Community Indicator Trend data will be used to help prioritize the budget.

(See a correction in red)

Staffer Jeff Churchill presented fascinating "Community Indicator" trend data at the 2/26 joint council-planning commission meeting. This trend data helps council and the administration -

• track the progress towards goals


• prioritize budgetary needs


• is a tool the Chamber of Commerce uses in working with businesses.

Planning Commissioner Parnell found the trend data very valuable and interesting. Most of the housing indicator trends can be used to help prioritize our budget; to open access to affordable housing -- especially for Seniors and adult children looking for their first apartment or home.

Trends showed the housing price / income ratio increased from 4.9 in 1997 to 7.7 today. That's a 36% increase in housing costs over 11 years with income constant! Indicator trends also demonstrate a 6.2% rise in the price of a home in 2007 AND four consecutive 6% annual increases in years prior. Any citizen involved in the "Results Team" for prioritizing our budget would have to look hard at these skyrocketing housing trends and the abilitiy of working citizens to make housing payments.

At the March 4th Council Meeting "Consent Agenda", council will be approving funding to facilitate several families with housing assistance. Council will allocate $40,000 to "Friends of Youth" in Kirkland to build transitional housing for young adults leaving foster care, between 18-25. A case manager will be on site full time. (detail here) Council will also be asked to allocate $25,000 to build six transitional family housing units in Kirkland. Council will consent approval (details here) of $55,000 for our annual share of ARCH's budgetary needs. ( 13 other cities make proportionate contributions to ARCH - our Eastside Housing Dept.). Over the years ARCH has built 0ver 710 affordable housing units in Redmond city limits. All cities combined received 2300 units - Redmond has fared well. Finally, a 'document recording fee" will raise $3M county-wide for primarily capital costs of housing assistance.

Stream Water Quality trends are measured every year to indicate the health of our environment. Surveys taken between 2004 and 2005 showed "marginal" quality readings of 40 (out of 100). In 2006-2007 measurements were sporadically better in a few places but no stormwater outfall measurements were taken. Stormwater contains the most contaminated water. From a budgetary standpoint, I would hope the Results Team will budget for tertiary bio-filtration treatment at the new Bear Creek regional outfall and at the main trunk outfall at Luke McRedmond Park. Will swirl, media and wetland filtration alone keep water quality readings above 40? Copper and oil run-off from the 520 eight lane widening project will stress water quality measurements even further.

The commerce indicator measurements trended good. Our share of regional employment dipped to 81,844 in 2006 but we were still above forecast. Regional employment in 2005 was 82,073.

Mary, an arts staffer prepared an indicator measurement for "cultural and performance arts" which showed a dramatic increase in attendance to Art Commission sponsored events.

The final "community indicator" document will be published in April and available to the public.

High stormwater utility rates under review by council

Two weeks ago past councilman Richard Grubb spoke to council during an "Items from the Audiance talk" about the high costs of stormwater management in Redmond. He was concerned that stormwater fees have increased from $3.00/month in 1988 to $16.56 today.

Granted, stormwater treatment helps to remove sediments and pollutants from run-off before it gets into Bear creek and the Sammamish River. In addition, the city uses stormwater fees & grants to pay for stream and wetland restoration projects for new developments and along Bear & Evans Creek and the Sammamish River. Expensive retention ponds have recently be intalled along the Evans Creek industrial basin. In additon, I think fees have been applied to permit approvals and preservation of Keller Farm wetlands. Keller Farm wetlands are vital to aquifer recharge. Our aquifer supplies 40% of our drinking water. Meandering our waterways to control floods and preserve fish habitat is also funded through stormwater fees & grants.
It is clear, the city really does care about flood mitigation, safety of our drinking water, protection of endangered salmon, and the "swimmability" of Lake Sammamish and the slough. But, as Councilman Hank Margeson stated at the last council meeting -- a 452% stormwater rate increase over 20 years is something to look at. Mr. Margeson is Chair of the Planning and Public Works Committee. It meets the 2nd Thursday of the month at 4:30 pm in the room off of city hall chambers. Hank's committee has responsibility for looking at stormwater treatment issues.

Besides protections of our natural resources and environment stormwater fees will be used to help pay for the new $40 million Regional Treatment facility planned for the Downtown. In 2007 our residential stormwater rate increased by $6.58 to $16.56/single family home just to pay for the Regional facility. Did you notice this on your utility bill last year? According to Mr. Spangler in a 7/25/07 King County meeting, stormwater fees are about 2x those of Seattle.

The city's rational for this 40% increase is "everyone benefits" from the regional stormwater system since about 90% of all treated residential stormwater eventially drains into the Sammamish River. Councilman Pat Vache had concerns about maintenence of private facilities . Maintenance of commercial facilities is "code enforced" and paid by rate fees, according to J. Roetemyer, stormwater engineer. Public Works Director Campbell wasn't clear about maintenance by Homeowners Associations' facilities being "code enforced".

According to Mr. Jon Spangler, city Stormwater Manager, the complete facility will be built by 2011 -12 and have the capacity to ultimately treat 500 acres of future downtown development. Presently, 32.5 acres are developed and will be serviced regionally.

Drivers be aware - a major regional trunk-line on Redmond Way will be built by 2009. You can find the regional stormwater facility MAP "here".

I wrote a story on this in 8/30/07. You can find it on this blog's search engine by searching "spangler regional".

WSDOT's flawed SR 520 freeway widening design

Washington Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) flawed environmental plan for widening SR520.

The NW Regional Administrator for WSDOT states "WSDOT is accountable during 520 widening to several local, State and Federal agencies for permits...to ensure the project can be completed with practical environmental impact.

FACT: WSDOT is not complying to the City of Redmond Critical Area Ordinance on sustaining 150 foot Creek buffers.

FACT: WSDOT is not accountable to the Washington State Dept. Ecology for "no net loss" during wetland mitigation sequencing.

FACT: WSDOT is not accountable to the Federal/State Endangered Species Act for Bear Creek Listed Chinook salmon.

The WSDOT design does not ensure environmental measures are practical to anyone but themselves.

Read the next blog for a solution.

Click HERE for a short video clip of Bear Creek flooding its southern banks during a car ride to within 20 feet of SR 520.

Staff report on proposed 520 widening project unveils serious environmental shortcomings by WSDOT

Click HERE for aerial photo of Bear Creek & 520 widening site:

Mayor Ives asked staff to give a report to council on the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) SR 520 road widening plan. It won't be long before WSDOT files a city application to reduce our Bear Creek buffer protections from 150 feet to 60 feet!

WSDOT failed to file a complete Environmental Impact Statement on the widening project leaving the public out of the process. It is now clear WSDOT has shown complete disregard on three key environmental issues.

• Issue #1) environmental impacts to Bear Creek endangered Chinook & habitat were never addressed or acknowledged by WSDOT.

• Issue #2) Critical Area Ordinance wetland mitigation sequencing was ignored. Instead, WSDOT is mitigating the myriad of project wetlands off-site and not addressing required "no net loss" wetland management practices.

• Issue #3) WSDOT is not compensating for loss of flood plain storage.

City of Redmond stormwater engineers estimate it would take $10 million to fix the environmental (and flood hazard) component of the WSDOT widening plan. The city could probably find grant money to pay for restoration of the northern bank of Bear Creek. Estimated city cost is $2.5 million. WSDOT's 8 lanes of traffic only 60 feet from Bear Creek has a huge impact on the environmental and flood hazard components. Thus, it is expected WSDOT would be responsible for the majority of the restoration work.

Managing Bear Creek/520 flood hazards, natural resources, and preserving our endangered species and heritage can't be accomplished without the support and encouragement of our state representatives. THE BOTTOM LINE is we need to write our state legislators and request their effort to fund the Bear Creek/520 restoration.

We have some good news already! State Representatives Ross Hunter and Deborah Eddy have already responded to citizen input and are requesting additional information! Two influential and powerful Redmond council members are traveling to Olympia next month (Allen & Cole). Mayor Ives and Mayor-elect Marchione both appear enthusiastic and optimistic. But, we have a lot of letters to write!

Mayor Ives has even suggested writing Ron Sims in King County about shifting half of the widening to the South. Below are quick links to our representatives. Please take 3 minutes to sent them a note!

STAFF VIDEO REPORT at December 11 council meeting: http://www.redmond.gov/aboutredmond/rctv/ondemandcouncil.asp
(scroll 1/3 into the tape)

Contact Senator Rodney Tom, Representatives Ross Hunter and Deborah Eddy HERE:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Results.aspx?city=Redmond&street=10019%20169th%20AVe%20ne&zip=98052 Citizens outside of Redmond can locate their Representative's contact information at this link, too.

Representative Deborah Eddy is a crucial contact for us since she is Vice-Chair of the "Local Government Committee". Her committee deals with land use and local permitting issues. Ms. Eddy's website is HERE: http://www1.leg.wa.gov/house/eddy

Representative Campbell: House Select Environmental Committee http://www1.leg.wa.gov/house/campbell

Senate members or Natural Resources and Recreation Committee http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/NROR/members.htm

King County Executive Ron Sims: exec.sims@kingcounty.gov

James Pater, Permit Review, WA. Department of Ecology mailto:dapa461@ecy.wa.gov

FYI, Washington State Environmental Hearings Office Website is: http://www.eho.wa.gov/. This office hears appeals to the Shoreline Management Act. The City of Redmond hears appeals to the Buffer Variance.

PROPOSED SR 520 WIDENING - Redmond Historical Society position statement

Submitted by: The Redmond Historical Society, Board of Directors

The Redmond Historical Society’s mission includes preserving the historic character of Redmond, and our natural and cultural history is part of that character. We are concerned that WSDOT’s proposed widening of SR 520 might have at least three negative heritage impacts:

1) Salmon populations. Redmond’s Shoreline Management Act establishes a 150-foot buffer, in part to protect the Salmonid populations that navigate Bear Creek and the Sammamish River. It appears part of the proposed widening would violate that buffer.

2) Bear Creek. We support the city’s recent efforts to put meanders back into the Sammamish River, and the same should be done with the last half-mile of Bear Creek. We would like to see it meander through native growth areas and natural wetlands just as the upstream section does, and we understand that city officials have a perfectly good plan for such restoration work. In fact, that plan was just updated last year from a long-standing idea that was recognized in WSDoT’s proposal for widening SR-520. The executive summary of its Wetlands Biology Report states that this project is the final phase of work begun in the 1990s and lists a previous phase as “restoration and relocation of Bear Creek (completed in 2000).” The obvious problem is that, despite an agreement to do this when the whole project started 10 years ago, they did not complete that work on Bear Creek down to the Sammamish River. Why don’t we accomplish this now in conjunction with the widening of SR-520?

3) Native American culture. Mussel shells and arrowheads found along the Sammamish River and near Bear Creek by UW archaeologists have established that indigenous tribes camped along the shorelines as long ago as 8,000 years ago. The proposed widening includes the stretch where Bear Creek and the Sammamish River meet, and it is likely this confluence itself was an indigenous campsite. The widening proposal does not appear to provide any safeguards to ensure that such heritage sites are not damaged. Should the widening take place, WSDoT should be required to stop work if anything of Native American origin is found so that the state archaeologist has inspected the site and preserved anything of significance.

The Redmond Historical Society calls on the city to refuse any variance to its shoreline protection regulations and to resist the permit application unless and until WSDoT provides safeguards to the Sammamish River and restoration of Bear Creek to a meandering waterway with a reasonable buffer and healthy wetlands. If the battle moves to a higher level, we call on city officials to rally allies to fight for proper mitigation as part of the freeway widening.

Bear Creek floods 20 feet from SR520 into the WSDOT widening project.

Recent quotes on Central Washington flooding from "The Seattle Times"

Andy McMillan, long-time wetlands manager for the state Department of Ecology: “It’s kind of sad, we keep repeating the same mistakes even when we know better.”

David Montgomery, UW scientist and author of the salmon book and more recently, Dirt: “The more stuff you put in a floodplain, the higher the water will rise.”

--contributed by citizen G. Smith

This photo shows Bear Creek flooding only 20 feet from SR 520 highway. The new road widening will pave over all the land and floodwaters you see in the picture.

SR 520 is planned for widening by WSDOT to within 50 -60 feet of Bear Creek where Listed Chinook salmon live and rear their offspring. This picture was taken by Steve Hitch, Stormwater Public Works engineer for the City of Redmond. His comments to the Citizen Advisory Committee on flood hazard management plans are, as follows:

The WSDOT SR 520 project map website is HERE: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520/WLakeSamPk_SR202/Map.htm.

The information on the graphic posted on the WSDOT website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/10092E37-16F0-4A50-8BE9-C4B9016552B1/0/

"520 Section map shows that the widening will be exactly where this picture was taken, and will extend 64 feet towards Bear Creek. (All the widening is towards Bear Creek, none of it is toward Marymoor Park.) That means that in the future, there will be cars driving on a road where the water was flowing today. That means reduced flood capacity, not to mention loss of buffer habitat for the creek.

You will recall that the City and its Citizen Advisory Committee have been working on a Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan of which you are a part.(http://redmond.gov/insidecityhall/publicworks/stormwater/floodplan/default.asp). We are finalizing the final draft, planned for adoption in 2008, and it will likely address the needs Bear Creek has related to the SR520 widening."

- Steve Hitch, Public Works, C.O.R.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Send your comments to city planner Cathy Beam cbeam@redmond.gov as soon as possible to influence the outcome of this neglectful WSDOT plan. Your input (and from your friends) is critical. Originally, WSDOT planned to re-locate Bear Creek to the north and away from 520. It appears they don't want to spend the money to do the job right. As is, Redmond's Shoreline Ordinance will be violated and our required 150 foot Bear Creek buffer will be reduced to 50 feet in places. Bear Creek habitat will be destroyed by this project. It is important to write Redmond city council and mayor with your comments to: mayorcouncil@redmond.gov

Video clips of flooding & stormwater treatment facilities, 12/4

Bear Creek by Safeway

Bear Creek at Juel Park near NE 116th St. & Avondale Rd.

Keller Farm - project site for Aegis Living Corp.

Bio-swale at NE 104th and Avondale - stormwater treatment - reoxygenation/filtration

detention pond turned into a wetland by city by PCC on 116th St.

Bear Creek behind Redmond Town Ctr. near proposed SR 520 widening

Redmond's Historical program features our city "Park Ranger"!

The Redmond Historical Society meeting of November 10 featured a slide talk by Peter Holte, our city's environmental "Stewardship Coordinator". Peter wears many hats but I have always liken him to a "city park ranger". (Peter once helped me get some land-use stream maps when I was studying the Critical Area Ordinance.)

At the historical program I felt like I was listening to a national park talk - but we were at the Old Redmond School House! I took a few notes:

• 35,000 years ago Redmond was under a glacial lake.


• the length of the Sammamish River used to be 28 miles long. The River was straightened in 1912 and 1963 for flood control. It is 10 miles shorter today.


• the Army Corps of Engineers "took the kinks out" to handle 40 year floods - we haven't had any.


• After straightening, the river became became known as a "slough" (slow moving body of water) and is now technically a "flood conveyance facility".


• One of the most significant pollutants from roadway stormwater run-off is copper. Automobile brakes used to be made with asbestos and now copper is used.

Peter mentioned the re-channeling the Sammamish River during the 90th Street Bridge construction - to make the river more serpentine. In 1999 salmon were put on the endangered list and making the river "curvy" helps salmon survive.

Stormwater construction is going on now at Luke McRedmond park near city hall. The project involves making part of the slough curvy and serpentine to help the salmon, but also to control and treat the stormwater run out of large, new outfall.

Sidebar: Not spoken at the meeting but a couple of RHS (Redmond Historical Society) members have joined other citizens in advocating to re route Bear Creek away from SR520 and make it serpentine and more salmon friendly. Why? The WDOT (Dept. of Transportation) has plans to widen 520 bringing the highway only about 50-feet from the Creek!

Peter mentioned that converting our straight-ditch Bear Creek and Sammamish River to a serpentine routing helps salmon by providing "off-channel rearing" places. Salmon just don't get the shelter and cool water they need in a straight-ditch owing to the faster running waters.

Peter gave us some interesting history of Redmond's development:

Prior to the 1800's, Sqwak Indians inhabited the Redmond area; known as the "Willow People". Sqwak tribes were related to the Snoqualmie and Duamish tribes. 1871 - first land claim; 1876 - first steamboat on Sammamish River; 1880 - logging boom (firs 12 feet in diameter); 1890 - transition to farming; 1892 - first drainage district; 1916 - river drops 9 feet after Ballard Ship lock was built; 1963-64 river straightened into a slough. Peter asked the society for help in naming 1 or 2 streams. Only 4 have names. Mackey Creek is one.

Peter Holte's environmental city work is interfaced often with citizens who what to help. If you want to volunteer in one of his stewardship programs call: 425-556-2822. Or email Peter at pholte@redmond.gov. Students looking for community volunteer credits can work in his storm drain stenciling program or stream steward program.

Many thanks to the RHS for providing this interesting program. http://www.redmondhistory.org/

8/30/07, Redmond's $40 million Regional Stormwater Treatment facility

8/30/07. Have you seen all the digging activity along the Sammamish River south of City Hall lately? It's not just about "IMPROVEMENT FOR FISH AND PEOPLE" . Some of that work ($1.7 million) in the vicinity of Lukc McRedmond Park is the first step toward building Redmond's ambitious regional downtown stormwater treatment system.

Jon Spangler, Redmond Division Manager of Stormwater Management gave a presentation in July to the King County Water Quality Committee about Redmond's $40 million regional stormwater treatment plan for downtown Redmond. Click on the following link to find the video archive:

Regional Water Quality Program, 7/25 - Redmond Stormwater (Real One media suggested)

The Regional treatment plan is a huge, proactive undertaking designed to service over 500 acres of downtown development anticipated in the next 40-50 years. It involves building 6 large "outfall" treatment facilities rather than hundreds of smaller vaults. Large trunk lines the length of Redmond Way and on 85th Street will be dug with pipes installed. Planned road re-designs will probably be coordinated with the storm pipe installation. All six facilities will be built in five years. Click here for the stormwater facility map

The $40 million cost will be paid by 1) raising residential and commercial stormwater fees by 40% and 2) raising the capital connection fees from $900 to $4000. According to Spangler, the city is well funded and Redmond already has one of the highest stormwater rates. Our rates are about double Seattle's rates.

If you look carefully at your 2007 utility bill you will probably find an additional $6.58/month charge. It goes towards the new regional stormwater system. It appears Education Hill, North Redmond, Grass Lawn and other neighborhoods are now paying higher stormwater rates to help fund the DT regional system.

Spangler states that about 90% of Redmond stormwater drains into the Sammamish and everyone benefits from a healthy downtown.

For the downtown property developers the regional plan is a deal.

• $800,000/year savings is anticipated over the old site by site stormwater design. Spangler claims the regional plan is about 60% the cost.
  
• The regional system doesn't consume landowner's buildable land.
  
• Maintenance costs will be reduced since catch basins won't need to be cleaned 1 month every other year along Redmond Way; and no catch basins to vacuum at night when it's dangerous to workers.

All wastewater treatment will take place "at the end of the pipe" into the Sammamish River OR Bear Creek. End-of-pipe treatment is least desirable of all treatments, though Spangler says Ecology feels they have more control over overall water quality.

The 2009 "Safeway-Bear Creek" outfall underground facility ($7M) will direct discharge into Bear Creek without detention. WILL EXTRA PRECAUTIONS & TREATMENTS OCCUR HERE? The remaining 5 facilities are expected to be built by 2011 or 2012 and all 5 will direct discharge into the Sammamish River without detention, as follows:

• 2007. Luke McRedmond underground facility ($1.7M) -- under construction w/ habitat upgrades
  
• 2009. The 8oth Street Trunk underground facility ($7.6M)
  
• 2011. Redmond Way Storm Trunk ($22M) -- start in 2009
  
• 2010. Redmond Way Trunk ($4.5M) -- wetland treatment
  
• 2008. Leary Way ($5.8M) -- natural vegetation for treatment

The 6 facilities will monitor flows and treat the run-off water by using: 1) a swirl concentrator to remove the large debris and 2) media filters to remove contaminants. Spangler isn't sure if he will use bio-filters on the end. Just how effective will this "1-2 swirl/media punch" be to keep the Sammamish fish and our recreation healthy? We need to keep an eye on this. Spangler described a "water-oil separator" that would be used at a downtown branch. He indicated treatment wetlands and sand filters may be used.

WILL REDMOND'S ADOPTED 2005 DEPT. OF ECOLOGY TREATMENT STANDARDS GUARANTEE THE FISHABLE, SWIMMABLE, RECREATIONAL WATERS WE NOW ENJOY? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A county representative asked Spangler about the impacts of Microsoft's growth on our stormwater run-off. Mr. Spangler plans to build a separate regional stormwater system for the Overlake Urban area to service Microsoft & environs. Treated stormwater will be discharged into Bellevue's Kelsey Creek system.

Without a regional Overlake stormwater system, the "Block C" development of Microsoft would require 14 vaults each 700,000 cu. ft. in size! That's 3x the volume of City Hall. (Our wellhead protection officer also claimed removal of 3x the volume of City Hall in contaminated by hazardous waste. ) Our super-sized City Hall is drawing lots of attention these days. Thus, Overlake Urban Center will probably install a regional system -- the good news is Microsoft will apparently pay for most of it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FACTOIDS:

1) did you know stormwater was not regulated for effective treatment until after 1987? Expensive stormwater treatment retrofits are required on redevelopments prior to 1987.

2) the largest contributor to fecal coliform in Seattle is non-waterfowl birds and rodents.

3) 25% of all land-use in Seattle are roads, highways & road shoulders! Some of the worst pollutants come from roadway stormwater. This does not include parking lots.

4) The Sammamish River reaches a low of 17 feet in summer and high of 28 feet in winter, thus gravity flow of downtown stormwater a challenge. DT Redmond is 35-40 feet above sea level. Gravity flow of our stormwater is not 'strong'.

5) Redmond's downtown aquifer is sometimes 5-7 feet below the surface in the winter making installation of infrastructure challenging.

6) It's estimated that 15 acres of our downtown will be developed each year. With 520 acres of developable land it will take about 40-50 years to develop our "downtown".

7) Redmond's stormwater treatment standards are higher than Bellevue's so Bellevue becomes the limiting factor to overall water quality. They need to get up to speed!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

City Stormwater site: http://redmond.gov/insidecityhall/publicworks/stormwater/regionalfacilities.asp

4/11/07, Avondale Crest bio-swale issue

Attached, is a good photo of the city "bio-swale" on Avondale & NE 104th St. You are looking to the north from 104th. The Avondale Crest project is on the west-side. This swale is serpentine (not straight) to slow the water flow enough to allow filtration into the soil before draining into Bear Creek. It is a very good example of a high functioning and (apparently) well maintained bio-swale.

This bio-swale serves as a water quality measure for storm water running off of various housing projects. It functions as a water filter for removing phosphates, nitrates, and heavy metals from stormwater. The swale also re-oxygenates the water. In the end, our drinking water is cleaner and salmon healthier.

A small, but important problem was discovered with the bioswale. The swale was intended to treat the Avondale Crest stormwater draining from two wet vaults on the north along Avondale. But, I couldn't find the northern inlet pipe to the swale servicing these vaults. A development engineer graciously escorted me into the swale to look for the inlet pipe. We could not find the inlet pipe after an hour of searching and digging.

The Development Department reviewed my request for proof of a pipe inlet for more than 2 months. With some back-up from our Code Enforcement Officer cmArthy@redmond.gov and the Department of Ecology, our Public Works department was able to find and dig out the inlet pipe. They showed me a picture for proof. Though the pipe appeared smaller than the construction plans and flow does not appear fully re-directed from the Avondale pipe, some treatment may occur.

Of note, the stormwater engineer told us bio-swale earth accumulates heavy metals over time and the soil needs to be removed. Also, during floods, the water flows over the ditches by-passing the serpintine channels. During floods, treatment is significantly limited.

A pattern seems to be emerging in newer, proposed projects to eliminate bio-swales from wet vault treatment altogether. I am researching this further. But so far, I could not find bio-swale water quality measures in the 42-lot Shaughnessy Plat or 24-lot Perrigo Heights plat. In fact, it appears the Perrigo Heights vault stormwater will drain directly into Perrigo Creek for oxygenation and filtering.

Water enters the Avondale Crest swale from housing uphill and west of the swale. It treats the stormwater from older neighborhoods to the west and potential future projects. It is also designed to treat stormwater entering from the north (Avondale pipe).

I learned about this swale while appealing the proposed 9-lot Avondale Crest plat housing project just uphill. Though, appealing can be rigorous and time consuming one may often find a mistake or unintended consequence in the development process that could improve project quality....just reward for one's effort.

2007 STORMWATER MANUEL AMMENDMENTS (SEE PAGE 19) FOR BIOSWALE REQUIREMENTS. http://www.redmond.gov/insidecityhall/publicworks/technotebk07/Chapter2.pdf