This large-scale planning project involves planning for both a state highway and main street urban streetscape. The goal of the Highway 30 project is to provide safe, convenient access to local businesses along the highway, while balancing that with state goals for traffic mobility. GreenWorks is providing design and planning overview for this project.
GreenWorks developed green street schematic design concepts for the City of Sandpoint, Idaho, which will serve as a green street pilot project for the City of Sandpoint. Concepts for these existing streets looked at different options for how to retrofit green infrastructure to work with different existing conditions and how the design would fit with the character of the neighborhoods. Some of many issues considered in the designs were preserving existing mature trees, ease of snow plowing operation, on-street parking, vegetated stormwater facility types and pedestrian circulation.
As part of the realignment of Warner-Milne Road at the Molalla Avenue intersection, the City of Oregon City hired a team with GreenWorks to design a rain garden in a vacated portion of the right-of-way that will treat stormwater runoff from the adjacent heavily-travelled roadways. A series of large serpentine Corten steel fins meander through the site, articulating the stormwater channel and creating a striking contrast to the lush rain garden plantings. The first of its kind in Oregon, this rain garden incorporates prominent sculptural elements that highlight the City’s committment to sustainability.
GreenWorks assisted Metro and its regional partners in developing a comprehensive land use and transportation planning study to identify and prioritize public investments in the corridor between downtown Portland and Sherwood. The Southwest Corridor Plan builds on 25 years of the region’s experience in light rail and high capacity transit planning and has shown that major public investments in transit bring the highest value and return on investment when done in coordination with local visions for livable communities.
Parks and natural resources are a key component for livable communities. GreenWorks facilitated stakeholders interviews with the project partners, existing conditions analysis and created a comprehensive inventory of parks, trails, natural resource and green infrastructure projects across the region. GreenWorks assisted in screening, evaluating, and integrating this regional comprehensive list of projects into the transit alternatives for the SW Corridor ultimately for selection of the preferred transit alternative. The plan integrates natural areas, habitat corridors and trail connections to provide a more holistic plan that elevates the value of the area’s natural resources.
The Metro Parks and Natural Areas System Plan sought to answer the following questions: What does the region need for the future? What should Metro destinations look like? How can the region work together to build this vision? GreenWorks was tasked with uncovering the answers to these questions, along with our team of consultants and community based organization partners. The System plan helped lay the groundwork for future decisions regarding Metro’s role as a regional landowner and steward of these precious lands. Even as the parks portfolio changes, the goal remains the same: to honor the trust that citizens of the region invested in Metro by approving two natural areas bond measures. The System Plan is an opportunity to fulfill the vision of the voters and create an integrated vision for the next 20 years.
Collaboration with Community Based Organizations
Metro is dedicated to promoting equity goals in their operations, staffing, contracting and other aspects of their mission. GreenWorks recognized the System Plan as an opportunity to understand values from a cultural diversity perspective and to develop strategies that promote equity in programming and development. In the course of this project, equity was integrated into all team discussions. GreenWorks teamed with Self Enhancement, Inc, Multicultural Collaborative, and Coalition of Communities of Color on this project.
As a subconsultant for this regional water quantity and quality control project, we were responsible for design development of the four acre water quality facility, which includes a sedimentation pond with a wetland treatment facility. The wetland treatment facilities incorporates an emergent marsh, scrub-shrub community, and a riparian forest. Our tasks included preparation of graphic illustrations for a public meeting, at which we were present to answer questions.
Lori Faha and GreenWorks conducted an inventory of public high schools and middle schools located inside the Clean Water Services (CWS) boundary to identify opportunities to retrofit sites with Low Impact Development Approaches (LIDA) for stormwater management. The resulting report uses photos and site inventory forms to highlight potential retro-fit projects such as rain gardens and stormwater planters to capture runoff from roofs and parking lots. The report will be used by CWS staff to prioritize projects for design and construction by the agency and for identifying potential projects for school teacher/student implementation.
Hillsboro Parks and Recreation contracted with GreenWorks and an interdisciplinary team to evaluate opportunities and constraints and propose recommendations for a 2500 foot section of Rock Creek.
GreenWorks designed a concept plan including new stormwater treatment facilities between adjacent developments and the riparian corridor, a backwater habitat, overall vegetation management strategies, trails, overlooks, and a pedestrian bridge crossing.
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In November of 2014 GreenWorks began a site assessment and preliminary design for the Johnson Creek Oxbow Enhancement Project. The central feature of the site is the namesake “Oxbow” meander, which is bounded on the south by a bypass channel that truncates the oxbow creating an island. The by-pass channel was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930’s and included armoring the creek bed and banks, and creating a fish ladder in the oxbow to maintain fish passage. The goal of the WPA work was to convey flood flows efficiently downstream. It resulted in a confined channel, which is hydrologically disconnected from adjacent floodplains and wetlands, and exacerbates flooding. GreenWorks was charged with providing design strategies for improving floodplain hydrology, riparian and in-stream habitat, and local flood impacts.
To support these goals, GreenWorks held a one day charrette, which included members from BES, ESA-Vigil Argimis, and KPFF to discuss and recommend a variety of design strategies for improving the inherent conditions found within the Johnson Creek Oxbow. Recommendations were collected and vetted amongst the consultants and further discussed with BES to determine a set of design alternatives for specific sites within the project area. Project sites were mapped, along with support graphics and images, and cost-estimates, to BES in a comprehensive Pre-Design report, thus allowing BES to prioritize future improvement projects for the Johnson Creek Oxbow area.
GreenWorks provided landscape architecture services for Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services Flyway Wetland property located between the Columbia Slough and the Columbia River near the Portland airport. GreenWorks led a team to provide several wetland restoration concepts and a wetland delineation report. GreenWorks headed several workshops with the consultant and team to develop the preferred concepts based on goals for the project including: water quality improvement; vegetation and habitat restoration; wetland hydrology improvement; and floodplain wetland hydrology improvements. Wetland and Stream Delineation Reports and Wetland Restoration Concepts were created for internal analysis related to bureau’s goals for restoring the site and their overarching restoration goals for bureau’s environmental group.
In January 2010, GreenWorks and BES staff conducted intensive field work locating and documenting potential locations for stormwater facilities throughout the Columbia Slough Watershed in North Portland. The Columbia Slough has been designated a high priority area by the City of Portland for improving watershed health and reducing pollutants. The project team focused on four target areas where green street facilities would maximize stormwater quality treatment and capture contaminated sediment before being discharged into the Slough. Each potential green street facility was ranked based on its potential performance, feasibility, and cost. GreenWorks assisted BES in project prioritization and provided an overall ranking using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Over 150 potential green street facilities were identified, which would potentially result in stormwater treatment from over 35 acres of impermeable surfaces.
GreenWorks has worked over the past several years with City of Albany staff to develop stormwater quality standards for development to meet DEQ regulatory requirements. The products include new and updated sections of City Administrative Codes, Development Codes, Engineering Standards, Standard Construction Specifiations, and Standard Drawings. The draft products are currently in the public review process, with adoption and implementation tentatively planned by the end of 2014. Draft documents are all available for review on the City of Albany/Public Works/Engineering web page.
GreenWorks provided landscape architectural design services for Chown Pella, located in the heart of Portland’s historic Pearl District. The landscape features for this 75 loft housing condominium and retail space development consisted of fencing, parking, street tree plantings and seating areas.
The Madrona Lofts in the Rose Quarter of Portland offered a tremendous opportunity to rehabilitate an older hotel into much needed housing complex. GreenWorks was part of a team of designers that analyzed the existing facilities and surrounding development for opportunities to improve both the project site and the pedestrian connections from the community, through the site, to the adjacent Rose Garden.
Applying a number of sustainable site design practices, GreenWorks provided designs focused on developing meaningful pedestrian spaces and strengthening pedestrian connections to the surrounding developments.
The City of Coos Bay received federal funding to install bike lanes, landscape strips, and sidewalks to Empire Boulevard between Newmark Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue to provide alternative transportation opportunities along this heavily traveled corridor.
Improvements include widening the existing two-lane road to make room for on-street parking and bike lanes, installing curb, gutter, landscape strips with street trees, and sidewalk on both sides of the road. Stormwater / water quality facilities are constructed to manage stormwater on-site, converting Empire Boulevard into a ‘green street’. Other project elements include interpretive overlooks with site furniture, illumination, signing, striping, and numerous driveway connections.
GreenWorks participated in a series of volunteer design sessions, focused on improving the entry, arrival sequence and wayfinding for visitors to SW Portland’s Tryon Creek State Park.
GreenWorks participated in a series of volunteer design sessions, focused on improving the entry, arrival sequence and wayfinding for visitors to SW Portland’s Tryon Creek State Park. In concert with Fletcher Farr Ayotte Architects, we assisted in evaluating existing circulation patterns for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers who access and use the park. The result of this effort was a series of site planning and design recommendations to both Oregon Parks and Recreation Department staff and the Friends of Tryon Creek.
With the completion of the Big Pipe in 2011, water quality in the Willamette has improved by leaps and bounds. In the wake of this achievement, Will Levenson, head of the non-profit Human Access Project, is leading an effort to change people’s perceptions of the river and encourage recreation in the water and along the waterfront.
GreenWorks became involved in the Human Access Project in November 2012, bringing our extensive experience designing places for people within sensitive natural environments, which focus on balancing access with habitat conservation.
This balance is certainly a key consideration as the Human Access Project gains momentum through additional community outreach and scaled interventions along the Willamette’s shores. Greenworks is honored to be contributing to this worthy cause and looks forward to witnessing the transformation of Portland’s largest public open space in the years to come.
Integrating people and nature through creative and sustainable design.
Landscape Architecture | Environmental Design
110 SE Main St, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97214
e. info@greenworkspc.com p. 503.222.5612 f. 503.222.2283
