by Heather Lebus

The award-winning Heritage Park at Fisher's Landing in Vancouver, Washington has been honored for its innovative integration of stormwater and landscape design. This 90-acre mixed-density residential Heritage Planned Unit Development (PUD), developed by The Newland Group, Inc., includes a centrally-located 6-acre neighborhood park. Heritage Park was design-integrated with the surrounding neighborhoods during the master planning process to provide significant open space and recreation opportunities for the residents of Fisher's Landing.

Landscape Architects at Portland, Oregon-based Western Planning Associates (WPA) were retained by The Newland Group to plan and design an efficient, multifunctional park that responded to the existing site conditions and the future needs of surrounding homeowners. The main goal was to create a safe recreational environment with amenities for various age groups to promote family use of the park. After undergoing a public hearings approval process, the final design reflects a commitment-- both environmentally and recreationally oriented-- to the future heritage of this community park.

Serving as the Prime Consultant on this project for Land Planning and Landscape Architecture, WPA worked with a team of development professionals to formulate the Master Plan for Heritage Park. The new park features a vast amount of open space, while providing playing fields, picnic sites, and play structures. Guided by Principal William F. Horning, AICP, the WPA design team created a park layout that contains four "arms"-- linear park corridors that provide unique, paved pedestrian paths as connections to surrounding neighborhoods of Fisher's Landing. The arms also provide room for more lots to face directly onto the park, adding value to the homesites and a sense of security to the park users.

Houses and backyards are separated from the park by low fencing and landscaping. The park is also an integral part of the stormwater system, which contains biofiltration swales to treat stormwater runoff from the surrounding roads. The park also serves as a ponding location for stormwater overflows during extraordinary storm events until the existing downstream storm systems can accommodate the extra runoff. These swale areas were graded and designed to retain usable space for recreation activities during dry weather. Horning elaborates, "The grading of the swales was a challenge that we successfully met. The multi-use aspect of the swales required us to retain functionality while contributing to the residential liveability, aesthetic and recreational goals of the project."

The park design was integrated into the development of the various residential project phases surrounding the park. As the surrounding residential area was developed at the same time as the park, ten existing trees from the residential areas-- including Western Red Cedar, Blue Spruce, and Pine-- were transferred to a stockpile area, and then replanted in the park.

WPA worked with the playground equipment manufacturer to custom-design the tot lot and intermediate playground structures. A generous bed of cedar chips placed underneath the play structures as safety surfacing was provided by the landscape contractors at Portland-based Teufel Nursery Inc.

The grade of the park was set 4-5' lower than the surrounding homes without the need for 6' fencing. A shorter fence was provided (4') that allowed neighbors to look down into the park, while providing privacy for their backyards at the same time. A gate was also designed for use by adjacent neighbors who wished to access the park directly from their backyards. In addition, Horning explains, "The houses across from the main park frontage were designed with alley-loaded garages to present a neo-traditional streetscape to the park. The flexibility of the client and the use of the master planing process allowed this early application of neo-traditional design to come to fruition."

Transferred to the City of Vancouver Parks Department after being developed, the Heritage Park project and the Landscape Architects were honored for the 1997 Metro Stormwater Award from Metro Regional Services for innovative integration of stormwater and landscape elements. As a rule, WPA focuses on integrating open space elements and natural features within all site plans, in order to create communities with enhanced liveability. Indeed, by combining innovative environmental techniques and safe, accessible play areas, the final design of Heritage Park reflects a commitment-- both environmentally and recreationally oriented-- to fostering the future heritage of this residential community.