“I was impressed by the aesthetic qualities, cost effectiveness, and environmental benefits of LID demonstrated by Dr. Chris May last year,” said Skelley, referring to a workshop sponsored by the Lemolo Citizens Club/Liberty Bay Foundation on stormwater management and Low Impact Development strategies. The workshop series was part of a Department of Ecology EPA 319 clean water grant funded project to educate property owners and developers about the impacts of stormwater discharges on receiving waters and how to prevent pollution.

“It meshed with the way I like to do things and reinforced my own philosophy of using less invasive technology, leaving as many trees on the lot as possible, and protecting the environment,” added Skelley.

Assisted by Mark Kuhlman, from the professional engineering firm of Team 4, the two set out to design the highest and best use of the natural landscape combined with built structures that would both filter and distribute stormwater.

Kuhlman advised Skelley to build some detention on site, allowing water to flow through a bioswale and oil-water separator before entering a culvert under state route 305. He planned to install an energy dissipator to control high flows, then create an open ditch using rocks and biofiltration methods permitting natural flows to filter through a 500 foot easement, entirely adjacent to an undeveloped wooded area, to the shoreline of Liberty Bay.

This proven method of handling runoff has been used across the nation and progressive developers such as Skelley have recognized the benefits, both environmentally and financially, of LID.

Unfortunately, this plan was stymied by Kitsap County’s own development engineering department and the permitting agency for the project that failed to “see the forest for the trees” due to their own archaic existing regulations and restrictive codes.

Obstacles occurred, and according to Skelley, “the county required me to tightline the runoff through 457 feet of pipe, place a culvert under Lemolo Shore drive and a new outfall into Liberty Bay.”

In spite of the obvious advantages in using the lower impact designs, he was forced to comply with the County’s wishes. Over 500 feet of 16-inch HDP pipe and a new culvert at an additional cost of $20,000 were installed in August 2004 before the county extended the road three feet to the shoreline side and repaved the street.

“It’s the permitting process that discourages developers who recognize the value of LID and they are forced to ‘build to the regulations’ rather than advancing state-of-the-art stormwater strategies,” said Art Castle, Executive Vice president of the Kitsap Home Builders Association.

Castle, who also acts as the secretary for the Kitsap Home Builders Foundation, is leading an effort to get Kitsap County, and the four cities to develop and implement a uniform set of LID standards (see KPBJ, December 2004 issue).

When the November storms came, high velocity, silt-laden runoff shot from the 18-inch outfall onto sensitive shellfish beds near smelt eggs as a large plume drifted out nearly a mile into Liberty Bay. The incident was reported to the Department of Ecology and turbidity readings were taken by the Kitsap County Health District awaiting outcome of this investigation.

Kitsap County government responded with more recommendations to micro-manage the problems caused by this lamentable choice of stormwater management and lack of guidance.

Unlike technology, the system of nature is self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing… and naturally sustainable.