County supporting Skamokawa diking work

Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday agreed to help Diking District 5 complete repairs to a dike along Skamokawa Creek.

Diking Commissioner Tim Schmitz said district is applying to the state Department of Ecology for funding for work that would bring the whole dike up to US Army Corps of Engineers standards and also add trails for hikers and kayakers.

The district completed Phase 1 of the improvements in 2014, repairing 2,635 feet of dike and improving an inlet structure. The county participated in the local match for the grant funds to complete that project.

That work paid off in the December, 2015, storm events.

"Without your help," Schmitz told the board of county commissioners, "on December 8, we would have had 5' of water in the fairgrounds.

"Our dikes are still 3.5' low. If the stream banks had been full, we would have been flooded."

Phase 2 would repair the remaining 4,155 of the dike and improve drainage structures. They'll also create 8,400 feet of trail. The project is expected to cost $221,000, with Ecology funding $150,000 and local sources coming up with the rest.

The district requested $15,000 from the county; the district will contribute $3,500 and come up with in-kind matches to complete the total $71,500 local match.

Preliminary planning work would be done this year, with construction planned for 2017, Schmitz said.

County Commissioners Dan Cothren, Blair Brady and Mike Backman all said they were very supportive of the project.

Cothren pointed out that the Flood Control Fund will be depleted this year by obtaining planning and permitting for dredge spoil beach nourishment for Puget Island and Cape Horn.

However, he suggested that perhaps the funds could come out of the Capital Improvements Fund, and Public Works Director Chuck Beyer added that dikes are an acceptable recipient of those funds.

The board then voted to approve the $15,000 appropriation.