Commissioners move dredging plans

It's a new year, and Wahkiakum County officials feel they're ready to see progress in efforts to have dredged sand placed on eroding shorelines.

Last year, county officials began working with Puget Island residents to get the US Army Corps of Engineers to plan sand disposal along East Sunny Sands. Residents there have been experiencing erosion and would like sand replenished there to save their homes and property.

County officials met with Corps personnel and outlined a process that would potentially replenish the beach in 2016 and set up a 10-year program that would allow replenishment without having to go through the entire permitting process each time.

Last fall, residents of Cape Horn/Flandersville joined the effort, saying their shoreline was eroding fast and threatening buildings. Commissioners said they would work those concerns into the process.

As December progressed, Commissioner Dan Cothren reported frustration with Corps officials; he said they weren't responding to phone calls, and so the process seemed to be losing momentum.

The process seems to be back on track, Cothren said Tuesday.

Cothren, Public Works Director Chuck Beyer, Diking District 1 Secretery/Clerk Lisa Marsyla, and staff of US Senator Maria Cantwell met with Corps staff Monday. They learned that Corps staff have nearly completed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) the parties will need to sign to begin the permitting process.

Cothren expected the MOA to arrive later Tuesday.

"That is huge," he said. "With the MOA, we can get moving."

The Corps was also receptive to planning disposal at Cape Horn, Cothren added.

"They're really upbeat about (placing) some sand," Cothren said, "but we don't know where. It will depend on where the sand is in the system."

The county has contracted with a consulting engineering firm, Coast and Harbor Engineering, to handle the technical aspects of the permitting process. With the MOA in place, the firm will go to work.

Meanwhile, residents of Sunny Sands and Cape Horn will need to sign right-of-entry permits that allow the dredging contractor to work on their property during the disposal process.

However, the Corps has yet to complete an update of its right-of-entry permit form. Even though the forms aren't available, proponents should talk to their neighbors to set up quick approval when the forms are ready, Cothren said.

Cape Horn resident Richard Erickson said he had copies of previous forms signed by residents there, and he would take new forms around when they were available.

Commissioner Mike Backman said he would contact Sunny Sands residents about right-of-entry.

"I'll talk to them all," Backman. "If there's someone who's not interested, I'll try to persuade them. It's very important to go door to door and talk to them."

Sunny Sands is part of the Puget Island Flood Control Zones District which sets up a formal organization that can generate tax money to contribute to the permitting costs.

Beyer said Cape Horn residents need to form a similar organization; Cothren said the parties should work on that task at the commission's meeting next Tuesday.

East Sunny Sands resident Bob Consentino, who is a professional engineer, urged the board to make sure the Sunny Sands project is engineered correctly.

People at the upper end of the project as originally outlined asked to be left out, saying they weren't experiencing erosion.

"If you stop this short, it's just a matter of time that the current will peel it off really fast," he said. "You have to submit the project to engineering due diligence."