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October 2005
Volume II Issue 3 |
| Brown Bag Series
and Networking |
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The Planned Action EIS: Streamlining the
Permit Process while Encouraging Sustainable
Development
Wednesday., October 26, 2005, 11:30am to
1:00pm
PUD Building Training Center, 2320 California
St., Everett
Do you wish to
make your properties more desirable to potential
developers? Are you interested in streamlining your
permit process? Do you wish you could incorporate more
sustainable development strategies into your projects?
Well then, the Planned Action EIS process is for you.
Come listen to and ask questions of the City of
Lynnwood, Environments Consulting, and others to learn
more about this process and whether you too can reap its
benefits.
This forum offers an excellent venue
for networking and to meet the Taskforce and learn about
our other projects and activities. For more information
or to RSVP please call Terri Hooper at
425-783-8275.
Planned Action EIS
In 1995,
the Washington State legislature authorized a new
category of project action in SEPA (State Environmental
Policy Act) called a "planned action." Designating
specific types of project areas as planned action areas
(such as areas designated for economic development)
shifts the requirement for an environmental review from
the time a permit application is made to an earlier
phase in the planning process. The intent is to provide
a more streamlined environmental review process at the
project stage by conducting more detailed environmental
analysis during planning. Early environmental review
provides more certainty to permit applicants with
respect to what will be required and to the public with
respect to how the environmental impacts will be
addressed. This process also provides an opportunity for
jurisdictions to incorporate sustainable building
practices as a requirement for new development in the
Planned Action area.
Once the Planned Action
review process is completed, new development will be
attracted to the area since new projects need only be
reviewed for consistency with the designated planned
action. Designating planned action projects in this way
reduces permit-processing time since there are no SEPA
public notice requirements or procedural administrative
appeals at the project level. New business prospects
will be attracted to the area since it will recognized
as a place where new operations can be quickly
established and become quickly profitable.
Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing
Tour
Snohomish County Airport has forged
a unique public-private partnership with the Snohomish
County Public Facilities District, The Boeing Company
and the non-profit 501 (c)(3) Future of Flight
Foundation to create a major international tourist
destination in Snohomish County
Future of Flight
Project Manager Bill Lewallen has a history of including
creative, cutting edge environmental elements in his
development projects. In 1996 Bill developed the first
two operating Wetland Mitigation Banks in the State of
Washington as part of the Airport's Runway Safety
Improvement Project. Consistent with his interest in
protecting the environment, Bill Lewallen's Future of
Flight development team has installed a new water
conveyance and treatment product that replaces asphalt
parking lot stalls with grass. The Future of Flight is a
pilot project for this product and the results will be
monitored by the Airport and Snohomish County Planning
and Development Services.
The
Grasspave product is a series of interconnected rigid
plastic rings, each 6 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm in
height. Each ring is connected by a plastic webbing and
comes in rolls for easy installation.
Grasspave
can withstand driving loads of 5,720 pounds per square
inch. With its great bearing capacity, this product is
utilized on the Future of Flight site for fire lanes and
the primary visitor parking areas. Using this product
greatly reduced the area of impervious surfaces and
allowed for much of the rainwater to be slowly released
back into the native soils or evaporated back into the
atmosphere. With it's water storing capabilities,
Grasspave areas are considered part of the rainwater
detention system and can reduce the size of needed
detention vaults. If the Future of Flight parking area
was paved with asphalt, the stormwater detention area
would have been three times larger that presently
installed.
- NFIC Parking Area: 42,638 sf
- Fire truck Access south of building: 9,330 sf
- Total Grasspave Area: 51,968 sf
Maintaining the grass will involve more
care than a standard asphalt parking area as well;
however, the aesthetic benefits of green grass compared
to acres of asphalt and the environmental benefits of
dramatically reducing stormwater runoff are expected to
balance these additional challenges.
Product & Supplier:
Grasspave2 by
Invisible Structures, Inc., Golden, Colorado:
800-233-1510.
Author:
Bill
Lewallen, Deputy Airport Director-Land
Development
Project Manager, Future of Flight,
Aviation Center & Boeing Tour
(425) 353-2110
ext 2238
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| Developing Evergreen |
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Trees make
Western Washington and Snohomish County what it is. We
are the Evergreen State as long as we have healthy trees
and lush vegetation.
Trees do much more than add
color to our environment. Trees help reduce heating
costs in the winter; they break the wind, thus reducing
damage and exposure. In our hot summer days trees create
cool pockets around and under their canopies and the
difference in temperatures can be 15-20 F. Few of us
think about the relationship between trees and runoff.
Trees take up tremendous amounts of water and doing so
they help with drainage issues, even eliminate it in
many cases. Healthy trees mean healthy slopes, bluffs
and less flooding. Clearly: trees offer many financial
benefits in the long run.
Tree professionals are
usually called to a site when a tree is visibly
declining. It is often too late to help a tree by then.
Trees may seem huge and sturdy, but their root systems
are very sensitive. Construction activities around them
can damage them in invisible ways that will not show
until later.
Trees in the Pacific Northwest have
shallow roots in general due to our soil conditions and
the genetic make up of our trees. Most of the tree roots
are in the upper 18 inches even for trees 80 to 100 feet
tall. The roots spread out into great distances beyond
the drip-line, but they do not penetrate into the soil
very deep. Roots of young trees can acclimate to changes
in the soil structure much easier than roots of grown,
mature trees. This is why it is so important to think
about a tree preservation plan at the same time an
architect is working on the plans for the house.
During construction, heavy equipment moves all
around a site and every time a machine goes by, it
compacts the soil beneath it. The air is pressed out of
the soil and roots not only get crushed, but suffocate
as well in the effected area. Creating and marking a
specific area designated for this kind of heavy traffic
can greatly reduce the risks to the health of the trees.
Re-grading a site and adding additional soil
even a few inches deep on top of the existing grade will
suffocate trees as well. Removing soil only a few inches
on the other hand usually damages the surface roots and
kills the tree slowly. Sometimes the solution is to
remove otherwise healthy trees and while it is sad to
see them go, it is safer then having them fail a few
years later.
Excavating and trenching cuts
through the roots and depending on the fashion it is
done, it can kill a tree or at least weaken it. Planning
the excavation with the help of a tree professional who
will help create a planned action to preserve trees for
a long and healthy life. If the tree protection zones
are designed, installed, and maintained properly,
beautiful houses can be built with beautiful trees
nearby.
Author is Zsofia Pasztor, a
Certified Arborist, Certified Horticulturist, Landscape
Designer, Installation and Management Specialist,
co-owner of Frog On A Log Parks Landscaping, and can be
reached at
425-210-5541.
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| An Intersection
Sustainable? Guess Again. |
|
It might not seem
obvious, but every community's traffic network can
reflect sustainability. The introduction of pervious
concrete, grass pavers, and rain garden run-off
solutions to treat stormwater are helping communities
build sustainable road networks. Increasingly though,
modern roundabouts are helping sustainable-minded
communities cut energy costs, conserve gasoline, and
reduce impervious surfaces.
Roundabouts ퟢ not to
be confused with the traffic circles ퟢ have larger
diameters than traffic circles, carry much more traffic
than traffic circles, and function by keeping drivers,
bicyclists, and pedestrians moving at a steady though
slow pace. They can come in single and multilane
configurations, and may have three or more approach
legs. Given their relatively new introduction to
Washington state, most drivers are unfamiliar with them,
but once they are familiar are generally enthusiastic
with the concept.
On a sustainable level,
roundabouts cut energy costs. They feature no automatic
control device, consuming no electricity. A community
with a roundabout also saves the maintenance fees
associated with a signal. On average, a signal costs
$5,000 to operate and maintain each year. By keeping the
traffic moving, roundabouts also help drivers conserve
gasoline. Finally, the majority of roundabouts reduce
the net impervious surfaces ퟢ the asphalt covering an
intersection as well as the concrete islands for the
signal poles. The interior of a roundabout is usually is
a landscaped island ퟢ again, reducing the net impervious
surface.
Roundabouts are not the best solution
for every intersection, and an agency should always
critically evaluate an intersection for roundabout
potential. For more information on roundabouts call
Kelli Owen or Pat McGrady at Reid
Middleton, Inc. at (425) 741-3800. Reid Middleton
has designed and constructed five roundabouts, and is
currently designing six roundabouts in Snohomish
County.
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The Tester
Road Roundabout, Monroe,
WA |
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| If you
would like to join the Sustainable Development Taskforce of
Snohomish County or wish to request our assistance in any way,
please contact Chris Fate, at 425-783-8274 or Sustainable
Development |
| sustainabledevelop@snoedc.org ퟢ Sustainable Development Task
Force | |