Building at the Water's Edge: The Role Of Environmental Certification and Monitoring In Waterfront Project Design
Presentation Abstract
Certification and monitoring programs should become important tools for waterfront designers and planners to ensure projects address the unique challenges of development at the water’s edge. This session will demonstrate the importance of certification programs and monitoring efforts integrating environmental, social and economic issues into pre-design and planning phases of waterfront projects. The use of three different case studies allows us to relate timely and applicable “lessons learned” at multiple scales of planning and design. These examples are: 1) From a site planning perspective: The Port of Bellingham applied LEED ND in their Waterfront District Master Plan and found key differences exist between coastal and terrestrial projects. They found LEED did not adequately address and credit important aspects of the shoreline environment. 2) From a site specific development perspective: The False Creek Development in Vancouver, B.C. applied the Green Shores certification credit rating system after project completion and found that earlier incorporation of this program could have resulted in an improved habitat design. 3) From a site environmental data collection perspective: The use of scientific monitoring at the Olympic Sculpture Park and Seattle Seawall in Seattle revealed the importance for integrating habitat-monitoring data into the planning process to create better shoreline design solutions. The post-construction data from the Olympic Sculpture Park was then used to define aspects of the Seawall project. The case studies and “lessons learned” make two key points: certification and monitoring programs can be used in different ways to incorporate the aquatic environment into the planning process; and second, the design of certification and monitoring programs and must be closely linked with project design to facilitate positive outcomes for our aquatic environment.
Session Title
Session S-08G: Rethinking Our Waterways: Effective Collaboration with Landowners, Project Partners and Decision Makers
Conference Track
Shorelines
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 5:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 6:30 PM
Location
Room 6C
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Waterfronts--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)--Planning; Sustainable construction--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)--Certification
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Building at the Water's Edge: The Role Of Environmental Certification and Monitoring In Waterfront Project Design
Room 6C
Certification and monitoring programs should become important tools for waterfront designers and planners to ensure projects address the unique challenges of development at the water’s edge. This session will demonstrate the importance of certification programs and monitoring efforts integrating environmental, social and economic issues into pre-design and planning phases of waterfront projects. The use of three different case studies allows us to relate timely and applicable “lessons learned” at multiple scales of planning and design. These examples are: 1) From a site planning perspective: The Port of Bellingham applied LEED ND in their Waterfront District Master Plan and found key differences exist between coastal and terrestrial projects. They found LEED did not adequately address and credit important aspects of the shoreline environment. 2) From a site specific development perspective: The False Creek Development in Vancouver, B.C. applied the Green Shores certification credit rating system after project completion and found that earlier incorporation of this program could have resulted in an improved habitat design. 3) From a site environmental data collection perspective: The use of scientific monitoring at the Olympic Sculpture Park and Seattle Seawall in Seattle revealed the importance for integrating habitat-monitoring data into the planning process to create better shoreline design solutions. The post-construction data from the Olympic Sculpture Park was then used to define aspects of the Seawall project. The case studies and “lessons learned” make two key points: certification and monitoring programs can be used in different ways to incorporate the aquatic environment into the planning process; and second, the design of certification and monitoring programs and must be closely linked with project design to facilitate positive outcomes for our aquatic environment.
