County ploughs through permits for sand

Wahkiakum County commissioners covered a lot of ground when they met Tuesday on issues ranging from dredging program efforts to setting fees for electronic access to Superior Court records.

Commissioner Dan Cothren presented a written update of the county's efforts to obtain permits for a US Army Corps of Engineers dredging program to nourish eroding beaches at Cape Horn and on Puget Island.

The board approved an amendment to their contract with engineering consultant Mott-McDonald to cover the latest permit requirement--an alternatives analysis to deal with a 0.07 acre wetland on the North Welcome Slough flood control zone district. The county has arranged to purchase a wetland mitigation area along the Coweeman River.

While county officials had no word on when dredging might begin, Cape Horn residents Trish and Randy Shroyer said they had talked to a Corps crew scoping out the Cape Horn area.

They said they're getting ready to pump sand, Randy Shroyer said, probably starting around the end of October.

"They said they would contact us to set up a neighborhood meeting to discuss what would happen and what vegetation removal might occur," he said.

Commissioner Dan Cothren said that is standard practice for beach nourishment. He added that he would meet Monday with Corps officials and representatives of US Senators Patty Murry and Maria Cantwell and US. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler to discuss what might be done to have beach nourishment on the lower portion of the East Sunny Sands erosion control zone that was omitted because of Corps concern that sand would erode from that area and fill up the Puget Island ferry channel.

In other business, commissioners approved resolutions that would allow a resident of the Naselle/Grays River Valley School District to serve on the 12-member county fair board or the five-member Johnson Park Board of Directors.

Commissioners also approved an ordinance establishing annual fees for electronic access to Wahkiakum Superior Court records. Fees range from $100 annually for an individual or entity comprising three persons or less to $600 for an entity comprising 10 persons or more.