Sunday, October 30, 2011

"I love your dry streambed!"

It is not designed as a dry stream bed but as a wet one.
A rain garden, actually.  The basic idea is to "manage" stormwater by getting it into the aquifer rather than discharging it directly to very large and expensive stormwater sewers.
Once in the aquifer, it can discharge slowly to streams or directly to the Sound.

Equally important, plants in the streambed and soil biota remove well over 90% of pollutants before the water is discharged.  The plants have been selected for both water tolerance and drought.  (The biota come with the soil!) All the smaller rocks in the streambed were sifted from other landscape projects on the site.


None of the water in the rain garden comes from our house.  
We were required to install a very large "dry well" to discharge all water coming from the roof of the house.  
The water going into the rain garden comes from runoff from other houses along the street that were constructed before dry wells were required.  

Mary Ann Firmin 
Jerry Parker 



Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Let Your Voice Be Heard!


Dear Fellow Olympian, 
 
I cordially invite you to attend the 8th public forum –– 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 12th (tomorrow) at Olympia High School (1302 North St. SE).  I’ll have signs with arrows posted leading to the room.
 
At Wednesday’s forum, we’ll find out what YOU think the City must focus on this year and the next, and how we can get the most done with the city's limited resources.
 
I hope to see you there.  But if you can't make it, please be sure to call me at 628-7052 or e-mail me at krogers@ci.olympia.wa.us with any ideas or questions you might have.
 
Thank you for working with me to improve Olympia city government!

Karen Rogers
Olympia City Councilmember
P.S.  If you want to read the notes from past public forums, just go to Karen Rogers’ Update Page.  Or you can call or send me an e-mail, and I’ll be more than happy to send them to you.
 
 
Time & Location
Wednesday, October 12
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Olympia High School
 
 
 
Disclaimer
The public forums are sponsored solely by me, and not by any of the other six council members.
 
If you wish to speak with or have questions for the other council members, please contact them individually or write to the entire council at citycouncil@ci.olympia.wa.us.
 
 
 
Karen Rogers
Councilmember
City of Olympia
360-628-7052
Neighborhood Planning

As part the current Comprehensive Plan revision, the City is developing new policies for neighborhood planning.  The general idea is to engage neighborhoods in developing land use plans and regulations at the neighborhood level.  Some possible issues for residents to address include in-fill development (development on undeveloped lots), home businesses, neighborhood commercial nodes (Sages and the Coop are examples), and the location of sidewalk installations and improvements.   Residents can suggest other concerns to be addressed in a neighborhood plan.

The City Planning Commission is meeting on Tuesday, October 11, to discuss neighborhood planning policy.  Details are available at:

http://olympiawa.gov/documents/OlympiaPlanningCommission/2011/CPU.101011/OPC.CPU.Agenda.10102011.pdf.

If you are interested in commenting to the Planning Commission on the role of neighborhood in planning and regulating land use, send comments to:

Jennifer Kenny  -
jkenny@ci.olympia.wa.us

If you wish to review additional materials from the City on neighborhood planning, drop me a note (I am not able to post these documents onto the blog at this time.)

Jerry Parker
jerome.parker@comcast.net








Street Lights Out?

Two street lights are either out or malfunctioning at the corner of Madison and Thomas - near the new "Pocket Park".  I have reported these to the City and repairs are scheduled by the end of October (due to a long backlog).

To directly contact the City to report streetlight problems, call Rick Knostman  at 753-8438. If you call, be sure to leave a "call-back" numbers so Rick can provide information on the status of the repair process.

Jerry Parker