General Design Category

Pierce County Central Maintenance Facility - SPECIAL MENTION AWARD
The Berger Partnership PS

Project Description:
Pierce County Central Maintenance Facility is a 30-acre site near Fredrickson in an industrial zone of South Pierce County. The property is adjacent to a rare remnant of Tacoma Oak Prairie Habitat. The owner consolidated the Public Works Road Division operations and equipment for South Pierce County into one facility that minimizes impact on the site and adjacent properties. The site provides the acreage necessary for large-scale operations and promotes the efficient mitigation of runoff from 20 acres of impervious surfaces. It extends the adjacent Garry Oak Prairie landscape and provides Douglas fir succession to screen operations from adjacent residential properties. All team members collaborated to facilitate the goals of a highly sustainable project (LEED Silver) through Low Impact Development. The project is a unique example of how a publicly owned and funded industrial site can integrate and enhance its natural surroundings and be a model for adjacent properties.

Jury Comments:
A good landscape project respectful of its context: an adjacent rare remnant of Tacoma Oak Prairie habitat to which it transitions. It is a LEED Silver Project which collects and treats 100% of the rainfall on site. Rainwater in its many guises, storage pond, rain gardens, swales, in this rainy climate make for a working and pleasant landscape over its 30 acres. The jury felt that the design of such landscapes by state, county or city agencies is to be celebrated.