Dredging, culvert replacement challenge county officials

Wahkiakum County officials continue to wrestle with an effort to implement a program of beach nourishment on eroding shorelines, and they face permitting and timing challenges on a culvert replacement project on the Elochoman Valley Road.

As usual, the beach nourishment program is progressing slowly with new hurdles showing up from time to time.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Dan Cothren said Deena Horton, a regional staff representative of US Senator Maria Cantwell, had spoken with US Army Corps of Engineers personnel on the county's behalf in an effort to expedite the Corps' review of amended right-of-entry permit language.

Next, county Public Works Director Chuck Beyer received board approval for a $13,000 contract extension for the county's consulting engineers who are working on the project's permits. Permitting agencies had requested more information than originally anticipated, Beyer said.

The county planning commission will hold a public hearing tonight (Thursday) on two shoreline management permits related to the dredging project.

One is the county's own permit for dumping sand on Cape Horn and Puget Island beaches.

The second is for the Coalition of Upriver Ports for a permit to place sand inside the East Sunny Sands dike as part of the decade old channel deepening project. Property owned by Philip and Ivy Lou Vik was designated as an inland disposal site for the project. To deposit sand on Vik property, dredging crews would lay a pipe across the dike road and cover it with rock so that vehicles could pass over.

Commissioners refused to approve the permit last year, saying they want to see sand on eroding shorelines before it goes inside the dikes.

Beyer said ports have revised the application, and the planning commission's technical review resulted in a recommended approval of the permit.

If the planning commission approves the port's application, it would come to the board of commissioners for final action.

"Our position hasn't changed," said commission Chair Blair Brady. "We need sand on the beach, not inland. That has to come first."

"So your minds are already made up," Philip Vik asked the commissioners.

"I wouldn't say that I'm opposed to it," Brady replied. "If everything lines up, I'd vote for it, but sand has to be on the beach first."

Vik said that the ports have said they want to lease his land for the disposal site, but they won't do it until they have their permits.

"I understand you wanting to leverage the shoreline permit for beach sand, but I don't think that's the way the law wants you to use the shoreline permit," Vik said.

Commissioner Cothren said he can understand Vik's position. He commented that if the Corps had handled dredging planning better, there'd be sand in all spots.

"Phil is in a catch 22," Cothren said. "We still have to have some kind of leverage on the upriver ports to get them to support our efforts to get sand on the beach," he said.

In a separate issue, County Engineer Paul Lacey recommended the county withdraw two projects for a culvert replacement on the Elochoman Valley Road from the state road funding program.

The issue is timing, Lacey said; the projects, which involve replacing the Clear Creek culvert and realigning the road, need to be underway by April 16. It doesn't look like the county can meet that timetable, and so the funding, including funds already spent on engineering, would have to be returned to the state County Road Administration Board (CRAB).

A major delay surfaced when an archeological review of the site found Native American artifacts, Lacey said. This will require the county to relocate the realigned road, and that may be difficult because of right-of-way acquisition issues.

Lacey recommended withdrawing the projects from the funding program and planning to resubmit them later when the issues are addressed. It would also allow the county to seek additional funding help.

Other options would likely lead to the county repaying any state money and financing the project entirely with county road levy funds.

"The Road Fund doesn't have the money to take the risk," Lacey said.

Commissioners agreed and authorized Lacey to withdraw the projects from the CRAB program.