Herrera Environmental Consultants expanded its presence in Bellingham with the hire of Colleen Mitchell, PE. Colleen is a civil engineer with 10 years of extensive experience focused on LID stormwater management strategies. Her design experience includes the Net Zero Water systems for the Bullitt Center in Seattle, the first commercial office building to obtain a Living Building certification. Herrera’s Bellingham office formally opened in early 2015 and is led by Chris Webb, PE who joined Herrera 2 years ago. Chris has been a practicing civil engineer in Bellingham for over 20 years. “Colleen’s skill set is a great match for our growing design practice,” said Michael Spillane President of Herrera. “Our goal is to integrate the best practices of science and engineering to move our projects from being sustainable to being regenerative.”
In 2015 Herrera worked with the City of Seattle to design 13 blocks of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) retrofits in the right-of-way to reduce combined sewer overflows to Longfellow Creek. This GSI retrofit was designed in partnership with a neighborhood greenway project in the Delridge neighborhood to enhance pedestrian mobility and increase traffic safety. Herrera also provided the design and permitting of the new trail between Cordata elementary school and the future Cordata park in Bellingham. Herrera is currently leading the master planning and design of a new tribal housing development in Snohomish County, and is the civil engineer for 35 units of net zero energy affordable housing in King County.