Wetlands mitigation sketch, environmental checklist give clearer picture of what classroom additions will look like
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
The Medical Lake School District has submitted a wetlands mitigation sketch for Hallett Elementary classroom additions and the district is working to complete further requirements prior to the intended start of construction this spring.
The sketch describes how the district plans to offset the project's expansion further into a wetlands buffer zone as required by amendments to the city's critical areas ordinance passed last fall. The ordinance allows certain nonconforming public facilities to encroach into buffer areas when the applicant can establish four conditions: A smaller area is adequate to protect the wetland functions; a mitigation report has been prepared by a licensed wetlands biologist that illustrates how the affected wetland will be maintained or enhanced; a monitoring system is established to evaluate how the mitigation is working; and site development will not have residual impacts on surrounding properties.
A mitigation report and wetland delineation report were prepared last spring by GeoEngineers, an engineering, environmental and earth sciences firm based in Spokane. In March, company wetlands biologists completed a study of the 18-acre area to the south and west of the existing school building and fields, defining a total of four wetlands. Several design alternatives were developed to minimize impacts to these areas and the preferred design spawned the current concept sketch.
The sketch presents a six classroom addition and “outdoor teaching area” on the southern edge of the school, about 14 to 21 feet from the edge of the wetland area. The school grounds will be separated from the wetlands by a fence, a basalt boulder retaining wall and a graded slope covered by vegetation, straw bales and a silt fence. The buffer region and nearby wetlands will be planted with nootka rose, quaking aspen, elderberry and other deciduous trees, native grasses and shrubs.
Jeremy Sikes, the Eastern region wetlands specialist with the Washington State Department of Ecology, gave the nod to the preferred concept in an endorsement letter last May. He credited the project team with minimizing the effects on nearby wetlands and for re-configuring the expansion to limit the school's footprint in the impaired buffer area.
“I believe that, with careful construction management and post construction maintenance, the proposed buffer mitigation plan can greatly improve the overall function of the buffers,” he wrote, adding that, “The fact that the school is surrounded by wetland mosaic should be considered an asset, and proposal should integrate an educational component to the mitigation that will introduce children to the wonders of wetlands.”
As well as the concept sketch, the district has also submitted a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist to the city. The checklist outlines how the addition of six classrooms, a total of 8,000 square feet, could impact the surrounding environment, including the wetlands. About 30 percent of the site will be covered with impervious surfaces after construction, but all storm water runoff will be funneled to pre-treatment areas before passing to the wetlands, the SEPA report says.
Rusty Pritchard, senior project manager with the district construction consultant Hill International, said by the end of this week he expects to have a “permit to review” ready for the city, including specific project parameters such as utilities infrastructure. Pritchard also said a monitoring plan for the affected wetlands is still being prepared and will be included in contractor specifications as per the comprehensive plan amendments.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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