Happy Summer, Grant Partners & Project Supporters!
We’re continuing to make progress on our Watershed Stewardship Resource Center (WSRC) project and want to give you this status update:
· Staffing – Assistant Planner/Coach Shannon Glass started in February and has had a steep learning curve in becoming familiar with the wide variety of development regulations in our Jefferson County Code. Already familiar with low impact development (LID) practices and other sustainable land use methods, she diligently worked with Assistant Planner Colleen Zmolek and other DCD staff to learn the ‘ins and outs’ of the many policies, criteria and performance standards on the books. In order to provide a daily coaching service, Shannon & Colleen are sharing the duties with additional staff filling in as needed. As with our previous ‘planner of the day’ service, they’ll continue to consult with the DCD team and other appropriate entities to ensure accurate answers for our customers.
· Resource Center – Remodeling construction was completed in February and in March, Shannon used her eye for design to arrange furniture and reconfigure this new customer service area. We now offer a bookshelf full of reference materials, two large study tables, two computer research desks – a GIS Mapping Station and an LID Learning Station – along with a rack full of brochures & handouts. Both computer stations play a slideshow of LID and green building images and have dozens of pertinent websites and digital resources bookmarked to assist online research efforts. We’ve also gathered a collection of educational posters that are both beautiful and full of useful information. Topics include:
1. Rain Gardens – plantings designed for stormwater from rooftops, driveways and more;
2. Low Impact Living for ‘water smart’ neighborhoods;
3. Puget Sound Hedgerows – living fences for fish & wildlife habitat (buffers)
4. Soft Shore Stabilization – the natural alternative to bulkheads for erosion protection
5. Love Your Stream for families living alongside creeks, rivers and wetlands; and
6. Urban Wildlife for backyard stewardship projects
The posters should be up on the walls very soon. It’s still a work in progress and we’ve not yet scheduled a grand opening, but the resource center is open for business (see attached flyer). We invite and encourage you to stop by to check it out!
· Workshops & Demonstration Sites – Because a main focus of the WSRC project is to promote the use of low impact development (LID) for stormwater management, the work plan includes raising the technical knowledge of local professionals. During May & June, nine of us attended the LID Technical Workshop Series provided by the experts at WSU Puyallup. Through a ‘mini grant’ program, we selected six development professionals as Peer Leaders to join three of us on staff in attending four intensive two-day workshops about 1) Bioretention, 2) Permeable Paving, 3) LID for Buildings: Green Roofs, Cisterns & Pin Foundations, and 4) Site Planning, Temporary Sediment & Erosion Control, Plan Review & Inspection.
Most of us also opted to pursue the LID Certificate Program. After attending a few supplemental lectures and completing 5 tests we’re eagerly awaiting the results to see if we passed. What this means is that the resource center can offer greater technical assistance to customers who want to explore LID options and help connect them to engineers, architects, designers, arborists and construction managers who are trained LID providers. Our Peer Leader volunteers will also assist us in providing local LID workshops for other development professionals and interested citizens.
Another key component of the WSRC project is to provide demonstration sites to showcase LID techniques and materials. We’re making use of Shannon’s background in landscape architecture, garden design, and horticulture to begin preliminary site analysis and design work on the demo garden that will be located here at our Castle Hill Campus. Two locations at this site are being considered and we look forward to sharing our ideas soon. WSU Jefferson County and Clallam Conservation District will lead the efforts to create two more demo gardens in South Jefferson County and in Sequim.
· Grant Amendment & Contracts – As noted in previous messages, current (economic/departmental) circumstances are different than anticipated so we are preparing to request an amendment to our EPA grant budget and timeline to better allow us to complete our scope of work. The changes are significant so the amendment planning process is ongoing. We anticipate making some changes to the ‘matching’ portions of the grant and don’t currently know if/how that would affect our Partners’ portions of the project. It’s possible that Partner match requirements could be reduced. We recognize that the delayed timing on this project may be a concern for your organization but we cannot finalize any partner contracts until we know where the revised grant budget and timeline will land. Therefore, we are not able to ‘fast track’ any interlocal agreements/MOUs/service contracts at this time. We know this process is not going as quickly as first hoped but want to assure you that we’re still intent on collaborating with each of our Grant Partners.
· Partner Meeting – We still want to convene a meeting with our Grant Partners to touch base with each group in person, facilitate some meet-n-greet networking, and have you visit the resource center and potential demo garden sites. As summer is now in full swing, we’ll aim to schedule this meeting for sometime after Labor Day.
Whew – As you can see, we have indeed been busy! We thank you again for your willingness to participate and support this pilot project and urge you to contact us with any questions, concerns or ideas.
Enjoy the summer sun,
Michelle
Michelle McConnell, Project Manager
Watershed Stewardship Resource Center
621 Sheridan St.
Port Townsend, WA 98368
www.co.jefferson.wa.us/commdevelopment/WSRC
