GRASSPHALT?

LACEY, Wash. - Thomas Holz wants to help save salmon in Lacey's Woodland Creek. And one way to do that, he says, is to pave a city street with grass.

"The motivation isn't aesthetic," Holz said. "It's how to manage stormwater. This is whacky idea number 13."

Holz, an engineer, plans to take his idea to the City Council's Utilities Committee.

He proposes ripping up the asphalt on a street and planting grass. Cars would still be welcome; bridge planks would provide a driving surface a few inches above the grass.

The grass street would decrease the amount of stormwater that rushes into Woodland Creek by 70 percent to 80 percent, Holz estimated.

Stormwater that currently gushes off the city's impervious surfaces carries pollutants and scours out spawning beds needed by salmon.

Council Utilities Committee chairman Jim Weber likes the idea.

"It really fits into everything that's happening now," Weber said. "We were thinking, `What an identity - the first community in the country to have a grass boulevard.'"

Grass streets would cost about eight times as much as asphalt, Holz said. But the city could apply for salmon-recovery grants from the state, he suggested.

Not everyone, however, is sold on the idea.

"All I can say is, do some of these guys have a clue?" said Don Dale, a technician at a local motorcycle shop. "I (don't have a degree) in traffic planning, but it seem like common sense should dictate in some of these things. Grass on streets? Come on."