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Earth & Sky :More Info About Natural Drainage Page 6 of 9 our premier salmon bearing [creeks] here in the city. And our goal was to not you know, if we did traditional storm water [drainage] It really wasn't going to help this creek and in fact it would probably make it worse, since more impervious surfaces and higher density was going Into [his neighborhood. SG: Which creek is this? DA: Longfellow Creek in southwestern Seattle. The site is now under construction but what we basically applied was about a 32 block area of natural drainage systems, and we did It in a way where we could still follow the architect's guidelines for more traditional-looking streets. We keep trying to stretch our imagination and stretch what we can do technically with each project we take on. We weren't sure if we could do it with the traditional curved system of the street but we found ways to send the water into grassy areas that aren't heavily planted, grass areas that are going to be used, actually, as open space where kids could play, because we were so ilmi[ed In the amount of space we had to work with. So it doesn't have to have that heavily vegetated look to it to be successful. We did achieve the objectives for water quality and for addressing and infiltrating storm water that we were looking for over this area. So that really bumped it up to another order of magnitude in working with this whole area. And I think ultimately, if we can do that, if we can retrofit an existing urban city I think that this just clearly shows that areas that are developing farmland and forest into suburban developments, this so more clearly applies it will be more cost-effective to just do it correctly the first time at a lower cost to the developer and at a much higher (level of] environmental protection. SG: I'm trying to get a better grasp of this new program. It's in a new development area for low-income housing and you're trying to accommodate it into a more traditional-looking neighborhood. Haw long has [his particular project been In place for? DA: It's been in planning for a few years. The construction just began this past spring; sa it's basically they're still in the part of the construction where they're deconstructing the whole 100-acre area. Everything's going, the house, the roadways, so it's a multiyear process. It's probably the largest and last major redevelopment within Seattle. You're Just never going to Flnd that much space ever again for a redevelopment. There were three major low- income housing areas in the city and all three have been redeveloped to become denser and to upgrade the housing. This was the final one and we got in on the ground Floor Just In time to be able [o Implement the natural drainage systems with the developer. SG: What are your plans far the future? DA: We are trying [o institutionalize this approach to managing storm water within the city and that means redefining our storm water codes and our building codes. We're hoping to be able to make I[ such an integrated part of building especially when you're in a creek watershed, there just really no other choice to be had. That's how you would develop your right-of-way. Mos[ly we're focusing on the public right-of-way because that accounts for about 25% of our city's landscape. SG: When you talk about right-of way, you're talking about roads? http://earthsky.com/shows/showsmore.php?t=20041103 11 /8/2004