SILVER SPRING, MD – A landscape architect regarded as a true innovator for her work on a 120-acre environmentally responsible townhouse development in Seattle, among other projects, will join the Montgomery County Planning Department on Tuesday, March 17 as part of its 2009 Growing Smarter Speaker Series.
Peg Staeheli, ASLA LEED, is president of SvR Design Company, a Seattle-based landscape architecture and civil engineering firm specializing in integrated and environmentally responsible design. Her work has featured sustainable solutions that incorporate natural features into the built environment. She also has worked to modify urban development building codes based on models in Sweden and Germany. Called the Green Factor, the codes are part of Seattle’s plan to bring more greenery to the streets of commercial districts and compensate for the limitations urban density imposes on green space.
Staeheli and her firm have installed specialized drainage systems – including such measures as rainwater harvesting, green roofs, porous pavements, grassy and vegetated infiltration swales, and zero import/export water management. Those measures combine to improve water quality and stream flows to environmentally sensitive watersheds, such as those with high salmon value.
Her signature project, High Point Redevelopment, showcased how to build innovative high-density, mixed income and affordable/market rate housing while improving water quality in a nearby creek. Working with the Seattle Housing Authority, Staeheli helped move the plan through subdivision and site plan reviews and set the stage for infrastructure improvements such as a network of swales, ponds and open space spanning 34 blocks.
The first phase of the 1,600-unit development was completed in 2006 and met an ambitious goal to limit overall paved, impervious surfaces on High Point’s 120 acres. The second phase is under construction.
Such low-impact development that also provides for diverse housing needs is a topic of interest to Montgomery County planners as they ink a new housing plan and form recommendations for the 2009-2011 Growth Policy.
Staeheli is the third of a series of speakers who will address the board this year as part of the Growing Smarter Speaker Series. She has presented on sustainable and low impact development approaches at numerous venues, including the annual Low Impact Development conference and the Society for Ecological Restoration conference.
Continuing education credits are pending for AICP members.
Who:
Montgomery County Planning Department
What:
Peg Staeheli
“Environmentally Sensitive Design: The High Point Neighborhood Case Study”
Growing Smarter Speaker Series
When:
7 p.m. Tuesday, March 17
Where:
Park and Planning Headquarters auditorium
8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring
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