Watershed Stewardship Resource Center

Are you a land use development professional with project experience working with our Department of Community Development? We're seeking permit applicants, contractors, architects, engineers and others to provide feedback on what barriers and benefits exist for opting to incorporate environmental protection features into project design and construction. Stakeholder focus groups will meet for facilitated roundtable discussions this Spring. Learn more in the Policy Analysis section below.

Did you see us mentioned on pages 30 and 37 of the special supplement to the March 21, 2012 Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader newspaper? Pick up a copy today at the Resource Center or view a summary page below:

Development Professionals Invited to Join Rosters (2/2012) Over the next 18 months, there will be numerous ways for a variety of professionals to get actively involved in the project, including volunteer and paid opportunities. The County's small works, vendor, and consultant services rosters will help identify professionals to be contacted about upcoming mini-grant award, workshop, stakeholder focus group, demonstration site, video tour, marketing, education and outreach, and resource center greeter opportunities. Learn more in this press release that was published in the 3/21/12 Leader.

Come see the set of beautiful and informational posters now on display in the Resource Center (photo 1; photo 2; photo 3) featuring: Rain Gardens; Low Impact Living; Puget Sound Hedgerows; Soft Shore Stabilization; Love Your Stream; and Urban Wildlife. There are even take-home versions of two of them and plenty of brochures with similar and related information.

The Department of Community Development hired Assistant Planner Shannon Glass as our new Coach for the resource center. She started in February bringing her background and expertise in horticulture, garden design & installation, green roofs, and landscape architecture. Shannon joins Assistant Planner Colleen Zmolek and other DCD staff to provide a daily Coaching Services Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 am to noon, and Wednesday 1:30 - 4:30 pm.

We're also working towards having staff and volunteers share the role of Receptionist/Greeter to welcome customers to the resource center and provide assistance with the resources provided. Stay tuned for volunteer recruitment announcements or contact us to join the email list.

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 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:

It’s still a work in progress but the resource center is open for business (see the flyer). We invite and encourage you to stop by to check it out!

The grant project will include stakeholder focus groups to evaluate existing policies and permit processes to create a user-friendly flowchart and identify other possible improvements.

A work group will then use the feedback to help create tools to help applicants more easily navigate the permitting process, and make suggestions to change polices, regulations and the permit review process to support more use of low impact development and other sustainable development practices. See the recent ad from the Leader newspaper and the recruitment letter. To get involved contact us at WSRC@co.jefferson.wa.us.

Local development professionals are again invited to apply for the second round of mini-grants to attend the LID Technical Workshop Series at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. Instructors of the four, two-day workshops are regional experts and classes will be located at the new WSU LID research facility that offers extensive examples of permeable paving and bioretention, as well hands-on learning opportunities. These workshops will provide the latest design guidelines, science, construction details, and practical experience necessary to properly design, build and maintain LID practices: Bioretention/Rain Gardens, Permeable Paving, Green Roof, Low Impact Foundations and Rainwater Collection, Site planning, and Temporary Erosion and Sediment Control. Learn more at WSU Extension Jefferson County website. Application deadline extended to March 23, 2012; workshops are in April - May 2012.

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 LID Professional 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.

Become a Peer Leader in Low Impact Development! Local development professionals are invited to apply for a mini-grant to attend the LID Technical Workshop Series at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. Instructors of the four, two-day workshops are regional experts, and this year all classes will be located at the new WSU LID research facility that offers extensive examples of permeable paving and bioretention, as well hands-on learning opportunities. These workshops will provide the latest design guidelines, science, construction details, and practical experience necessary to properly design, build and maintain LID practices:

2011	Workshop Topic
May 3 - 4	Bioretention
May 17 - 18	Permeable Paving
May 31 - June 1	Green Roof, Low Impact Foundations & Rainwater Collection
June 14-15	Site Planning, TESC, Plan Review, and Inspection

The mini-grants are funded as a component of the EPA grant awarded to the Jefferson County Department of Community Development. The WSRC will award up to 15 mini-grants to local professionals to cover the registration cost of attending the LID Workshop Series ($440 value) and help offset some of the mileage costs for travel. Engineers, planners, landscape architects, and allied disciplines that plan, design, build and maintain development projects are encouraged to apply. Attendees are eligible for CEU’s and LID Certification.

LID Mini-Grant Application

The grant project will include a stakeholder focus group to help prepare development code revisions that will simplify and streamline the process for landowners who choose to implement 'eco-friendly' development practices. A special focus will be on low impact development techniques for stormwater management, critical area buffer optimization and vegetation management. Stay tuned for more details on this component...