The Center for Urban Water Resources Management (CUWRM) at the University of Washington has been monitoring two Urban Planned Developments (UPDs) since construction began in 1998. The two UPDs, Blakely Ridge and Redmond Ridge, are being constructed on Union Hill northeast of the city of Redmond, WA. The site was initially covered with mature second-growth forest, which supports many large wetlands that serve as headwaters for over half a dozen streams draining from the two properties. The quality of the ecosystem is very high supporting diverse populations of birds, fish, amphibians, aquatic insects, and beaver. The downstream reaches of these headwater tributaries (Bear Creek and Snoqualmie River) currently support wild salmonids. The Blakely Ridge property covers 1,050 acres and ultimately will contain 2,250 homes along with retail stores, office space, and several parks including an 18-hole golf course. The Redmond Ridge property is adjacent to Blakely Ridge and covers 1,046 acres. This development will consist of 1,500 homes, along with retail stores, office space, an elementary school, fire and police station, and a Park and Ride lot. Each of these projects has an extensive drainage plan for the mitigation of hydrologic changes that will result from the development. These plans include maintaining buffer zones around all wetlands and streams, building large retention/detention (R/D) ponds, and using infiltration trenches to mimic subsurface flow into the wetlands.

The construction of these two projects will be ongoing for the next six to ten years. Because of public concern, extensive monitoring will be conducted to document any ecological degradation that may occur. There is a monitoring plan currently in place for the Redmond Ridge UPD that covers a wide range of concerns including hydrology, water quality, habitat quality of the wetlands and streams, and potential geomorphic changes in the streams as a result of altered hydrology. The monitoring plan for Blakely Ridge will be similar to that for Redmond Ridge and is expected to be completed by October 2000. The monitoring program is a joint effort between King County Department of Natural Resources and CUWRM. This project is a unique opportunity to observe ecological changes that result from urbanization, and also provides an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of current best management practices on a large scale.

The CUWRM monitoring activities will be published in a series of annual reports available at this site. Each report contains separate executive summaries for each UPD. The body of the report details the work done by CUWRM. The appendices for each report are available as a separate file.

First Annual Report (1998-99) and Appendices

Second Annual Report (2000) and Appendices