R.W. Thorpe & Associates
Specialty: Environmentally sensitive site planning, small municipality comprehensive plans and zoning ordinances, permit application preparation and expediting, land-use feasibility analysis
Management: Robert W. Thorpe, principal; Stephen Speidel, vice president
Founded: 1976
Headquarters: Seattle
Projects: Central Pre-Mix asphalt plant environmental impact statement, Pasco; Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church feasibility analysis, Fall City; US Bank Real Estate Trust multifamily development, Everett; Ribary Creek blackberry removal and buffer enhancement landscape plan, North Bend
R.W. Thorpe & Associates, with a staff of nine, likes to keep itself “lean and mean,” said Vice President Stephen Speidel. But when it comes to work that’s hardly a restriction.
“We have a huge variety of projects,” Speidel said, most of them divided between land planning and land-use feasibility studies. The firm has also been asked to provide expert witnesses for Sound Transit land-taking cases.
“By staying at this size we stay responsive to our clients’ needs,” he said, “and spend less time on personnel matters.”
Wide variety of projects
Thorpe’s land planning activities include assisting jurisdictions with writing codes and ordinances, environmental checklists and environmental impact statements.
Much of the firm’s work is for private clients that require services such as permit application packages for development proposals.
Projects run the gamut from urban and industrial to rural, including the redesign of a Seattle Starbucks parking lot, an environmental impact statement for a Pasco asphalt plant and a North Bend stream restoration.
Referrals and repeat business keep the office humming, Speidel said. The steady business has allowed the firm to pull its attention away from marketing.
“A large firm is like a big animal that needs to be fed,” he said. “Because our clients give us the food we need, we don’t need to go out looking for mastodons.”
Instead, Speidel said the firm can afford to be selective about its clients, and its small size enables it to remain nimble amid shifting development trends.
“As trends change from retail to residential, residential to industrial, or industrial to recreation — as those trends change — our clients keep up with that and we keep up with our clients,” he said.
Challenges
The biggest challenge the firm faces, he said, is just continuing to provide a high-quality product.
Attracting and retaining good staff is also an issue for the firm, he said. To that end, Thorpe has made use of review processes and bonus systems to motivate employees, as well as encourage continuing education, licensing and accreditation.
“Quite frankly,” Speidel said, “we have been head-hunted, and when it happens we take a little bit of pride in that.”