Focus Water: “A Delicate Balance,” by Susan Marie Chin, notes “the City’s multifaceted program to conserve drinking water; protect its source, safeguard the environment, and serve residents cost-effectively.”

Article available at: www.mswmag.com/ezine/2011/11 or www.mswmag.com

Pierce County Drug court adheres to the 10 “Key Components,” developed by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, that are designed to provide courts with a model that can be adapted to fit the specific needs of the community. The seventh Key Component states that “ongoing judicial interaction with each participant is essential.”

Superior Court Judge Tom Larkin saw Skype as a cost effective and efficient way to ensure that this important interaction continues when clients are attending treatment in other cities. In the past, this interaction has been limited to written reports and the occasional review by phone.

As part of the Drug Court program, participants who are identified as in need of intensive treatment services are often referred to short- and long-term programs to address their addiction and to begin a meaningful program of recovery. When they have successfully completed their inpatient treatment program they return to Pierce County and re-engage in outpatient treatment with Pierce County Alliance, the provider for Drug Court.

“There are definite benefits to incorporating Skype into our processes,” Judge Larkin said. “It ensures ongoing judicial interaction with Drug Court participants. And it saves the time and expense required for participants to attend Review Hearings in person.”

Skype Review hearings were recently piloted with two nearby inpatient treatment centers located in Seattle – Genesis House and SeaDruNar. In the past, treatment staff have transported participants from the facility to court. This took them away from their duties and also required participants to miss out on their daily treatment planning to attend court.

With the initial success of Skype Review Hearings with Genesis House and SeaDrunar, Pierce County Drug Court will now begin offering this option to treatment centers at more distant locations such as Longview, Yakima and Spokane.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Haley Lowe, therapeutic court case coordinator
253-798-7409
hlowe@co.pierce.wa.us

Andra Motyka, Superior Court administrator
253-798-3963
amotyka@co.pierce.wa.us

National Plug In Day is an unprecedented nationwide observance drawing global attention to the environmental and economic benefits of plug-in electric vehicles. In addition to Mercer Island, there will be 14 gatherings in cities around the county where the latest generation of electric vehicles will be on display alongside representatives from manufacturers and local sales outlets.

A partnership between Plug In America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association is responsible for coordinating this nation-wide event to promote the many benefits of “going electric.” Local co-sponsors for the event include the City of Mercer Island, Puget Sound Energy, Seattle Electric Vehicle Association, and the Mercer Island Green Ribbon Commission.

This electric vehicle showcase is a natural fit for the City of Mercer Island where “going green” is a priority. The City Council and City Staff have worked to reduce their carbon footprint by participating in the 22 Ways Carbon Challenge, the Police Department drives three hybrid patrol vehicles, and the City will soon be installing public electric vehicle charging stations.

For additional information about the event, contact Mason at 206.275.7661 or james.mason@mercergov.org.

By offering businesses the ability to display information such as new merchandise or services, current coupon offerings, available job openings and other topical news, the City can help make their business community more available and more vibrant.

With ShopsQA, citizens go to one central location on the City website to search for local businesses. Citizens have the ability to print out coupons, see menus, ask questions, determine store hours, join mailing lists and find the business location among a host of other capabilities.

ShopsQA provides businesses with a website if they do not have one or it can link to any existing business website. It will give citizens a direct platform to communicate with businesses and provide the ability to expand and enhance functionality depending upon the future needs of the local businesses.

About ShopsQA
ShopsQA is a service product from WebQA, the leader in citizen service systems. WebQA’s GovQA service products lead the country by servicing over 30 million citizens and 60 million people worldwide.

“Our volunteers are picking up about 400 carts a month, preventing the eyesores that abandoned shopping carts are causing in other cities,” Commander Chris Norman told the Council during a report on the program’s first year.

The Police Department began the Cart Recovery Team program in September 2010 as an innovative approach to addressing abandoned shopping carts. The program is composed of five volunteers, who use a Police Department volunteer vehicle and a converted trailer to transport carts.

The Cart Recovery Team is Frank Gabreluk, Dan Goede, Mari Ikeda-Gomes, Lottie Kinney and John McLaren.

In its first year the team has returned 3,456 usable shopping carts to over forty Federal Way retailers, saving businesses an average of $140 per cart. In addition to the $438,840 in returned carts, the team has recycled 2,690 pounds of unusable carts for scrap metal.

Citizens can report abandoned shoppings carts on the City’s cart hotline at 253.835.6774 or online at www.cityoffederalway.com/shoppingcart. The City averages about 18 calls a month to the cart hotline. Team members also use Safe City cameras to identify abandoned carts.

In 2008, commissioners approved an $8 million investment in more efficient lighting, improved heating/ventilation systems, and the addition of solar technology impacting eleven buildings. The project was financed through a 20 year capital lease with debt payments from the energy savings, rebates, and operational savings.

The audit contains two recommendations: to better monitor that the anticipated savings were in fact achieved; and to provide the BOCC with a more complete financial impact analysis when such projects are being proposed.

The audit found that the County relied on incomplete energy savings reports from the contractor without independent review. The audit also found that, while the project as presented to the Board was self financing as a whole, the payback of the various components varied significantly and could have been more explicitly identified before approval.

County Auditor Greg Kimsey stated: “We support the County’s initiative to reduce carbon emissions, but hope that any further investment(s) in this area will be subject to more extensive analysis and monitoring to ensure expectations are met.”

The full report is available at www.clark.wa.gov/auditor/audit/audreports.html or by calling 397-2310.

The community is invited to tour Fire Station 72 – which is designed to use 75 percent less power than a typical station – during an open house from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 8 at 1575 Maple Street.

“Buildings account for about 40 percent of all energy use in the U.S., which is more than agriculture, industry or transportation,” said Mayor Ava Frisinger. “To reduce our environmental impact, we built this fire station with extremely rigorous benchmarks.”

The station is designed to become the highest-rated LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) “platinum” fire station in the United States. Back in 2003, Issaquah’s Fire Station 73 was the first ever LEED “silver” fire station in the country.

The new station also meets the 2030 Challenge’s 2010 threshold to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent.

The station’s design team employed several cost-effective ideas to create an extremely “green” building. The technologies include:

· A system called a “ground source heat pump” that uses the ground’s temperature to pre-warm water for heating and hot water.

· A heating system that pumps warm water through the station’s floors.

· A solar hot water heater.

· A tight thermal building envelope that prevents heat loss and provides for a healthier indoor environment.

· Solar panels that convert the sun’s energy into electricity. When the panels produce more power than the building uses, the excess power goes back to the electrical grid, resulting in a credit for the station’s power bill!

· Highly efficient appliances, equipment and lighting. The station also uses natural light through skylights and strategically-placed windows.

· Electric plugs and lights that shut off automatically if no one is in the room.

· An 8,700-gallon tank that collects rainwater from the station’s roof. The harvested water is then filtered and used to flush toilets, wash trucks and clean laundry. This system saves more than 55,000 gallons of water per year and provides nearly 96 percent of the station’s water needs.

· Green materials, including interior finishes that are simple, durable and locally sourced. The station is built with 77 percent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood from responsibly-managed forests. At least 20 percent of the materials are made from recycled content, and more than 90 percent of the construction waste was recycled.

· Interior features that create a healthier indoor environment, including hard and cleanable surfaces (no carpet!) that prevent dust build up. All materials and finishes are also extremely low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

· The City’s first electric vehicle charging stations.

The final cost of the station was about $6.6 million, which is $1.4 million under the original estimate. The station was paid for by a variety of sources, including a voter-approved bond, District 10, City capital funding and fire mitigation funds.

The temporary Fire Station 72, which was built in 2000, was only designed to last five to eight years. At that time, there was no affordable land available for a permanent station. In 2006, the City of Issaquah then purchased property adjacent to the new Issaquah Transit Center on state Route 900 for the replacement facility.

“This station is not only ‘green,’ but also accommodates our firefighters’ needs,” said Eastside Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Wes Collins. “For example, the building’s easy-to-clean surfaces will help our firefighters stay healthy after they respond to a variety of calls for service.”

The station is also built to last for decades, and accommodate future growth in west Issaquah.

From energy-producing solar panels to toilets that use rainwater, Station 72 also has a lot in common with zHome, the first multifamily, zero-energy, carbon-neutral community in the United States. Issaquah spearheaded that project to demonstrate that ultra-green homes are not only possible, but also scalable for mainstream home production.

“I’m proud that our community is in the forefront of green building,” Frisinger said. “Not only are we setting an example for homeowners, developers and even public agencies, we are also on our way to conserving an impressive amount of resources for future generations.”

For more information, go to www.ci.issaquah.wa.us/firestation72.

The effect is deliberate, because the 10-townhouse complex, called zHome, is designed to encourage people to explore and rethink notions about “green” living. The project is the first carbon-neutral and zero-energy multifamily community in the United States.

“The way I think about it is, people don’t go out and buy a 1920s adding machine if they need a computer, they don’t go out and buy a Model T if they need a car,” zHome Project Manager Brad Liljequist said. “They go out and buy a 1920s bungalow, sure, and, partially that’s because they’re not all that different from a new house.”

But zHome, from the pebbly floor surface made from recycled tennis balls to the glinting photovoltaic panels on the rooftops, is meant to upend traditional ideas about homebuilding.

The homes’ net carbon footprint is meant to be as minimal as possible. The complex is designed to use 60 percent less water than a traditional counterpart.

Builders constructed fortress-thick walls, a solar array on each unit and a heat pump to pull heat from the earth to achieve carbon neutrality and zero net energy use, hence the name zHome.

“During the summer, each zHome will be, actually, a net energy generator. It’s going to create way more energy than it uses in the summertime,” Liljequist said. “Then, in the wintertime, which is when most of the energy use happens in our climate because of lighting and heating and everything, it’ll draw from the grid.”

The city spearheaded the project and developers shouldered the $5.5 million construction cost.

The complex is in the same mold as the house-of-the-future exhibits at past World’s Fairs. Only, unlike the dioramas rooted in science fiction, zHome is ready for occupants. Organizers expect residents to settle in after the open houses conclude.

“When people talk as the future, they talk about it in the theoretical sense without being able to attach that theory to practice,” Built Green Executive Director Aaron Adelstein said. “This, I think, gives people a tangible demonstration that it’s been done and this is how you do it.”

Built Green, a nonprofit offshoot of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, is a partner in the zHome project.

“Part of what we’re trying to do is get the building industry up to speed with the rest of the sectors of the economy,” Liljequist said. “What’s interesting — and it’s part of what we found with the project — is that you can do that.”

Overnight guests discover zHome

Before the official opening, Salmon Days Festival Director Robin Kelley, husband Oscar and 18-year-old son Kelley Hailstone spent a night in No. 1739, a unit furnished as a sales center.

The city invited the family in part to demonstrate the differences between a more traditional Issaquah home and zHome.

The overnight occupants joined Liljequist on a tour and then received a key to the 1,700-square-foot home.

The smell — or lack thereof — attracted attention early. The zHome team required strict limits on volatile organic compounds — the chemicals responsible for the distinctive smell of paint — and other indoor pollutants.

“I keep thinking about how fresh the air smells in here, not having the off-gassing of the newness,” Oscar Kelley said.

Robin Kelley admired the black switches in each room to cut power to idle electronics still using energy.

“From a consumer point of view, we have so many things at our house — electronics and different things — that are plugged in, that I would love to have that option to have an on-off switch,” she said.

Recession imperils ambitious project

Mayor Ava Frisinger and other dignitaries gathered to launch zHome’s construction in September 2008, on the same day the stock market imploded. The collapse imperiled zHome, as banks refused to finance construction.

“There were numerous banks and people who would say, ‘Gosh, love it; can’t do it,’” Frisinger said.

The fortunes changed last year, after Ichijo USA, a subsidiary of a large Japanese homebuilder, and local developer Matt Howland agreed to build zHome. Crews started construction at the Issaquah Highlands site in April 2010.

“It’s been a long and difficult road to finally get the project completed, so it’s part excitement, part relief,” Adelstein said. “We’ve put so much of our hearts into making it happen — not just Built Green but all of the partners.”

The project presented dual challenges for zHome architect David Vandervort. The townhouses needed to please the eye and foster a comfortable environment, but zHome also required additional attention to bring to fruition.

“Trying to do any kind of a project that’s out of the box in that sense through the maze of jurisdictions and design review and putting this into a community that’s not used to this kind of a project, I think brought some challenges to the fore that we were able to meet,” he said.

Stay nurtures ideas for improvments

In the morning, Robin Kelly climbed to a ladder the loft above the master bedroom to proof some festival documents.

The family noted the abundant natural light pouring across the open floor plan, and only used lights during daytime in the bathroom.

“Before the sun really got hot, we were able to have the south-facing windows and sliding doors open, and we had a nice, little breeze, but when it started getting hot, we closed that side and left the back side open, and you can feel the airflow,” Oscar Kelley said.

Robin Kelly said a flush on the low-flow toilet could use more oomph, but she said she did not notice a difference due to the low-flow showerhead. The zHome units employ filtered rainwater to flush toilets and wash clothes.

Throughout the stay, the Kelleys kept notes for possible home-improvement projects at home on Squak Mountain.

“We’re having to learn this and shift our consciousness — because all of the things that we’ve done for 20 and 40 and 60 years, all of the chemicals, all of the different things we did that were improvements, or that we thought were improvements — because now we’re finding that some of those things are detrimental,” Robin Kelley said.

Warren Kagarise: 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.

The Build Regional Spokane site is provided by Spokane County as an online web portal providing quick access to a variety of public services in the Spokane County Region.

In mid-January Spokane County proposed the concept of a “public portal” where a citizen wanting a building permit or zoning information for their property could simply type in their address and a phone number would be provided or a link would take you to the appropriate jurisdiction’s Department. By the end of March, the project was in the beginning stages of its creation.

Less than 6 months later, this concept has evolved into an award winning program that refers you to all public services, contacts, and elected officials for a given address. It has maps, data, links AND it works quickly. Every community in the state should have something like this for its citizens, yet in our search for similar sites, have not been able to find another. We feel it benefits the citizens of our community and that it deserves recognition as a “Best Practice.”

The City of Federal Way is launching EngageFederalWay, a virtual town hall for interested community members to share practical, creative and resourceful ideas for improving the city.

“We live at a hectic pace and it’s not practical for everyone to attend community planning meetings, but public input is vital to a healthy public process,” said Margaret Clark, Principal Planner with the City of Federal Way. “We’re introducing Engage Federal Way to open up the public discussion and get more people involved.”

EngageFederalWay, at www.EngageFederalWay.com, is powered by MindMixer, an innovative web application that allows the public to generate ideas, help others evolve their ideas, and ultimately support their favorite ideas. Residents can log on and contribute ideas at a time, and
place, that’s convenient.

The new virtual town hall forum will focus initially on the City’s efforts to develop a Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan and update the Twin Lakes Sub Area Plan.

Project ideas are being sought in the following areas:
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan: Favorite Places and Future Improvements
• Twin Lakes Sub Area Plan: Economic Development, Transportation, Land Use and
Urban Design
• Healthy Eating/Active Living

“These discussions will establish a framework for future growth, what the Twin Lakes Sub Area looks like, where bike and pedestrian facilities are located,” said Matt Herrera, Associate Planner and Twin Lakes Subarea Project Manager. “We want as many people as possible involved in shaping that vision.” Herrera noted that residents can also get project and meeting information on the site.

Project ideas can be submitted on EngageFederalWay during the next several months. Users can submit as many ideas as they like. Users also have the opportunity to help others improve their ideas through discussion on the site. Ultimately, the virtual town hall community will identify the best ideas, which will be incorporated into the public planning process.
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For more information, contact Margaret Clark at Margaret.clark@cityoffederalway.com. or 253-835-2646.