Ocean Shores, Westport team up to combat erosion

The cities of Ocean Shores and Westport are planning to collaborate under the Grays Harbor County umbrella to combat their common erosion problem.

The topic was discussed during a work session at the regular Jan. 28 Grays Harbor Board of County Commissioners meeting and the Ocean Shores City Council meeting that same evening. Other meetings and calls between stakeholders have taken place in recent weeks as well.

“We have a request for the County to be the lead applicant for the CTP (cooperating technical partners) grant application regarding the effects of erosion in both the North Beach and South Beach, the north jetty and the south jetty areas,” said Vickie Raines, District 3 commissioner. “There are four projects around Westport, the south jetty area, and then we have five in the north jetty area. It does allow us to expand it, we can add to this if we need to in the future.”

John Shaw, the chair of the Grays Harbor Marine Resources Committee, said that all three entities agreeing to work together is a critical first step that carries quite a bit of weight in the grant application process.

“One of the first steps of federal aid (is) creating work under a CTP. This first step is about an assessment and bringing the project and the hot spots together with the federal risk assessment mapping,” said Shaw. “… When we met with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), they pointed out, ‘Yes, yes, we know our maps are incorrect when it comes to the Washington coast.’ They were very supportive and (said) that CTP will help them get this up to speed.”

According to Shaw, former U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer suggested getting Westport and Ocean Shores to collaborate and that this cooperation would help get the federal government’s attention. After a call with several interested parties, including FEMA and EMD (Emergency Management Division), it was decided Grays Harbor County should be the lead agency.

“We’ve created the work, the executive summary, and the outline between both cities, (the Washington Department of) Ecology, and what’s called the cohort, which is Ecology’s Coastal Hazard Organization to identify these areas, and maybe others, and have the County be the named applicant,” Shaw said. “We have most of the work done for the initial application. If it goes in, we’ll have a year, year-and-a-half, of competing to get funding, at which time the County would go out to secure a technical engineering firm to do the necessary risk assessment update and provide the information for the next steps.”

District 1 Commissioner Georgia Miller echoed the overarching sentiment that Grays Harbor County should act as the lead agency and that enabling and facilitating such collaborations would carry a lot of weight when applying for this grant and others in the future.

“I think the County should be in a position of strength and should be involved in as many things (that) are going to impact the citizens of Grays Harbor,” Miller said. “As long as we can figure out how to pay for it without raising taxes because that’s important, I think it would be strategically important for us to be involved. The future of the awarding of these grants is bringing as many partners together to the table.”

“This is an opportunity for us to grab hold of the hands of Ocean Shores and Westport and drive it,” Raines added. “Our voice, combined with the cities’ is going to be a bigger push than just two cities or one city by themselves.”

Shaw added that because of the scope of the erosion issues, other interested parties have been brought into the discussion, and more will follow.

“One of the things to keep in mind is that the idea of the circumference around the two cities also has brought the Port (of Grays Harbor) involved,” Shaw added. “This is a very important discussion with the Port on risk assessment and the (Army) Corps of Engineers. A lot of this is lining ourselves up with the work. It starts getting to be a pretty big table of stakeholders very quickly in a very positive way. We expect the Quinault to be seated at the table as well.”

The idea is that the new CTP grant will lead to studying the problems which will lead to a BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) grant, which will allow the concerned parties to prioritize projects concerning the comprehensive nature of the mouth of Grays Harbor.

The County plans to formally ask Scott Boettcher to serve as the facilitator for seeking the CTP grant. Boettcher has worked on the Connor Creek project in North Beach and with the Flood Authority.

“I had a conversation with (County Administrator) Sam (Kim), after having a conversation with Scott Boettcher to ask if he could contract with us to manage this project as we go through the application phase,” Raines said. “I worked with him on flood projects, erosion projects, he’s been a fixture with the Flood Authority for about 15 years, he’s worked on the Montesano wastewater treatment plant, he’s helped with the Cosmopolis dam, and he would be willing to do that if it’s something the Commission wants to consider. He’s in the process of exiting his service as a facilitator with the Flood Authority.”

Boettcher, who worked for the Washington Department of Ecology for 17 years, is uniquely qualified for a project of this scope and type.

“I think it would be a fun project for (me) to help you all get the resources you need for this particular area. The coast is very dynamic,” Boettcher said. “(I’m) looking forward to learning and hopefully working with you. My background is policy down to boots on the ground, to me, that’s a lot of fun. We’re making progress on the North Beach with slim resources. I like challenges, I like to tackle things and get people going in the same direction and show that our governmental systems can work.”

Recently, the city of Ocean Shores began construction of a new, extended cobble berm to address immediate concerns along the north shore of Oyhut Bay. Meanwhile, Damon Point has been closed since Jan. 27 as berm construction continues.

“The work we’re doing down on Marine View Drive is to just hold our own right now and stop the retreat of the shoreline before it gets into the public infrastructure,” said Marshall Read, lead planner and shoreline administrator for the city of Ocean Shores at the Jan. 28 City Council meeting. “There is some inherent benefit to the property owners between us, but it’s better for everybody if we maintain more buffer as opposed to letting the waves wash the houses out and then put some sort of wall in there. It makes some sense now to stop the retreat there.”

Ocean Shores City Administrator Scott Andersen says Damon Point has become a dangerous island surrounded by cold, turbulent waters.

“That is not the structure that existed here five or six years ago. We have had three emergency responses and rescues out there already, on all three, they had to sit there and wait,” said Andersen. “We did have some individuals who were stranded out there due to tide change. Until we can find a way to address that issue, it may have to remain closed after construction. It’s a question of real-life and public safety issues. We do not want people going out on Damon Point not being aware of what the tides are and getting stranded out there. At some point, we’ll lose someone.”

Read said that the City has engaged the coastal engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol to study currents and sediment transport near the remnant jetty using a CTP Ocean Shores has already secured for that purpose.

“As the relic jetty continues to degrade, that channel is identical to the tip of Damon Point last year and the year before,” Read said. “We’re looking at this sediment transport issue as it relates to the submerged jetty. I contend that if the jetty were maintained, then the sediment that we’re losing from Marine View Drive and up in Oyhut Bay would not be migrating out into the North Bay area and eventually down the Oyhut channel or across the face of Damon Point into the main harbor shipping channel. If we can convince and prove that that sediment from our shoreline is ending up in the shipping channel then we have a good chance at getting the (Army) Corps of Engineers to come in and add some sort of a design height to the relic jetty, which I consider the long-term or permanent measure to resolve some of the issues of the erosion along Oyhut Bay and Marine View Drive.”

Andersen updated the Council and the public and laid out a timeline for the North Beach jetty.

“According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the environmental documentation is almost complete. The hope is for the Army Corps of Engineers to go out to contract in August, and that bids will be awarded for the project in September or October,” Andersen said. “Work will begin first with staging materials and placement of equipment and building access routes, and that will take place late this year and early 2026. The actual placement of boulders and the construction of the jetty is likely to begin April or May of 2026, and the estimated completion date based on that timeline is October 2027.”

The City Council will hear a discussion of an emergency proclamation for Mariner Court at the next regular meeting on Feb. 11, as Mariner Court is experiencing the same increasing erosion issues as Marine View Drive. This area has been identified as “Area 9” on the joint Ocean Shores/Westport Community Technical Partners grant that is being facilitated by Ocean Shores, Westport and Grays Harbor County.

“The city of Ocean Shores and the city of Westport have come together, we’ve created a panel of different experts in the field to identify high-risk areas of erosion, to put that into a joint Community Technical Partners program to give that to the county, and the county will act as a lobbying body for both of the Twin Harbor cities to try to get state and federal funding,” Andersen said. “We just think we are stronger together, by both cities collaborating I think we have more leeway with the legislature.”

Grays Harbor County and the cities of Ocean Shores and Westport hope that by teaming up and collaborating, their combined resources, brain power and effort will lead to sufficient grant money and funding to begin to address their collective erosion problems for the foreseeable future.