‘Green stormwater infrastructure’ in West Seattle: Work starting, meeting soon

| Environment | Utilities | West Seattle news

One of the topics that didn’t come up for extensive discussion at this afternoon’s mayoral visit, though an expert was on hand in case it did: The county’s ongoing projects to reduce “combined-sewer overflows” at two West Seattle waterfront pump stations. The county announced its “preferred alternatives” in December, and now there are two new developments.

First, a community meeting is planned to get into more details of the “green stormwater infrastructure” plan for part of the area feeding the Barton pump station next to the Fauntleroy ferry dock. The “infrastructure” means streetfront rain gardens and other ways to catch stormwater, and it’s being planned for the neighborhoods within the yellow boundaries on the map above. The meeting is 6:30 pm April 6th at Westside School (WSB sponsor), adjacent to the site on the map labeled as EC Hughes Playground; here’s the official flyer. People in the area also will be seeing some testing work in the next few weeks – that’s explained by this flyer.

Second, a big new document for both the Barton plan and the Murray (Lowman Beach) basin plan is now available on the county website – see it here. It’s explained on that page (from which its many sections are linked) as:

The Barton and Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Facilities Plan describes the reasons for these projects, the processes used to develop and evaluate alternatives, and the selection of proposed alternatives to advance for further environmental review.

The Murray plan that the county is pursuing would involve buying a block of residential properties across from Lowman Beach Park and burying a million-gallon underground storage tank for use in situations where previously the combined sewage and stormwater would have flowed, untreated, into Puget Sound. Both basins’ “preferred alternatives” are currently under environmental review.

Mark March 6, 2011 (10:31 pm)

I live in the yellow area (Barton green stormwater area), and to my knowledge there has been zero outreach to residents in this area. While I like the idea of green stormwater, I am concerned that the county is planning something that is not good for the appearance of the neighborhood, or will not be maintained by the County.

Yardark March 7, 2011 (8:55 am)

Mark – I know that there have been a number of community meetings over the last couple years on this and an online forum for the community to submit its ideas, comments, and concerns as the planning moved along. While I don’t think that the city ever went door to door, I believe there was a good bit of public outreach.
That said, if you have concerns then you have concerns…and you’re probably not alone. I’d recommend that you get in touch with the King County Stormwater folks and get your concerns addressed.

nulu March 7, 2011 (9:40 am)

Mark is right.
Powerful community groups in the wealthy neighborhoods of Beach Drive and Fauntleroy have had multiple community meetings to address their own NIMBY desires. They had meetings attended by officials, city council members and politicians eager to please their powerful constituents.
Both of these groups praised the Barton proposal without considering input from the residents involved. These residents, not as well connected or wealthy, are going to be surprised that their streets are going to be torn up and under construction for years. And that they are going to receive a system similar to the failed one in Ballard.
All of the objections raised by the Beachside NIMBYs also apply to the Barton folks, but they have no voice to object.

WSB March 7, 2011 (9:51 am)

Mark – a little background: The county had a community meeting last August specific to the green stormwater proposal, with pretty much the same map featured atop this item:
https://westseattleblog.com/2010/07/green-stormwater-project-new-details-of-august-5th-meeting
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The official decision was announced in early December:
https://westseattleblog.com/2010/12/county-makes-its-sewer-overflow-reduction-choices-for-west-seattle
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For questions/comments in advance, there is a new community-relations person on the project, Maryann Petrocelli. Her contact information is on the flyer that should have gone to your residence (or should be on the way, I’m not sure about the timetable, it is on the county website but they are supposed to be flyering in the area, particularly about the testing work):
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/Construction/Seattle/BeachCSO/Basins/~/media/environment/wtd/Construction/BeachProjects/Barton/1102_BartonCSOGSI_April6mtg.ashx
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206-263-7321
maryann.petrocelli@kingcounty.gov

KCWTD March 7, 2011 (12:35 pm)

Hello West Seattle!
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Just a note to let you know that our community services staff is still working on getting the word out about the upcoming Barton Basin Green Stormwater Infrastructure work, so if you live in a potentially affected area, rest assured we’re on our way to your door with information !
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Also, we want to clarify that the work soon to get under way is just some initial field work and testing and not the beginning of actual project construction. As WSB notes, there will be an upcoming meeting at Westside School on April 6 to give everyone a status update on the project and to answer questions – we hope you can join us!
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For questions or concerns in the meantime, please feel free to contact Maryann Petrocelli, King County WTD community relations planner, at 206-263-7321 or maryann.petrocelli@kingcounty.gov.
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Thanks!

King County WTD
http://www.kingcounty.gov/csobeachprojects

kgdlg March 7, 2011 (1:58 pm)

I live just west of 35th (outside of the area that will be getting this work). Personally, I think this is an amazing implementation of a solution that really works for the County and will also work well for the neighborhood. I wish the County would come build beautiful rain gardens up and down my street too! My strong feeling is that this will end up adding value to everyone’s property in the area mapped out above. This doesn’t mean there won’t be construction disruptions, but in the long-run I am totally jealous.

@nulu, you should take some joy in the fact that this neighborhood is getting exactly what the “wealthy neighborhoods of Beach Drive” asked for, and didn’t get, down in the Basin.

Yardark March 7, 2011 (2:30 pm)

Nulu:
I live just west of 35th too and all I kept requesting for our area is what you’ll be receiving for yours. I’m pretty jealous.
That said, you are definitely right in raising questions about what went down with the Ballard raingardens. I hope you continue to pursue answers on what measures will be taken to ensure that the same result will not be repeated in Barton.

blogfan March 7, 2011 (4:15 pm)

nulu is right about one thing, Fauntleroy and Loman folks have been meeting with KCWTD for years on this and pump station projects. But he is dead wrong about the results. Lowman is getting the project where they didn’t want it, and Fauntleroy chose the lot behind the school. KCTWD selected the rain garden site for best engineering results, irregardlas of the wishes of all of the wealthy and powerful retired teachers and mechanics in Fauntleroy

Nulu March 7, 2011 (6:19 pm)

blogfgan might have missed the meetings, but I remember proposals that really had the “retired teachers and mechanics in Fauntleroy” with beach front homes howling.
NIMBY’s in Fauntleroy raised objections, as did the vocal and powerful Lowman Beach/Beach Drive crowd.
Nobody wanted it, so this “compromise” was reached with no input from the community that will shoulder the most disruption. Many people in the Barton area have no idea of what has been going on.
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For those of you West of 35th, there is nothing that prevents you from voluntarily adopting the planting strip berm, and doing so would lighten the storm load to the other facilities.

kgdlg March 8, 2011 (10:46 am)

@Nulu, I have indeed already transformed our planting strip to a permeable surface that can absorb the runoff and stormwater. But not everyone can afford to do this, so that is why I think it is great that the County will be coordinating this action in this area of WS. Like I said, there will be disruption, and that sucks, but the end result may just be worth it in terms of increased property values and healthier Puget Sound.

I agree with you in that the process that unfolded over the last year about the CSO was heavily focused on the area immediate to the pump station, which did have a lot to do with the NIMBY response. It is important to note that the solution down at Lowman isn’t what the “community” there largely wanted, so it isn’t like the “wealthy” folks won down there, if you want to frame it that way. Although I guess they did win in terms of leaving the park alone. At the end of the day I think it is impossible to have consensus agreement on large-scale projects like these – it feels imposable to make everyone happy. My hope is that the work around this green stormwater infrastructure implementation goes smoothly and is communicated well. I will be going to the meeting even though I don’t live in the area, because I am excited about it as a demonstration project for WS.

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