The Woonerf Comes To Everett

4159... and just what is a woonerf? How about a chamfer, for that matter?

Everett, Washington is taking a number of approaches to revitalizing its considerably-extensive waterfront and making it welcoming to people. And, to that end, one burgeoning development, accessible from Marine View Dr W via Thirteenth Street, is a redevelopment of a large pier area where lumber and shingle mills used to rule; they're calling it the Millwright District. There will be retail, residential, commercial; all the urban things.

Circling the area is a new street known as Millwright Loop, giving the area the vague outline of a spatula when seen from above. And there's this:

Chamfer Woonerf. Photo courtesy Benjaming Donguk Lukoff, used with permission.

It shows up here on this street blade: CHAMFER WOONERF. It's a street which serves the interior of the spatula's blade.

And, of course, that brings us to the question of what a woonerf is, and as it turns out, it's simple to answer, and like the much-maligned bioswale, it's something we had all along and is nothing really new (we called bioswales French drains once upon a time and didn't make a big deal about it), but it does have a certain approach and attitude inspired by European point of view.

A woonerf is just a street designed to allow automobiles but also designed to accommodate people activites; some call it a living street; sort of a cross between a public plaza and a side street. People and autos share space. It became a modern thing in the Netherlands, where it picked up its strange name. And, most importantly, it's a street that easily gives itself to public events like street fairs and festivals. And it would be an ideal thing for something in the center of a destination district.

And a chamfer, for those who don't know, is a woodworking thing where you knock the corner off a form. 

So, Chamfer Woonerf. Strange name, but it'll catch on.