Right now a large portion of the lower-lying areas of Aberdeen and Hoquiam are in the FEMA designated flood plain. Over the years folks in those areas have paid millions in required FEMA flood insurance with little paid out in claims.

Have you wondered about some of those empty houses in the low-lying areas? Even though you could theoretically buy one to fix up and resell, there’s a major hurdle to jump.

Because our cities are part of the National Flood Insurance Program, they have to abide by certain building codes.

“When you take out a building permit, if the value of the work is worth 50 percent or more of the value of the house, you have to raise the home it up to flood code,” explained Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay. “That means if the base floor is two feet below a certain elevation, it has to be raised up three or more feet.”

Rick Sangder, the Aberdeen Public Works Director agreed. “Let’s say you want to invest money to flip a home in the flood zone. If you find a bargain at $20,000, and put $10,000 in it, you’d then have to put a foundation under it to put it above the flood zone. Now all the potential profit is lost,” he said.

In addition, to get a loan to buy a building in the designated flood plain, lending institutions require that you buy flood insurance. And folks in both cities with mortgages are paying out a lot in flood insurance – sometimes it’s even higher than their mortgage payment!

It’s easy to see why the potential for flooding is a damper on economic development!

Even if your home or business – or one you’d like to buy – has never had a drop of flood water, if it is on the FEMA map for being in the flood plain then flood insurance is required.

We knew this was an issue around here for a long time, and then the flooding event in January of 2015 was like a splash of cold water in the face, with thousands of people affected. The reality of this long-endured flooding problem rose to the top of our community’s agenda.

Most of the flooding we experience in those areas has more to do with rain events, ground water and poor infrastructure to handle the water, not rivers topping over their banks. However, to get the low lying area off of the designated flood plain, a levee is needed.

“But we don’t want to end up building a bathtub where the levee retains the water in the cities,” said Sangder.

In fact, part of the FEMA requirements is to make sure that the levee doesn’t trap water in and that the interior water drains well.

CITIES WORKING TOGETHER

In talking this week about the North Shore Levee Project and the TimberWorks Master Plan with Hoquiam City Administrator Shay and Aberdeen’s Public Works Director Sangder, we were heartened how they, the cities and other entities are working together for the common good.

While the flooding fixes will impact our twin cities, the positive economic, social and recreational impacts will impact the entire county.

“The goal is to have the preliminary design for the levee in the next few months and ultimately to have the levee built in five years,” Shay said. “And in Hoquiam we’re putting money in the budget to use toward the TimberWorks Master Plan’s recommended improvements in the next two years.”

“There’s a lot of improvements we can do – improving the pumps, upsizing pipes, building new pump stations, repairing or replacing existing outfalls, creating more water storage. There’s just a host of things we can do,” he said.

Across Myrtle Street, Public Works Director Sangder agrees that the interior infrastructure changes will make a huge difference. Thankfully a $150,000 design grant from the Chehalis River Flood Authority means that consultants can begin designing fixes for Fry Creek flooding.

A variety of other grants and loans are being explored to help with the funding of the projects.

“To no longer have to have flood insurance and not have to follow those additional building requirements will be a great benefit,” said Shay. “People could remodel homes freely without having to elevate them.

“The community and economic development benefits are just as great. Houses may double in value, buyers can buy.”

LEVEE’S PLACEMENT

The exact placement of the North Shore Levee is currently being determined and the people whose property it will likely affect have been contacted.

In general, the North Shore Levee’s target area of protection is bordered by the east bank of the Hoquiam River, Grays Harbor Bay-Chehalis River to the south and the west bank of the Wishkah River to the east.

Similar to the south Aberdeen’s dikes, it will likely be a system of earthen dikes, raised roadways and walls.

“FEMA requires us to build a levee and interior drainage to handle a 100-year storm.”

Even though there’s a lot of work ahead, Sangder and Shay said, and we agree, that we will start seeing benefits as soon as even small changes in our infrastructure are made.

“We are going to do it. It’s going to happen,” said Shay. “The teamwork, the commitment is there. It is a huge, huge benefit to our communities to get this done.”

NEXT MEETING OCT. 25

An open house meeting is tentatively set for Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen. This meeting will be an opportunity for the community to learn about the Timberworks Master Plan and hear specific project recommendations and provide feedback for prioritization.

In addition, there will soon be an online survey available for people who are not able to attend the meeting to provide input on prioritization of projects.

MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE

If you want more information about the development of the Timberworks Master Plan or about the open house meeting on Tuesday, contact Forterra at (206) 905-6946 or at Lhanna@forterra.org.

For the levee project, people can e-mail northshoreleveeteam@kpff.com with any questions, concerns or comments.

You can also check out the website for all flood-related projects – www.ezview.wa.gov /aberdeenflood relief.

Dave Murnen and Pat Beaty are construction specialists at NeighborWorks® of Grays Harbor County, where Murnen is the executive director. This is a non-profit organization committed to creating safe and affordable housing for all residents of Grays Harbor County.