Sustainable Sites Initiative

Clinton Beach Park

Size & Type of Project:
0.68 acre/ Greyfield Redevelopment; Local Park

Location:
Whidbey Island, Washington

Budget:
$520,000

Project Phase:
Completed in July 2006

Project Overview

The impetus for Clinton Beach Park came directly from the local island community. Responding to the critical need for public access to Puget Sound on Whidbey Island's east side, the Port District of South Whidbey Island acquired a commercial property with 180 feet of sandy, no-bank waterfront for creation of Clinton Beach Park. The design team focused on redeveloping this greyfield site (former restaurant with parking lot), into a vital community asset.

Sustainability is a core value of the project team. During the park's design and development, the team was continuously striving to achieve balance between program (people) and site (nature). The development of Clinton Beach Park revived the waterfront by removing all impervious surfaces on the site and providing community access to the water. In addition, the park's sense of place was dramatically improved by replacing invasive vegetation with native and adaptive plants. Overall, ecological awareness, resource efficiency, and stormwater management were successfully achieved.

Site Context

The Clinton Beach Park site is adjacent to the Whidbey Island ferry terminal. Whidbey is located about 30 miles north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington. The island forms the northern boundary of Puget Sound. It lies partially in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountain Range to the west and has a variety of climate zones. The temperate climate of the Seattle area is classified as Marine west coast, characterized by dry summers and cool wet weather during the rest of the year, with an average yearly rainfall is of 38 inches.

Clinton Beach Park

Sustainable Practices

Materials Reuse: Resource efficiency was an essential goal for the project. Salvaged wood milled from tree stumps left over from old logging sites was used for much of the project. In addition, cast in place concrete containing fly ash was used. The deck, made from recycled plastic lumber, was built using most of the existing footings and substructure that were a part of the original restaurant building. In an effort to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill, heavy timbers and beams from the building were salvaged and sold to a local outlet.
Stormwater Management: The project eliminated the need for traditional stormwater control and treatment by removing all existing impervious surfaces including a building and asphalt parking lot. In the new parking area, 3,100 square feet of porous pavers were installed. In addition, a bioswale and an extensive green roof on the picnic shelter reduced stormwater runoff and allowed the team to avoid building stormwater catch basins and detention ponds.
Native and Adapted vegetation: The plant palette reflects the local ecosystem and improves the community's sense of place. The team removed all existing invasive plants and re-vegetated the area with drought-tolerant natives and adaptive species. Plant selection includes a special low water use lawn seed mix that requires no irrigation once established, no mowing and stays green through the year in the Puget Sound region.
Community Involvement: Sustainable goals were presented by the design team and embraced by the community and the client. Realizing the value of local knowledge, the client encouraged the community to participate in the design and construction process. Student volunteers from South Seattle Community College constructed the picnic shelter structure and formed and poured the concrete footings and columns. The extensive green roof on the picnic shelter was planted by community volunteers and the design team.
Social Benefits: For the local island community, Clinton Beach Park filled a need by offering public access to the Puget Sound waterfront and the ferry terminal. The park also offers many other amenities and spaces for group or individual experiences including the sandy beach, the deck with tables and chairs near the waterfront, and the picnic tables under a green roof. The park accommodates the needs of diverse visitors with improved accessibility to the Port's Fishing Pier and small boat dock. Other site elements that benefit the local community and visitors are the information kiosks and interpretive signage.
Recycling: A program is being implemented that provides special containers were fishing line can be recycled to prevent loose fishing wire entangling fish or birds.
Recycle Organic Waste: One hundred percent of the yard waste is picked up and recycled off site.

Construction Cost

The project's scope and budget ($520,000) factored in sustainable strategies, including:

Paving and grading - $92,000.
Plastic lumber decking - $10,000.
Planting - $66,000.

Monitoring Information

Visual monitoring of plant material and growth occur on a regular basis. Monitoring involves inspection for visual signs of disease, pest, nutrient deficiencies, lack of water and saturated soils. The observations are as follow:

Green Roof: The green roof is monitored for overall plant health and invasive weeds. Plants are inspected every two weeks in the summer months coinciding with the regular maintenance visits for weeding other portions of the park. As a result, it has been observed that the green roof will require periodic watering through the months of June, July, and September but not during other parts of the year. Weeding the green roof has been necessary twice a year - late spring, and midsummer. It is assumed that once the plants are established and have adequately grown to cover the roof, the weeding and watering will not be required. Ongoing monitoring will be provided to determine when these practices can be phased out.

Porous Paving: Precipitation continues to infiltrate through the paving and no evidence of flooding has been observed. Although there is no empirical data, the infiltration rate of the pavers will exceed the average two-year storm event of 1.65 inches in 24 hrs. It is assumed that pavers will infiltrate all rainwater from the average storm event.

Maintenance

The client has a no-toxics maintenance policy that was established for all Port of South Whidbey Properties (per Resolution 92-5). Resolution 92-5 states that no toxic materials as defined by the U.S. Clean Water Act and the Washington State Toxic Control Act may be used within the Ports Jurisdictional Boundaries. The policy includes all toxic pesticides. All other maintenance practices are standard industry practices.

Overall budget for general maintenance is $6,000 per year for the park although costs are not tracked for the no-toxics policy. To date, the budget has not exceeded $6,000 a year. This budget includes the labor and materials for the no-toxics task (hand weeding and non-toxic sprays rather than toxic pesticide/herbicide spraying) as well as raking leaves, sweeping sidewalks, and other miscellaneous items that are part of standard landscape maintenance. These miscellaneous tasks are not tracked separately from the non-toxic tasks but the landscape maintenance contractor estimates $260/ year for using toxic sprays. There may be additional cost to the $260 for other general maintenance items such as leaf racking, sweeping, etc.

Clinton Beach Park

Issues/Constraints of the Site

The adjacent beach had to be protected from impacts of construction. Excluding the fishing pier, no work, storage, or other construction activities were allowed on the beach.

Lessons Learned

The inclusion of sustainable strategies did not increase budget.
Utilizing volunteers on tasks such as planting, detailing of structures and paving positively engaged the community as well as reduced project cost.
A successful non-toxic maintenance practice is the use of vinegar on Horsetail (equisetum). The contractor is not having success with peppermint spay or other non-toxic practices other than hand weeding for the invasive vegetation.
The feasibility of the project goal of resource efficiency should have been better communicated and verified between project team and contractors. In an effort to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill, the existing building was to be relocated and reused on another site. The project team used a moving contractor who ultimately was not able to find a barge that would cross adjacent mudflats with the building. Therefore, the existing building was demolished. However, heavy timbers and beams from the original building were salvaged and sold to a local outlet.

More project details

http://www.bergerpartnership.com/projects/parks_public/clinton_beach.php

Photos: AIA click here

Project Consultants

Prime Consultant / Landscape Architect
Jason Henry
Principal
The Berger Partnership PS

Architect
Matthew Swett
Principal
Taproot Design

Structural Engineer
Swenson Say Faget