3131 Elliott Avenue, Suite 600

Seattle, Washington 98121

Tel 206.324.9530

 

 

October 3, 2017 

 

 

Mr. Tom Croonquist 

University Village Partnership 

2623 University Village Street, Suite 7 

Seattle, WA 98105 

 

Re:  Response to SDCI Correction Notice #2 

  University Village Master Use Permit  

Seattle, Washington 

SDCI Project No. 3025629 

  17817‐23 

 

Dear Tom: 

This letter provides our geotechnical response to the attached Correction Notice #2 (CN2) from SDCI 

geotechnical reviewer Dean Griswold, dated August 18, 2017. We understand the Dean did not review 

the latest plan set when he created CN2; therefore, many of the comments in Correction Notice #1 

(CN1) that were addressed in the submitted drawings are repeated in CN2. This letter supplements our 

February 27, 2017 report and our May 3, 2017 letter response to CN1. The purpose of this letter is to 

present new information. Therefore, we do not repeat items discussed in our prior documents. 

CN2 has two comments. Portions of the comments will be reflected in the revised drawings. Our 

responses to portions of the comments are shown below following the comment number and heading. 

Comment 1. SMC 25.09.110. Peat Settlement Prone Areas Drawing updates will be performed by SWW. Here we present updated groundwater elevation data and 

discuss construction for the West Garage (Building 1). 

Groundwater Data

We collected updated groundwater data to support a design annual high groundwater level that can be 

expected near the West Garage at University Village. Our previous estimate for this was elevation 

29 feet NAVD 88, based on historical water level measurements and observations in monitoring wells 

and borehole explorations that extended below the peat into a lower aquifer that had a higher water 

head than anticipated in the near surface soils. 

   

S H U G A R T

W A S S E

W I C K W I R E

architecture & interiors

605 Western Avenue, Su i te 200 Seatt le , WA 98104 P : 206.264 .7744 sww-ai .com

Job No. 1523 1 of 2

Date: October 6, 2017

To: Dean Griswold, SDCI

c/o Andy Paroline

University Village Master Use Permit

SDCI Correction Notice Response Summary

Re: Correction Notice #2 ECA LIQFAC, ECA PEAT, ECA LANDFL

August 18, 2017

Project #3025629

Item Description

General note: we understand that the previous ECA review may not have been looking at

most current plans due to a mix-up on the SDCI documents server. We, with Hart Crowser,

have made every effort to understand and respond to ECA concerns. Please get in touch

directly if further discussion can resolve concerns before issuing another correction notice.

1. SMC 25.09.110. Peat Settlement Prone Areas (repeated and revised item). On the cross-

sections for the proposed buildings and the site development area, show the line of annual

high groundwater level, which is determined by the geotechnical engineering report. The

cross-sections need to show the development above annual high groundwater level. Only

foundation elements, and utility connections may be below groundwater level. SDCI noted

that many plan sheets include cross-sections that include an item "AHGL." This term

might not be familiar to people who are using the plan set. If this abbreviation is to identify

the Annual High Ground Water Level, please spell out this item on the cross-

sections. This applies to cross sections on Sheets 50, 59, 61, 66, 67, 69, 74, 75, 77, 82, 83,

85, 90, 91, 91, 93, 98, 99, and 101.The methane-mitigation measures should be shown in

concept on the plans. These measures need to be above the annual high groundwater level.

Add a note to the plans with the requirement that groundwater collection systems are

prohibited in peat settlement-prone areas. The Environmentally Critical Areas Regulations

includes the provision that in Category II Peat Settlement Prone Areas, some of the Peat

Hazard Area requirements may be waived if the applicant demonstrates that the project has

been designed to avoid adverse impacts to nearby areas due to peat settlement. See SMC

25.09.110.I. If you want to pursue waiver of some of the requirements of the Peat Hazard

Area Development Areas, please identify those items and update the plans accordingly.

A. Please see attached response letter from the geotechnical engineer. Section

drawings have been revised to clarify annual high groundwater level in relation to the

building foundations. As described in the engineer’s response letter and plans, and as

verbally supported by the Engineer’s discussion with ECA reviewer, we are seeking a

partial waiver for subsection D. See revised detail/notes provided on section sheets

(typically Ax-301).

605 Western Avenue, Su i te 200 Seatt le , WA 98104 P : 206.264 .7744 sww-ai .com

Job No. 1523 2 of 2

2. SMC 25.09.110. Foundations (repeated item). Show deep foundation systems, in concept, on

the plans. The deep foundation systems are needed to mitigate potential settlement

associated with the peat soil unit and other weak subgrade soils.

A. These sheets were included with the previous CN response but (we believe) not seen

by the reviewer due to the SDCI portal mix-up. Conceptual structural foundations are

shown on sheets S1.0 and S2.0 for buildings 1, 2 and 6. Deep foundations for the

remaining buildings are largely identical to building 6.

Additional clarifications:

1. In CN1 and CN2 response, Building 1 (West Garage) was split into buildings 1 and 2 to facilitate

construction sequencing. Buildings 2-6 have been re-numbered 3-7.

Please get in touch if any further clarification is needed.

Thank you,

Chris Ford, Senior Associate

Shugart Wasse Wickwire

Please contact our office regarding any errors or omissions.

University Village Partnership    17817‐23 

October 3, 2017    Page 2 

 

Since our response to CN1, we have drilled and installed four additional monitoring wells near the West 

Garage site, as shown on Figure 1. Groundwater monitoring instrumentation was installed in three 

shallow wells on site and one deep well in July 2017. The shallow monitoring wells (HC‐1‐17MW, 

HC‐3‐17MW, and HC‐4‐17MW) were outfitted with pressure transducers to capture fluctuation of the 

water table near the ground surface over time. The deeper well (HC‐3‐17) was instrumented with two 

vibrating wire piezometers (VWPs) at depths of 25 and 75 feet below ground surface to monitor the 

deeper groundwater in the dense sandy layer below the peat. Groundwater monitoring results are 

shown on Figure 2.  

Data collected from the instrumentation on site indicate two distinct groundwater sources:  1) a 

near‐surface aquifer above and within the peat layer and 2) a deeper, more confined aquifer in the 

dense sands that has a higher pressure head than the near‐surface aquifer. The range in near surface 

groundwater is from elevation 25.7 to 27.2 feet NAVD 88 in August and September 2017. Data from the 

shallow monitoring wells should be used for the annual high groundwater elevation, because the deeper 

water conditions are not representative of near‐surface groundwater conditions. The highest measured 

elevations from the shallow monitoring wells are listed in Table 1. Additional data will be collected 

during the wet season to determine the design annual high groundwater level.  Although the presented 

data were collected in the dry season, we expect that the design annual high groundwater level can be 

lowered from our prior estimate of elevation 29 feet. 

Table 1 - High Groundwater Elevation Measurements (West Garage)

Monitoring Well/Boring ID

Ground Surface Elev. (feet)a

Groundwater Elev. (feet)a

Date Recorded

HC-1-17MW 28 27.26 9/10/2017

HC-2-17MWb 28.5 27.1 8/11/2017

HC-3-17MW 28.5 26.77 8/16/2017

HC-4-17MW 27.7 26.83 9/10/2017

Notes: a. All elevations are based on the NAVD 88 datum. b. Not outfitted with pressure transducer, measured with discreet manual readings.

 

We understand the West Garage will have a finished floor elevation of 28 feet. This is raised 15 inches above 

the finish floor elevation for the adjacent Restoration Hardware Building. We expect that this will allow for a 

capillary break layer with drains to be installed below the West Garage, similar to what was used for the 

Restoration Hardware Building. The installation of this system will not significantly lower the seasonally low 

water table, because the new groundwater data show that the water level is seasonally more than 1 foot 

below the elevation 28 feet West Garage finish floor. Because the water table is not considerably lowered, 

this system should not significantly increase settlement of the peat. Therefore, we recommend a waiver of 

the prohibition of subslab drainage for this peat settlement‐prone area at the West Garage site. 

MW-2

HC-105

HC-109

HC-108

HC-110

HC-106

HC-107

HC10-1

HC10-2

HC15-101

HC15-102

HC-3-17MW

HC-1-17MW

HC-2-17MW

HC-1-17

HC-3-17

HC-4-17

HC-2-17

(27')

(26.5')

(25.5')

(27')

HC-4-17MW

N

0 40 80

Scale in Feet

Figure

17817-23 10/17

University Village - MUP

Seattle, Washington

1

Site and Exploration Plan - West Garage (Building 1)

File: L:\N

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Village W

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AD

\1781727-002 (S

Plan).dw

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uthor: ericlindquist

Explorations by Hart Crowser

HC-111

Explorations by others

Monitoring Well, Dames &

Moore, 1993

MW-1

Boring, 2017

Monitoring Well, 2017

Average Low Groundwater Elevation

Boring, 2015

Boring, 2010

Boring, 1994

HC10-1

HC-15-1

LEGEND

Proposed Building

Abandoned Landfill Buffer

HC-1-17

HC-1-17MW

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A

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E

A A'

Cross Section Location

and Designation

C

C'

B

B'

A

A'

NE 49th Street (Private)

Source: Basemap prepared from AutoCAD survey file

"X-49 UV-SVY.dwg," created by Bush, Roed & Hitchings.

Building 1

West Garage

(27')

Gro

un

dw

ater Elevatio

ns in

Mo

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Wells

(West G

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University V

illage - MU

P S

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17

81

7-2

3

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10

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7

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

8/11/2017 8/18/2017 8/25/2017 9/1/2017 9/8/2017 9/15/2017 9/22/2017

Da

ily P

rec

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on

(in

)

Gro

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dw

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ft)

Precipitation HC-1-17MW HC-1-17MW - Manual HC-2-17MW - Manual HC-3-17MW HC-3-17MW - Manual HC-4-17MW HC-4-17MW - Manual HC-3-17 VWP#1 (25ft) HC-3-17 VWP#2 (75ft)

City of SeattleDepartment of Construction and InspectionsEngineering Services

ANDY PAROLINE3617 SW Charlestown StSeattle, WA 98126

Re: Project# 3025629

Correction Notice #2

Review Type ECA LIQFAC, ECA PEAT, ECALANDFL

Date August 18, 2017

Project Address 4500 25th Ave NE Contact Phone (206) 719-0339

Contact Email andy@parolineassociates.com

Contact Fax

SDCI Reviewer Dean Griswold Address Seattle Department ofConstruction andInspections700 5th Ave Suite 2000PO Box 34019Seattle, WA 98124-4019

Reviewer Phone (206) 233-7862

Reviewer Fax

Reviewer Email dean.griswold@seattle.gov

Owner UNIVERSITY VILLAGE LP

Applicant Instructions

How to Respond to a SDCI Correction NoticePlease see the attached flyer to learn " ".If the 3-step process outlined in the aforementioned document is not followed, it is likely thatthere will be a delay in permit issuance and there is a potential for penalty fees.

Codes Reviewed

This project has been reviewed for conformance with one or more of the following codes: GradingCode; Environmentally Critical Areas Regulations (ECA).

Corrections

1 SMC 25.09.110.  Peat Settlement Prone Areas Repeated and Revised Item On the cross-sections for the proposed buildings and the site development area, show the line ofannual high groundwater level, which is determined by the geotechnical engineering report.  Thecross-sections need to show the development above annual high groundwater level.  Onlyfoundation elements, and utility connections may be below groundwater level. 

Project# 3025629, Correction Notice# 2Page 1 of 2

SDCI noted that many plan sheets include cross-sections that include an item "AHGL."  This termmight not be familiar to people who are using the plan set.  If this abbreviation is to identify theAnnual High Ground Water Level, please spell out this item on the cross-sections.  This applies tocross sections on Sheets 50, 59, 61, 66, 67, 69, 74, 75, 77, 82, 83, 85, 90, 91, 91, 93, 98, 99,and 101.  The methane-mitigation measures should be shown in concept on the plans.  These measuresneed to be above the annual high groundwater level. Add a note to the plans with the requirement that groundwater collection systems are prohibitedin peat settlement-prone areas. The Environmentally Critical Areas Regulations includes the provision that in Category II PeatSettlement Prone Areas, some of the Peat Hazard Area requirements may be waived if theapplicant demonstrates that the project has been designed to avoid adverse impacts to nearbyareas due to peat settlement.  See SMC 25.09.110.I.  If you want to pursue waiver of some of therequirements of the Peat Hazard Area Development Areas, please identify those items and updatethe plans accordingly.

2 SMC 25.09.110.  Foundations Repeated Item Show deep foundation systems, in concept, on the plans.  The deep foundation systems areneeded to mitigate potential settlement associated with the peat soil unit and other weaksubgrade soils.

Project# 3025629, Correction Notice# 2Page 2 of 2