Battle Creek Wetland Park

GreenWorks is currently working with the City of Salem, preparing a master plan for Battle Creek Park, a large 56-acre undeveloped park property in South Salem.  The site, a former golf course, is currently undeveloped, with creeks, wetlands, trees and open space. Urban growth in South Salem has created flooding issues in the adjacent neighborhoods and downstream from the park, thus the property was purchased for both park and flood mitigation functions.

The goal for the Battle Creek Park master plan is to develop a multi-use park that balances recreational use with flood mitigation. GreenWorks is exploring ways to integrate flood plain mitigation so that the park looks and feels natural versus looking like a large, engineered detention facility.

The city also received input from more than 800 responses to a first online survey and from more than 80 community members that attended both public open houses. From that feedback, three conceptual site improvement options for the master plan were created, each focusing on a different theme (habitat, recreation, blending of habitat and recreation). Some park features are in all three options, such as trails and flood retention, but other features vary or are unique to each option.

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Oak Harbor Clean Water Facility

Photo by Thomas Harris

Photo by Thomas Harris

GreenWorks is part of a multi-disciplinary team that renovated this regional wastewater treatment facility in historic downtown Oak Harbor, Washington. Situated in Windjammer Park, on the shores of Oak Harbor, the facility takes advantage of technological updates to modernize the facility, integrate it with the surrounding environment, and reduce its visual and olfactory impacts.  

“… the facility takes advantage of technological updates to modernize the facility, integrate it with the surrounding environment, and reduce its visual and olfactory impacts.”

Routes for cars and people on either side of the facility provide easy access from downtown Oak Harbor to Windjammer Park and the waterfront. The site plan requires the creation of strong physical and visual links along these axes. The planting and hardscape reflect the coastal setting, with the inclusion of rolling dunes planted with coastal grasses and perimeter sidewalks, emulating local wooden docks. Parts of the facility are exposed to the public, offering opportunities for interpretation along the two main thoroughfares.

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Photo by Thomas Harris

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Photo by Thomas Harris

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Photo by Thomas Harris

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Fernhill Wetland Master Planning and Design

Fernhill Wetlands is part of a 748 acre parcel near Forest Grove, OR, owned by Clean Water Services and managed in partnership with Forest Grove.  The site, located within the Tualatin River Watershed, consists of agricultural fields, wastewater treatment and other public utility facilities, and several pristine wetlands which are open to the public and draw birders from far and wide who come to observe the many rare migratory bird species that stop at the wetlands during their journey.
With future plans to integrate the wetlands into the wastewater treatment process as part of a natural and sustainable cleansing and cooling approach that preserves the site’s ecological and recreational significance, Clean Water Services commissioned GreenWorks as consultants who bring extensive experience in constructed wetland and green infrastructure design.  In collaboration with CWS, GreenWorks developed a master plan vision for the site which included an overall site layout consisting of treatment wetlands, roads, trails, overlooks and other public spaces; a graphic representation of the water circulation path from wastewater treatment facility all the way to the Tualatin River; accompanied by a collection of artistic photorealistic renderings from various vantage points, which will collectively be used to clearly convey design intent throughout future project phases.

The Unified Sewerage Agency contracted with GreenWorks as part of a team of engineers, biologists, and hydrologists, to develop wetland development concepts for a large-scale wetland mitigation bank, along Gales Creek in Forest Grove. The concept plan recommendations included the establishment of ash forest wetland, emergent marsh and scrub-shrub wetland, wet meadows, and oak woodland upland buffers.

Chambers Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility

As part of ongoing development at the 930-acre Chambers Creek Properties, GreenWorks developed schematic design and construction documents for long-term sustainable stormwater strategies integrated with perimeter landscape buffers for the existing Chambers Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (CCWTP) wastewater treatment plant and planned expansions. Working closely with Pierce County staff, Brown & Caldwell engineers, and Michael Willis Architects, GreenWorks developed the landscape buffer concept to visually and physically screen the treatment plant.

The buffer serves to blend the treatment plant area harmoniously with the dramatic landscape of south Puget Sound, surrounding land uses and future development on and off the plant site. The design incorporates stormwater management facilities that treat plant runoff, provide new recreation trails that connect with existing trail networks, and improve wildlife habitat. The buffer must also accommodate support facilities for bus traffic and large crowds attending the 2010 PGA US Amateur’s Open and the 2015 US Open to be held on the adjacent Chambers Creek Golf Course. In addition to the perimeter buffer, GreenWorks is working on the redevelopment of the plant entrance to improve visibility and enhance circulation.

Lake Oswego and Tigard Water Treatment Plant

The Lake Oswego – Tigard Water Treatment Plant is being expanded  to serve future demands forecasted for the Lake Oswego and Tigard service areas. GreenWorks provided landscape design for stormwater management and to address visual impacts for components of the plant that could be seen in residential areas as well as providing amenities for neighborhood use. Amenities included a neighborhood trail, public open space for neighborhood use,  and native woodland enhancement. GreenWorks  actively met with the adjacent neighbors to hear their concerns about the project and with the broader community at workshops to describe landscape / site design elements for public comment.