activities. Articles have appeared that forecast that between 5 and 10 percent of China's GDP will have to be spent on mitigation of bad air and water quality.

Water

The Three Gorges Dam, now in place, on the Yangste River will impound a lake over 350 miles long. The dam is multi-purpose: flood control, power and water supply. The lake, currently about 30 meters below maximum elevation caused the relocation of over one million people and required the construction of new communities and small cities on its banks. The "taming" of this extraordinary river has been planned for over a century and is now discussed in the tradition of the Great Wall, and the Great Canal, that connects two great river basins, The Yangste and the Yellow Rivers. People have also described the impoundment as a great sewage lagoon, a poisoned pill that will offset the anticipated benefits. I asked our guide about the issues of water treatment in the Chungking City region (32million population) that is part of the watershed that feeds the impoundment and he estimated that only 60% of the sewage is treated but the policy goal,(no date), is 100%. If his estimates are correct there are still over 12 million persons dumping raw sewage into the lake from one of the urbanized areas of the watershed: hardly a reassuring estimate. While cruising the still magnificent gorge area below Chungking I didn't see one sewage treatment plant.

Iconography

One of the ways of trying to describe a new place within a different culture is to use iconographic techniques that have been useful in art history to explain and understand paintings that use symbols or coded representations.. We find this approach subsumed within efforts of planners' to promote and define community character and Architects mimicking past styles and character. To list a only few of my impressions:

Photograph of an amazing street

• Streets that are as crowded as any I've seen with constant interaction of open commercial spaces with life on those streets. They feel and look like Pikes Street Market on a summer day. People can be seen playing cards, dancing and exercising in the squares or street parks The exceptions are the "modern" corridors in the large cities: the Gucci streets that could be found, unfortunately, in parts of New York, or for that matter, Seattle
  
  
• Signage that is intense, large, colorful, flashing and pervasive, Las Vegas time ten. No surface or location is exempt, from the tops of wildly topped, 60 story buildings, monorail columns, continuous billboards abutting inner city arterials to signs that arch over the smaller commercial alleys. I never found out if there are sign ordinances in China - I sense that their traditional cultural history supports the exuberance of the commercial energy I found: in strong contrast to the design and sign controls we enforce in our places: a sort of a new urbanist, middle class dead zone that superseded the early vigor of capitalism.
  
  
• Light Shows in the larger cities that are brilliant, vulgar, adolescent and reminiscent of Las Vegas, Times Square and Tokyo. In Hong Kong people gathered at 8:00 o'clock in the evening at the edges of the harbor to view the sparkling and vibrating scene. Bauhaus style trained Architects, like myself, need not apply.
  
  
• Traditional Landscapes of small rice fields, water buffalo, trained fish catching cormorants, horn shaped limestone mountains and flat skiffs of bamboo tubes. Bikes with whole families, father, mother and two children on board: crowded streets filled with people, scooters, motorcycles, tractors and burdened bicycles piled high with farm goods - somehow making it through without accident. It was evident to me that there were different rules for traffic queuing and merging in China that I didn't understand. I was constantly in fear on buses and taxis. I was struck by the contrast between an ink wash painting of a women in the Shanghai Art Museum done in the early 1800's, simple and absolutely beautiful and paintings done, about the same time by David and Ingres that hang in the Louvre- heroic paintings of Napolean and war. The sense of cultural differences was deep and meaningful to me- I was in a different and uncertain place.
  
  
• Squares, Palaces, Walls and Gardens of breath taking dimensions and intimately sized and detailed designs. Designs that have matured over thousands of years and are venerated, adapted and used. While selected historic structures and spatial elements are being maintained traditional neighborhoods and communities are being totally "renewed" with all of the problems of displacement: especially brutal in an undemocratic state. The contradictions between the constant public reference to China's history and the obvious rate of it's removal is always in your face. Public responses have mitigated some of the recent development proposals but how this will play out is uncertain.