Reasserting the Place of Nature in Seattle’s Urban Creeks - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 142

required that SPU be responsible for obtaining municipal approval for the
various building permits for the project, a formidable effort. This point
was also agreeable to the SPU staff because they were an inside municipal
government agency, unlike SHA, which is a public corporation affi liated
with but separate from the other municipal departments. 67 Third (and
perhaps most importantly), SHA wanted to ensure that the appearance
of the project would not be affected by the NDS approach, following on
the aesthetic philosophy of “normalcy” as promoted by New Urbanist
designers. 68 An SHA staff member notes, “The key point to me was that it
had to look like a regular neighborhood. I really felt strongly about that.
I knew about these Bill McDonough designed communities where you
couldn't tell the front door from the backdoor. It was really important to
make it look like a regular place so we wouldn't be experimenting with
low-income residents.” 69
SPU agreed to these conditions, and over the next three years, the
design team worked hand in hand to reconcile the various goals of the
project to create a high density, walkable, environmentally friendly, and
affordable community. The level of collaboration between the various city
agencies, particularly in designing the thirty-four blocks of right-of-way,
was unprecedented. 70 A staff member in the City of Seattle's Department
of Planning and Development notes:
There were endless hours of regulatory meetings within the City of Seattle because
we changed every standard. You're not even allowed to have roof downspout dis-
connects in the city. With new development you're supposed to tie in to the storm
drain. Just to have the stormwater go to a splashpad and surface drainage was a
big change. Having the curb go from six inches to four inches involved hours of
meetings. Every little thing was a variation from the standard. Without incredible
commitment from my colleagues at SPU and support from upper management,
it would have fallen through easily. SHA also put in tons of effort but we were
charged with putting all of the changes through all of the regulations because we
were the ones asking for something different. 71
The extended negotiations over changing the drainage regime at High
Point reveal the dominance of conventional stormwater logic, not only
in the practices of design professionals and municipal experts but also in
municipal development code. The design team was fortunate to include
not only dedicated municipal staff members who were willing to challenge
the existing standards but also the leading sustainable architecture and
engineering fi rms in the city. 72
In some cases, the project goals of creating a dense urban environ-
ment of New Urbanist development were in direct contradiction with the