Page 8 – Otak

Chad Weiser: Meeting the Challenge of Preserving Cultural and Natural Resources

With more than 300 million visitors annually, protecting and preserving the 423 national parks, monuments, and scenic lands that make up the US National Park System is no small undertaking. It is a balancing act between providing an enjoyable experience for visitors today and preserving the natural environment and cultural heritage for generations to come. This is the primary mission of the National Parks Service (NPS). It is also at the core of what Chad Weiser, PLA does every day at Otak as the firm’s Federal Practice Leader.

A professional landscape architect by trade, Chad was drawn to Otak’s interdisciplinary approach to working with clients when he joined the firm in 1999. “When I first came to Otak, I was a project manager in the Planning and Landscape Group. Over time, my role grew and eventually ventured into working on a lot of federal work,” Chad states. “I have enjoyed the evolution, but being able to work with all the disciplines at Otak has made my work that much more interesting. To be able to work with civil engineers, structural engineers, and architects and bring all of those pieces together to do great work for our clients has been very rewarding,” he adds.

His longevity at Otak has not only allowed Chad to work with all of the different disciplines, but has given him a broad knowledge base and the ability to translate structural, architectural, and civil engineering data for clients. He explains that “the key is being able to understand the important elements of all of the different disciplines and how they come together, and distilling it down for a client so they can make the decisions that will make their project successful.”

Early in his career, Chad had the opportunity to work directly for the NPS, overseeing construction on various projects and acting as a liaison between contractors and NPS design teams. His background and familiarity with the challenges faced by the NPS have been an asset as Chad and other leaders at Otak have been helping the NPS with visitor use studies and restoration projects at a number of sites. “The challenge we have on every project,” Chad explains “is to find the right balance between the visitor experience and preservation. Sometimes we’re needing to think about expanding a footprint of a developed area, but doing it in a way that will have minimal impacts, both to cultural and natural resources.”

Mount Rushmore Facilities Improvements Project

Notable projects Chad and his team have been working on include facilities improvements and renovations at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, campground rehabilitation at Yosemite National Park, and new wildland fire facilities in North Cascades National Park. Chad cites the Yosemite campground project as a prime example of balancing the user experience with the need to preserve and protect the environment. “This was a 300-unit historic campground that was very tired and in need of a lot of updates. We provided the design for the campground renovation, which included updating the amenities at each campsite, as well relocating twenty of the campsites away from a sensitive river corridor and building a new access road to those sites,” Chad explains.

Chad is also spearheading projects in coordination with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, The US Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. He sums up working with the NPS and other federal agencies as a process of finding creative solutions to challenging problems and doing it in a way that everyone feels heard and understood. “We are often working with teams from multiple departments—from cultural interpreters and rangers to operations, maintenance, and law enforcement—and they all come with a different perspective and a different area of focus. They all need to be heard and they all need to feel the solution we’re coming up with meets their needs and expectations.” He adds that “it can be challenging at times, but we’ve become very good at putting all the pieces together, balancing all the different demanding needs, finding solutions and getting them implemented.”

Looking to the future, Chad and the rest of the team are most excited about the Great American Outdoors Act. Passed in 2020, the Act provides critical funding to address the significant maintenance backlog of deteriorating facilities within the National Park Service as well as other federal land management agencies. “There’s going to be a lot of work for us to help the NPS implement projects, and it will be a lasting legacy for the next 50 to 100 years and we get to be part of it,” Chad says enthusiastically.

Niels VanDijk: Bridging the Gap Between Otak’s International and Domestic Work

Being a trusted advisor means carefully listening to what clients and their beneficiaries truly want from a project and finding the right people to make it happen. Building those relationships can often result in identifying new design and function ideas that had not first been envisioned but enhance the desired outcomes. Otak has this type of advisor in Niels VanDijk, Vice President-in-Charge of Otak’s international business.

Niels brings three decades of experience leading projects in Asia and the United Arab Emirates and providing consulting support to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). With his track record, he is the ideal person to take charge of Otak’s international business, and he relishes the work he does.

Akhmeteli metro station in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, where Otak prepared a conceptual design for the vicinity of the metro station.

Niels is charged with pursuing business opportunities, maintaining client relations, and overseeing project implementation. “The function involves a lot of communication with clients, project staff, and stakeholders. It requires a high level of flexibility, patience, and the ability to come up with creative solutions,” he comments.

As a keen traveler, Niels enjoys that his role has him spending time on-site in a variety of countries either for business development or project implementation. He says constantly meeting interesting people and being challenged to find culturally appropriate solutions for urban development make his job enjoyable and interesting. What he finds abroad, he shares readily with Otak’s teams stateside, allowing us and our clients to benefit from his experiences. “I find it extremely rewarding to engage others at Otak in our international work. There is so much knowledge and expertise that we can apply in transforming communities in other environments than our own,” he states.

His skills were put into action on a recent assignment in Uzbekistan where he helped the government develop a national action plan for managing urbanization. In the same country, he is now leading a team of individual consultants to prepare a $100 million urban development loan for infrastructure investments across four cities. Niels also worked as project director on two urban development planning assignments for the Asian Development Bank (ADB), one in Nepal and the other in Palau. He ensured that the approach his team leaders and s

The mountain village of Mestia, where Otak supported the development of an Urban Action Plan focused on promoting tourism while preserving the cultural heritage of the unique Svan culture.

pecialists took aligned with the client and stakeholder expectations, overseeing quality control of all the deliverables. While he usually does this work on-site, the pandemic changed the typical approach, forcing the team to keep projects going, engage stakeholders, and conduct training and workshops remotely. Despite the obstacles of distance, they kept the projects moving ahead.

Niels fosters a collaborative environment when he leads projects ensuring clients benefit from the skills of everyone on the team. The added bonus is he brings a background founded in worldwide experiences, so no matter where he is working, he can easily build relationships that enable him to truly understand what his clients need and want and match the people who will make it all happen.

Otak Expands Senior Management Team in Oregon and SW Washington to Better Serve Public and Private Clients

Otak was founded in Portland 40 years ago to serve both private development and public clients with topflight planning, engineering, and architecture services for urban design and civil infrastructure. We have grown significantly, especially in the last five years, and have added new services and broadened our client base. Earlier this year, Otak organized its Portland and Vancouver offices to continue growth in both the private and public client sectors with new senior leaders dedicated to serving each client set.

The new leadership team make-up is both existing Otak leaders in expanded roles and leaders new to Otak. The focus of the team is to leverage expertise and technical knowledge in both Oregon and SW Washington with teams dedicated to the unique needs of public and private clients.

Otak CEO Jim Hamann is a champion of this transition. “We find ourselves in the fortunate position of having strong teams at all levels throughout Otak, by structuring teams with leadership focused on public or private exclusively, we’ll better meet the unique needs of each.”

Meet the team

Tim Leavitt, P.E. led the Vancouver office as Office Manager since 2017 and will now lead the civil infrastructure business for private clients as Regional Director Oregon and SW Washington. Millicent Williams takes the role of Regional Director for planning, engineering, and construction services for public clients after rising to Deputy Director at Portland Bureau of Transportation. Brian Fleener, AIA, has been with Otak since 2015 as Architecture Practice Leader and will take on an expanded role as Regional Director for architecture design and Henry Alaman is Regional Director for comprehensive project management; both Brian and Henry have public and private client portfolios.

For private clients, Otak leads the planning, civil engineering, architecture design, and comprehensive project management on some of the most recognizable projects in the Portland Metro area. From the recently approved Hyatt in the Pearl to the Vancouver Waterfront, Otak’s private practice is in high demand. In January, recognizing the value our integrated project team brings to clients, Otak organized a Management team specifically for private clients. Together, Tim Levitt and Brian Fleener coordinate engineering, project planning, and architecture services to help developers and owners prove out their project concepts and take them through entitlement to construction. Henry Alaman’s comprehensive project management team helps owners through the complex process of construction and commissioning.

Equally strong is Otak’s private practice for DOT’s, public works departments, library districts, school districts, water districts, and ports. Millicent’s state and local agency-focused team can provide a range of planning and design services from urban planning to roadway and bridge design, from stormwater management to park and recreational trail planning and design. Teamed with Brian and Henry, our public client team has delivered public facilities from affordable housing to libraries and courthouses. With regional realignment, Otak is better positioned to serve public and private clients throughout Oregon and SW Washington.

CEO Jim Hamann summed up, “This leadership team has great vision and strong relationships throughout the region with clients and partners. The mix of Otak experience and fresh perspective in the broader team will give clients great confidence that Otak will deliver great projects.”

DJC Names Three Otak Employees to OR Women of Vision 2021

Otak is proud to announce that three team members have been named as honorees to the Daily Journal of Commerce OR Women of Vision 2021. Tanya Boyer, Rachel Laura, and Cathy Kraus join more than 40 other women across Oregon and Southwest Washington who are being recognized for the work they do in shaping our built environment. Their leadership, mentoring efforts, promotion of industry diversity, and community involvement have helped shine a bright light on our industry.

As a marketing manager for Otak’s Portland and SW Washington offices, Tanya Boyer’s dedication to developing marketing and business development processes to bring work through the door, coupled with driving these practices, is paramount in Otak’s successes. During her time at Otak, Tanya has overseen the development and implementation of WinMap, a detailed approach to marketing and business development that empowers our various practice areas to cultivate stronger business relationships with current and prospective clients.

Tanya is also involved in the community, taking the tutelage and guidance received by some amazing female mentors of hers during the early stages of her career, and passing that forward. One of the ways she has done this is through her involvement with the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS). Tanya is currently the leader of the SMPS Mentorship Roundtable for the Portland chapter, a program that pairs experienced marketing professionals with new marketers, allowing the new marketers to expand their professional network, access a broad range of marketing information, and interact with industry colleagues. Both as the leader and a mentor in this program, Tanya has had many mentees, all of whom say that she was very invested and committed to their success.

Rachel Laura, PMP, is known for wearing many “hats” at Otak, including those of senior accounting manager, Deltek (ERP) administrator, and as a leader of our internal project management office. Rachel’s dedication to her community is coupled with her unwavering commitment to Otak, culminating in her involvement with many charitable events through the years, including several events that raised money for local-area nonprofits and the Oregon Food Bank. Rachel is also a talented landscape painter who volunteers with the Tolovana Arts Colony, a local non-profit whose mission is to provide affordable, year-round arts-related education, inspiration, and cultural programming.

As senior manager of the project accounting team, Rachel’s efforts play an integral role in the everyday financial function of Otak. In addition to these day-to-day responsibilities, Rachel has also taken on the role of project manager for Otak’s enterprise resource planning system upgrade, taking ownership of a huge endeavor that aims to put systems and processes in place to streamline Otak’s capabilities and enhance our service delivery to clients.

Senior project manager, Cathy Kraus, is often recognized for her holistic leadership approach, regular advocacy for staff, and a continuous emphasis on uplifting communities. Her empathy, leadership, and psychological safety practices promoting deeper trust and collaboration were evident on two projects for the Vancouver Clinic where she worked alongside ZGF Architects and Andersen Construction to deliver two award-winning projects. Cathy’s authentic and genuine leadership style supported the team’s collective approach for calmly and collaboratively navigating the impacts of the pandemic midway through a 12-month construction program, completing the project five weeks early and under budget, while also accommodating late program changes, converting two exam rooms into negatively pressurized rooms for the treatment of infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Springing from her recent project experiences, Cathy has been researching the elements of high functioning teams and the benefits of psychological safety in related work. As a result, she has been invited to share her research at this year’s AIA Seattle Architecture for Health Spring Conference, Oregon, and Idaho Chapters of the Society for Healthcare Engineering Fall Conferences, as well as write an article for AIA’s annual Academy of Architecture for Health publication. Cathy also enjoys opportunities to serve as a guest reviewer for Portland State University’s Architecture 120 Students’ final projects.

Honorees will be recognized at the DJC Women of Vision event to be held Thursday, October 28 from 4:00 to 8:00 pm at the Oregon Zoo.

The Byway Creates A Sense of Place For The City Of Wood Village

The City of Wood Village is one of three cities east of Portland, OR (Fairview and Troutdale are the others), that have been working together since 2017 to create a shared vision for Halsey Street, specifically where it runs from Fairview Parkway to downtown Troutdale. Entitled “Main Streets on Halsey,” the Halsey Corridor Plan seeks to create a neighborhood feel with boutiques, apartments, restaurants, community buildings, and plazas lining the street, along with improved pedestrian pathways, colorful awnings and signs, artwork, and murals. The Byway, a new mixed-use development in Wood Village, is one of the first Main Streets on Halsey sites to be completed.

The iconic tower at The Byway is a new landmark for the City of Wood Village.

Otak, working with developer Williams & Dame, collaborated with the City to create a vibrant community center at The Byway. This accomplished both the goal envisioned for the Halsey Street Corridor and the goal of the City to create a sense of place. As Casey McKenna, AIA, project manager and Otak Mixed-Use Studio Leader, states, “The project was really a placemaking effort and the completed Byway, with its iconic tower and amenities for both residents and visitors, has done just that.”

Situated on approximately three acres at the corner of 238th and Halsey Street, the former site of the Wood Village City Hall, The Byway encompasses eight buildings in total with ten thousand square feet of retail space, 170 apartment units, shared community space, a fitness center, and a pool. The Byway also features a blend of modern amenities and Pacific Northwest style, designed to enhance and embrace the outdoor spirit of the City, which is a gateway to Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. A large tower in the heart of the development is reminiscent of forest service lookout towers and has become a landmark for the City.

Casey remarks on some of the finer details in the overall project, including how the design enabled maximum density and site efficiency: “We were able to squeeze enormous yield per square foot in each of the buildings, netting more than ninety percent efficiency.” Some of the apartment units were designed to provide flexibility to tenants through multi-purpose spaces and separate living quarters which, as Casey explains, “can serve families, roommates, or someone working from home who needs that extra space for a home office.” The different areas of the development also provide for different experiences with various gathering spots, outdoor grilling stations, and other amenities all designed to serve the residents. A dog wash and nearby walking trails will add to the overall enjoyment of the place.

Retail space is slated to include a coffee shop, pub, boutiques, and professional services to serve both residents and visitors.

Otak provided complete project management for The Byway, as well as architecture, land use planning, civil engineering, survey, urban planning, landscape, and water and natural resources services. Structural engineering was provided by Froelich Engineers and the contractor was Deacon Construction.

A ribbon-cutting was held on August 10th, with City officials, including the city manager, the mayor, and residents all in attendance. Casey says, “the strong sense of community pride was evident. It was great to see, and for all of us at Otak, it is rewarding to know our work is making a difference in the communities we serve.”

Craig Meunier Is Redefining Processes And Roles To Pave The Way For Advancement

In the age of rapid-fire technological advances and the digitizing of so much of our lives, the allure of the latest automation designed to make life easier is ever-present. This holds true for how we live our personal lives and how we work. But there is a balancing act to staying at the forefront of efficiency and maintaining the human element. This balance is crucial to how we service our clients and how we take care of our teams. As Craig Meunier, Otak Compensation and Benefits Manager, sees it, employees and clients are similar, and the best way to take care of both is to start by asking “how can we help our employees do their best?”

A self-described generalist, Craig has worked in all areas of human resources (HR). He recognizes that while Otak is focused on our communities and servicing external clients, HR is simply another service department, but with internal clients. He says that “By serving our employees—taking away the little things that come up in life that distract them from doing their work—we allow them to focus on what they need to focus on—delivering excellent work to our clients.” In this way, Craig and his team are helping everyone at Otak serve our external clients in the best way possible.

For Craig, creating a place where people want to be is fundamental to his role at Otak. “Whatever I can do to contribute to employee satisfaction, create interesting benefits, or make sure that we are paying employees competitively and giving them opportunities to grow, I am going to make a priority,” he says, adding that “when we lose an employee, it creates a vacuum that we have to refill. There has to be retraining and there has to be that knowledge transfer. When we retain employees, we maintain a continuity of service that is important to the work we do and how we can best serve our clients.”

Craig is currently working on a job descriptions project that he sees as foundational for career path development, performance management, and recruiting. He describes the project as “defining positions rather than re-defining as it will bring clarity and more structure to existing roles.” He further explains how the new definitions will also provide clear paths for advancement, stating “This will better enable employees to identify the two or three things they may need to develop or work on in order to advance.”

One of the priorities is to also create multiple career paths for employees. Craig recognizes that “not everybody wants to go into a management position. For example, if you are a technical expert and you want to be a senior technical expert, we can create a career path for you so you can get to those higher salary bands without having to go through the project management path.” With clearly defined positions and requirements for advancement, Craig says “employees are better encouraged to seek continuing education and more training, which creates more engaged employees. And all of this, of course, benefits our clients.”

Rachel Laura Ushers In Change To Foster Improved Efficiencies

Putting systems and processes in place to streamline our capabilities and enhance service delivery for our clients is an ongoing goal for Otak. While it takes a team effort to achieve this goal, it takes an even more talented leader to lead the team, implementing and integrating ever-evolving technology advancements and best practices, often behind the scenes. Wearing many different hats, Rachel Laura is this leader for Otak, excelling in the role of senior project accounting manager, while also stepping into the positions of enterprise resource planning (ERP) project management and accounting software administrator.

Rachel has long played an integral part in the everyday financial function of Otak, ensuring the economics of every project flow smoothly for clients, sub-consultants, and project managers alike. As Dave Johnson, Chief Financial Officer at Otak, proudly states, “Rachel effectively, quietly, and accurately covers more than 700 projects, working with about 125 people each month!” Together with her team, she works diligently to make sure all details of any project transaction are clear, accurate, and easy to understand.

Rachel delivers success in her many roles by bringing new ideas to the table and using her strong team development skills to drive performance. She has hired, trained, and mentored her own team, all while training and developing a group of more than 100 project managers across the company. Her ability to work with a wide range of creative personalities and understand various software platforms integral to the efficiency of Otak makes Rachel truly exceptional. So when the time came to begin preparing for the implementation of Deltek Vantagepoint, an ERP software that will increase efficiency, improve productivity, and facilitate more informed decision making on our projects, Rachel was the obvious choice to spearhead the company-wide conversion.

Ushering in a company-wide change is not simple. As the project manager for the transition, Rachel meets regularly with a core committee, an executive steering committee, a communications team, and IT to ensure a smooth transition for all employees. “We’re set to go live in mid-November and this is my primary focus from now until then. I’m looking forward to this happening—this has everything we and our clients need at this moment, and it is a good time for Otak to make the change,” she says.

Rachel is also working closely with Scott Dreher, COO, to continuously update project management content and training. “A few years ago we hired a consultant to look at the processes project managers used with the goal of creating a repository of tools. We pulled existing resources, templates with standard language and used that as the starting point,” she says. As they continue building a repository, they also identify what items are missing and create new tools to fill the gaps. Rachel is also planning to work with Scott to create new training content for Otak’s Project Managers, with the goal of providing more internal training opportunities in 2022.

Rachel’s many roles often take place behind the scenes, but her work is a catalyst in helping Otak’s projects run smoothly and on time. Through her steadfast commitment to continually improving our processes and productivity, we are able to consistently provide the highest quality services to both our clients and our communities.

Li Alligood and Maddie Woods: Bringing Sustainability to the Forefront at Otak

Committing to sustainability, both within our organization and in the projects we produce, is a core value at Otak. We believe an environmental focus helps communities function and succeed. In 2011, we put that commitment in writing, signing on to the AIA 2030 Commitment to achieve a carbon-neutral building environment by the year 2030, and putting our Sustainability Action Plan into place.

From that point on, we have been driven to educate our teams on sustainability, reduce our own environmental footprint, and incorporate sustainable practices into our projects. We are accomplishing these goals through the work of our Green Otak (GO) committee under the leadership of Maddie Woods, Project Coordinator and Sustainability Coordinator in our Colorado office, and Li Alligood, Senior Planner and Project Manager in Portland.

The duo has been able to meld their roles with GO into their day-to-day work at Otak, helping us all to prioritize sustainability in everything we do for our clients and affording us opportunities to learn how to educate others about the value of green projects. GO has three components, Training (led by Rose Horton and Keith Bates), Operations, and Practices, each with its own teams and missions, encompassing between 20 and 30 employees at any given time.

As a project coordinator, Maddie assists project managers to see their projects through and can provide sustainability support as needed, helping them to understand where our operations could be improved. On the reverse, she takes what she learns from one project and can suggest how to apply it to another.

Li works more on producing written documents such as reports and plans than on design, but her project management focus supports the Practice Committee’s focus on project-based tools and resources. “I’ve been able to bring the organization and structure that I learn from my job to the GO committees and incorporate those ideas and strategies into how we operate,” she says.

To date, Otak’s most aggressive action has been our carbon offset program. “This really shows our commitment to making an investment in sustainability as a company,” Maddie says. She said Otak has integrated and supported the work of the GO committee from top management down. In the early stages of a project, clients are shown how green ideas and structures can be applied to their projects and that there can be financial incentives to incorporating such strategies. “Our IT department worked with the GO committee to create a sustainability folder of certification programs and resources to allow our designers to see what best practices and structures could be adopted for each project. They can share that information with our clients,” Li adds.

Both say that support of GO within Otak has grown tremendously over the years. Maddie comments that highlighting the green aspects of the company and its work makes Otak more attractive to potential young hires who want to work on projects that improve communities. Enhancing the company’s sustainability-focused OtakU program, an internal program to educate teams on sustainable best practices, has also helped build support. “Initially the Green OtakU programs were specific for design practice, but as interest in sustainability has grown, it encompasses a lot of things. How do you define sustainability? A focus on community health, lessening the impact of design, energy usage—it expands to include almost anything. I struggle to identify the limits of the GO committee in all aspects of the company,” Li states.

With 2030 not too far over the horizon, the GO team sees goals they’d like to reach in the coming year.

“How we are talking about achievements, understanding where we’ve been, benchmarking, and setting goals both from the operations and training perspective can be enhanced. We want to continue to make it easier for our staff to walk clients through the process of making their projects more sustainable,” Maddie comments.

For Li, the work ahead lies more in the nuts and bolts of developing databases and plans to help our teams have better access to information on environmental strategies that have been and could be used in our work. “It might be time to revisit our sustainability action plan too. Time to maybe adopt a new one that recognizes all we’ve achieved and where we want to go,” she says.

Creating Community On Former Riverfront Industrial Site

St. Helens, Oregon, is a growing community of over 13,000 people located 30 miles north of Portland. After years as an industrial hub, two wood product industries closed, leaving behind acres of brownfields abutting the Columbia River. The City of St. Helens (City) and its residents recognized the opportunity to reimagine the waterfront as a multi-use community asset and an RFQ was issued in late 2020 to begin the transformation with two projects: the South 1st and Strand Streets Road and Utility Enhancements and the St. Helens Riverwalk projects, both of which Otak will be working on.

The Otak team is leading the South 1st and Strand Street project and is a sub-consultant to Mayer/Reed for the Riverwalk project. As developers eye the riverfront location and offer visions for its future, the City and the Mayer/Reed-Otak team intend to address the transportation and infrastructure gap by connecting

Improved infrastructure and roadway connectivity will help guide future development of St. Helen’s riverfront.

the Columbia River Highway (OR 30) to the Riverfront District, as well as better connect pedestrians and bicyclists to existing roadways, trails, and the waterfront. The work will provide numerous road and utility enhancements and multimodal connections. Public water extensions and looping, sanitary sewer and storm drainage, and the relocation of the existing sanitary sewer lift station are all critical components that will help attract developers as the area begins to transition from industrial to mixed-use.

Running parallel with this project is the design and engineering of the St. Helens Riverwalk Project, which will include the design and construction of a boardwalk, overlook, and multi-use paths to maximize pedestrian connections. Mayer/Reed is leading this project overall, but Otak is managing the design for the replacement of an existing stage area with an amphitheater that can host community concerts and events and serve as a gathering area.

Representing Otak on both of these projects is Project Manager, Keith Buisman, and Project Coordinator, Mandy Flett. Otak has a single team working on both projects in tandem and the ability to coordinate a team in-house that has the wide array of skills and experience needed for the project was instrumental in being selected for this work. Every discipline in Otak is being tapped from planners to surveyors, architects to engineers. Revitalizing this riverfront aligns perfectly with Otak’s mission to create communities where people can live, work, and play.

“Planners came in first and provided an idea of what could be done with the parcels and how to lay them out for future development,” Mandy says.

The utility and roadway design and the design for gateways and pedestrian facilities are underway and expected to be completed this coming fall. Construction management will then follow and is tentatively scheduled to wrap up in 2023.

“Our work is to create a sense of ‘there’ in a town that has so much potential. We want to make it a destination for those who live there and also for visitors. When you enter the City, the river draws you in and we want to take advantage of that,” Mandy comments.

Moshier Park Stormwater Project Yields Benefits to Community and Fish Habitat

King County, in Washington, is situated within a natural watershed, home to various native fish species, including Coho Salmon. Restoration and preservation have become a priority focus across the region with salmon runs declining due to loss of habitat, barriers to fish passage, and poor water quality. For cities like Burien, with sensitive Coho salmon-bearing creeks running directly through them, there is an urgency to address water quality and pollution from stormwater run-off.

Public works projects need to balance multiple priorities against available funding and budget restrictions. So, when Otak was hired by the City of Burien (City) to do the final design of a stormwater retrofit at Moshier Park along Miller Creek, the team took a multi-disciplinary approach. The goal was to resolve a complex set of issues and provide maximum benefit in conjunction with other planned park improvements.

Addressing Untreated Stormwater Runoff, Flooding

Miller Creek, a natural waterway for spawning Coho Salmon, crosses through urbanized areas and ultimately discharges into the Puget Sound. Due to the amount of untreated stormwater runoff draining from the creek basin, the health of the creek is greatly degraded and conditions are poor for supporting the aquatic habitat. In addition, localized flooding and erosion along the creek’s banks have resulted from existing vegetation being converted to impervious or less pervious surfaces.

Moshier Park is a 15.2-acre public park that features lighted athletic fields, a community arts center building, and a large parking lot that is also used by Highline High School for events at Highline Stadium. The park was identified as an area for a stormwater retrofit project, funded in part by the Washington Department of Ecology, which would have the highest benefit value to Miller Creek.

Balancing Priorities, Maximizing Opportunities

While the project’s primary objective was to retrofit Moshier Park to provide stormwater flow control and runoff treatment, Otak saw the greater opportunity to incorporate other park improvements the City wanted to complete. Otak project engineer, Tyson Hounsel, explains that “by packaging some of the other park improvements into the design and construction timeline, we were able to save the city both time and costs. Plus, through all of our teams—survey, architecture, landscape architecture, water and natural resources, and engineering—we could develop a comprehensive design that includes the stormwater facilities, as well as a synthetic sports field, and a new restroom and concessions building at the park.” Otak also aided in obtaining the necessary environmental permitting and will act as the construction manager to oversee the retrofit and park improvements through completion.

One of these key improvements will be converting the large asphalt parking lot to less-impervious surfaces and installing an underground water detention tank and treatment facility that will capture stormwater runoff. Interpretive signs will also be installed in the park, which will be used by the neighboring high school as well. The project will break ground later this summer and is slated for completion in 2022

In the end, the City will have a newly designed and updated multi-purpose park that, as Tyson states, “will be a real community center.” Miller Creek will also benefit from improved water quality and will provide a more hospitable environment for spawning Coho Salmon.