Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
perforated pipes to gradually infi ltrate rainwater into the subsurface. How-
ever, it remains to be seen how the infi ltration features on private property
will be maintained over time. The SPU team developed an informational
packet for homeowners outlining the drainage features and is depending
on the homeowners' association to serve as an educator of new residents
in the future. Furthermore, the project team included drainage restrictions
in the subdivision recorded documents and future homeowner association
covenants to address impervious cover and landscaping requirements. 80
A signifi cant advantage of the High Point project is that there were no
community members; existing low-income residents were moved to other
SHA facilities. An SPU staff member notes, “With our previous NDS work,
every project had at least one person on each block that thought our ap-
proach was the dumbest idea in the world. With High Point, it was differ-
ent because it was all new; there were no existing homeowners.” 81 SHA
held a number of meetings with residents from adjacent neighborhoods
to address traffi c, density, and aesthetic qualities of the redevelopment,
but these residents were not central stakeholders in the project. However,
the novelty of the design required additional meetings and training for
the housing developers. A City of Seattle Department of Planning and
Development staff member notes: “In applying LID practices, we had to go
through up to three review cycles with developers who didn't know how
to do these new approaches from an engineering standpoint. And it was
contentious after the fi rst review cycle to tell them, 'Hey, you still didn't
get it right—here's what you have to do.'” 82 In other words, there was a
steep learning curve for the Phase I construction team. Refl ecting on this
fi rst team of contractors, another City of Seattle Department of Planning
and Development staff member notes: “The contractors are really good at
building houses, but I don't think they've ever understood how the swales
really function and how important it is to protect them. A great example
is that when they were done with a street, they cleaned it up by dumping
extra soil into the new bioswales because that's what you do with extra
dirt. But the soil will clog up these systems. And they didn't understand
how to protect the curb cuts from construction runoff. They just sort of
fought it the whole time.” 83
A larger aim of the intensive design process at High Point was to ad-
dress and correct the restrictions in the existing municipal code and make
changes so the NDS approach would be allowed (but not required) for
future projects. What was once a pilot project approach on SEA Street
was gaining momentum as the standard approach to manage urban runoff
in Seattle. The large size of High Point created an opportunity to rewrite
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