Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
parcel for an NDS type of stormwater facility. The compromise did not
guarantee daylighting of the creek but put the option on the table, and
Lorig was reinstated as the property developer. In typical fashion, Nickels
took credit for the compromise solution in a widely publicized news
conference, stating, “The logjam is fi nally cleared. With today's council
actions, we are about to begin a vibrant rebirth at Northgate.”
107
The
stakeholder group was tasked with identifying common ground between
the economic development goals of the mayor and the mall owner, and the
community-oriented goals of the residents and city council. Meanwhile,
the buried creek would serve as a testbed for integrating environmental
restoration and economic development.
In early 2004, SPU was tasked with assessing three different develop-
ment plants for the south parking lot: a full daylighting scheme that would
remove the existing pipe and create an open channel, an NDS approach
that would handle surface fl ows and leave the existing underground pipe
in place, and a hybrid approach that would include an open channel while
retaining the existing underground pipe. SPU examined the water quality
benefi ts and costs of each option and determined that the hybrid plan
would provide the lowest cost and the highest water quality benefi ts.
108
The Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund and Lorig & Associates paid for
the development of the hybrid daylighting design, relying on the design
expertise of a local landscape architect, Peggy Gaynor, to negotiate the
criteria of the various stakeholder groups. In June 2004, the hybrid plan
received unanimous approval from the stakeholder group and the mayor,
with the municipality achieving its water quality and fl ood protection
goals, the community receiving its daylit creek and walkable development,
and the developer benefi tting from a public amenity for the new develop-
ment. Most importantly, the development could now move forward after
a stalemate lasting almost two decades.
The library, community center, and park were opened in July 2006
to much fanfare, jumpstarting a renaissance of the Fifth Avenue corri-
dor on the east side of the mall. In 2010, Lorig & Associates completed
construction of Thornton Place, a fi ve acre mixed-use complex which
includes a fourteen-screen movie theater, nearly four hundred apartments
and condominiums, and over fi fty thousand square feet of retail space.
109
The Northgate Channel became fully operational in September 2009 and
includes trails, bridges, interpretive signage, and a vegetated concrete chan-
nel located forty feet below the existing grade (see fi gure 6.8). The majority
of water fl ows through the underground pipe, but a small amount is routed
through the channel to provide a constant fl ow of water.
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