INNOVATION January-February 2018

with a solution that maintained the archaeological site’s integrity while allowing the project to proceed. “We worked around and on top of the shell middens,” Gower says. “Because we left the site undisturbed, we didn’t have any archaeological finds to deal with, and all that material is still there, untouched.” Shelley Ashfield, Town of Comox municipal engineer, says that, while a number of considerations led to the town choosing the new approach for the project, “the results and completion of the detailed coastal engineering work conducted by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants” was the biggest reason the town changed the project design. SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS AND PUBLIC RESPONSE The change in approach offered the Town of Comox sustainable solutions. The design team worked with town officials to explore options, review similar projects, and justify to the public the solutions that were proposed and built. At one point, when resistance from local residents and environmental groups halted work on the project for a few days, the town arranged for the environment group, Project Watershed, to tour the project site with the general contractor and members of the design team.

In the letter the organization later sent to town staff, Project Watershed’s Technical Director Dan Bowen recommended changes to the public-engagement process and suggested environmental monitoring continue after the project was finished. He also wrote, “We are satisfied with the overall project design and the rationale for the use of rip-rap and the way it is being installed to reduce wave energy as much as possible.” Ashfield fully credits the collaborative multidisciplinary team. “The success of the project is due to the design team, which included expertise in environmental engineering, coastal engineering, geotechnical engineering, and civil engineering, as well as coastal biology.” So, when you next walk along Comox’s Lazo Road waterfront, take a moment to admire the jumbled arrangement of anchored logs, the replanted dune grasses, and the narrow strip of exposed rip-rap halfway down the slope. The soft engineering you see protects the road and the trail you walk on. It addresses future sea-level rise. It preserves key environmental and archaeological values. It also means you and others will be able to walk safely along Lazo Road for many years to come. j

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