1997 Awards

1997 Awards presented at the Skagit Watershed Regional Short Course on Local Land Use Planning, Cotton Tree Inn, Mount Vernon, Washington, October 4, 1997. Local planners pride themselves on looking toward the future and having patience to promote incremental changes that gradually transform our landscape.

This year, the Awards Program Committee prioritized for projects designed to produce on-the-ground, tangible results. What follows is a synopsis of the planning judges’ decisions that aim to showcase Washington’s stellar planning efforts submitted for program review in 1997.

Honor Award – Implementation

Whatcom Creek Waterfront Action Plan – City of Bellingham Planning and Community Development Department

The public/private facilitation process helped create a detailed 12-month action plan to revitalize the Whatcom Creek historic waterfront district in Bellingham. City staff, led by project manager, Sheila Hardy, and the project consultant, Tom Beckwith, worked with property owners and interested organizations to create an integrated design plan and immediate action program for the historic area, which was first platted in the late 1800?s. Fifteen specific, measurable tasks were identified, and the steering committee assigned members with specific implementation responsibilities. This direct approach demanded accountability with overwhelmingly successful implementation. Within eight months of the City Council’s adoption of the action program in November, 1996, more than 80% of the implementation actions were accomplished or underway. Examples include: a waterfront interpretive trail and fisheries enhancements; hillclimb landscaping improvements; transient and handcarry boat landings in the waterway, and a year-round activities program developed by the Old Town Business Association. The judges determined that effective mobilization of a coalition of interest groups, the development of specific, measurable tasks, the cost-sharing by direct beneficiaries (property owners) and the completion of physical improvements in a short time were all significant accomplishments.

Honorable Mention Award – Implementation

Redmond Coast Guard Housing Project – City of Redmond; A Regional Coalition for Housing; Eastside Housing Association, and Habitat for Humanity.

Housing costs keep rising, oftentimes, faster than personal incomes. The need to address affordable housing remains critical for planners and social service providers. This project is recognized for its effort to provide a combination of low-income, affordable and market housing on a 10-acre site surplused by the US Coast Guard. A partnership comprised of A Regional Coalition for Housing, Habitat for Humanity, the Eastside Housing Association, and the City of Redmond purchased the site and developed plans to construct housing there. About 3 and one half acres will be sold to a developer through a formal RFP process, with public benefits, level of affordability, and quality of proposed design being among the criteria to be used to select the developer, who will then build 80-100 units. The City has already secured more than half a million dollars towards rehabilitation of the existing units on the site, and rehabilitation has begun, with initial occupancy expected in early 1998. Volunteers took an active role in supporting the project, with more than 200 persons on hand in July to begin rehabilitation.

Honorable Mention – Transportation

East Wenatchee Transfer Area Study – Link; Chelan-Douglas Public Transportation Benefit Area, and Bucher, Willis, & Ratliff

This comprehensive siting study for a bus transfer station in East Wenatchee for Link, the transit agency for Chelan and Douglas Counties, established extensive technical criteria to select a successful site. Coordinating with the community most directly affected made the study particularly effective. Twenty- two potential sites were evaluated, based on criteria rated by the public at workshops. Bus riders were consulted, and surveys were conducted in both English and Spanish. Both the City Council and the property owner supported the final site. Broad support for the project is credited to strong consensus building, and Transportation Improvement Board funding has been awarded.

Honor Award – Physical Plans

Southwest Everett/Paine Field Subarea Plan and EIS – City of Everett Department of Planning and Community Development

Many of the submittals for the 1997 Awards Program were similar to those of the last several years in that they were inspired by, required by, or meant to implement some aspect of a local jurisdiction ‘s growth management planning process. The Growth Management Act continues to influence much of the professional planning practice in the state. This project was developed specifically to meet the so-called “planned action” provisions of the Growth Management Act. A subarea plan incorporates environmental review for buildout of the entire subarea in order to expedite future permit review of projects that are consistent with the plan and EIS. The plan identifies mitigation in advance, and hopes to promote both expedited development where it is desirable while at the same time providing environmental protection at the front end. The judges identified this project as the state’s first example of a SEPA-integrated Subarea Plan consistent with ESHB 1724, the so-called SEPA/GMA Integration bill. The Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development provided a grant which judges perceived as a good use of state assistance. The Snohomish County Economic Development Council and the Snohomish County Airport also provided support.

Honorable Mention – Physical Plans

Issaquah Highlands Urban Design Guidelines – City of Issaquah; Port Blakely Communities; McConnell/Burke; Stalzer and Associates; the Dahlin Group, and Hough Beck and Baird

This project was recognized for its effective use of overlay districts, promotion of sustainable building techniques at an early phase of project planning, and user-friendly guidelines for housing designs. Multiple districts are designated, including cottage, townhouse, and so forth, and CCR’s are incorporated at the beginning. The judges deemed the project’s thorough treatment of design issues for such a large vacant site and good use of graphics worthy of attention.

Honor Award – Research Study

City of Tukwila’s Commercial/Industrial Design Guidelines Background Report – Tukwila Department of Community Development; Hoffman Planning and Design and Hough Beck & Baird

This report provides a good link to the City’s Comprehensive Plan, explains the philosophy and concepts of design guidelines clearly and understandably, and sets the stage to create visual character for an area where, as the report, itself, admits, “there is no ‘there’ there.”

Honor Award – Citizen Involvement

Spokane County’s Division of Long-Range Planning for Blueprints 2000: Citizens Managing Regional Growth – Spokane County Division of Long Range Planning

The judges agreed this project had great success integrating technology with citizen participation during the county’s efforts to get feedback on its long-range vision and Urban Growth Boundary processes. Through video, a “vision wall,” an Internet web site, and a creative “meeting in a box” that allowed anyone to provide feedback from their own home, the project demonstrates that effective use of appropriate technology really reaches people.

Honorable Mention – Citizen Involvement

City of Shoreline’s Citizen Involvement Program – Shoreline Department of Planning and Community Development

The city employed the program to develop its vision and Comprehensive Plan, but it is intended to remain the consistent venue for citizen input on all issues emerging within this community. The judges were impressed with the comprehensive nature of the program, which included picnics, questionnaires, workshops, and other means, and with the City’s excellent follow-through.

Special Recognition

Community-Assisted, Viewer-Employed Photography – Jones and Jones

This nomination captured the judges’ affection because of its potential to empower average citizens to influence the visual character of their communities. The technique involves disposable cameras which are distributed to various stakeholders. They photograph scenes in their community that they find to be good (or bad) examples of visual character. By identifying each frame and describing what aspects of the view are attractive or undesirable, local citizens, rather than the outside expert, help develop a visual “poll” of the values their community holds in common. The judges decided to recognize this architect and landscape architect firm from Seattle for their innovative use of technology, a potentially valuable addition to any planner’s “toolbox.” Jones and Jones successfully incorporated viewer-employed photography on the Coastal Corridor Study for the Olympic Peninsula with the Washington Department of Transportation. They also used it on the Coast Byway Management Plan for the Oregon Department of Transportation, and in preparing an open space and conservation plan for San Juan County.

Honor Award – Student Work

South Neighborhood Plan – 1997 Students: Planning Studio for Western Washington University’s Center for Geography and Environmental Policy at Huxley College

The students prepared the for one Bellingham neighborhood district. That neighborhood presented a number of classic planning challenges in both the built and natural environment. For example, the underdeveloped urban character of the neighborhood offered significant opportunities for infill that needed to be balanced with outstanding natural resources like freshwater and intertidal wetlands; steep slopes; marine shorelines, and extensive, forested, wildlife habitat. The judges noted the students’ work as “near-professional quality.” They examined lots of record in the assessors office; addressed infrastructure needs for water and wastewater, and they prepared the equivalent of a GMA Comprehensive Plan.

Honorable Mention – Student Work

Griffin Creek Watershed Study – Fall 1996 Students: Studio at the University of Washington’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning

The final project translates a highly technical watershed assessment of the Griffen Creek watershed, prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology, into lay terms for residents and property owners of the watershed located in rural King County south of the city of Carnation. The students solicited feedback from the community through a structured interview process, thereby broadening WDOE’s initial scope of work, which focused primarily on the 85% of the watershed owned and managed by Weyerhaeuser Company. Ultimately, a community newsletter was prepared to summarize this project.

Awards Committee Judges were Amy Tousley (ALTernatives, Olympia), Lisa Parks, AICP (Senior Planner, Douglas County), Gene Peterson (Senior Planner, RH2, Redmond), Paul Rogerson, AICP (Planning Director, City of Shelton), and Dan Milich (Mathews Land Company, Inc., Bellevue).

Co-Chairpersons:
Lloyd Skinner, AICP, Director of Environmental Services, Adolfson Associates, Inc./Seattle
Dee Caputo, Planning Director/Building Official, Adams County/Othello

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