2007/09/25 Council Agenda Packet

6 9 In Conclusion Is there anything else the project reviewers should know about your project? The Forgotten Creek Project is unique in that it is taking place on property being used for dual purposes. Everett Public Works Department purchased this land several years ago in order to solve a huge water pollution problem. During heavy rainfalls the sewer capacity in the section of Everett just west and southwest of downtown is too small to handle the amount of water rushing into the system. Because this area of Everett has combined sewers, that is, street runoff combined with waste from homes and businesses, this over capacity does not get to the sewage treatment plant. Instead, it overflows directly into Port Gardner Bay as raw sewage. To correct this problem Public Works will construct an 800,000-gallon, concrete holding tank beneath the entrance to the Forgotten Creek Natural Area on Bond Street. This will hold the excess sewage during heavy rainfalls, and allow Public Works to pump it back into the system when the rain subsides. When completed,the tank will be covered with two feet of soil and landscaped as the north entrance to the natural area. Coupled with the restoration work we are doing above ground, two huge environmental problems are being addressed in one place. As Friends of Forgotten Creek have shown, there are many parts of this project we can do very well with little or no money. Some we cannot. They are too technical and need financial support in order to hire experts. Building this concluding section of trail on a steep slope is one of them. This task may seem expensive, and the requested $5,000 may not seem such an important piece of our budget. That is not the case. This potential $5,000 is extremely important to us. Our original cost estimate for trail construction was in excess of$300,000. We plan to complete it for under $60,000. This is partly made possible by tight budgets and maximizing the use of community volunteers. Lastly, we are able to contain costs and support a first-rate environmental organization at the same time by hiring EarthCorps to build the technical parts of our trail. Since 1993, EarthCorps has worked to develop leaders while restoring the environment. Roughly modeled after the Peace Corps, EarthCorps recruits young people from around the United States and the world to spend a year at modest wages doing environmental projects and learning skills which they can take back to make a difference in their own communities. They have already built two excellent boardwalk sections for us at very reasonable cost. 7,': 3