The city of Ocean Shores is moving forward with three major projects in the coming year.

City Administrator Scott Andersen shared that the firebreak, the high dunes trail, and the tsunami tower are all entering new development phases at Mayor Jon Martin’s first “City Chat” meeting on Dec. 8.

The proposed firebreak would separate the Ocean Shores hotels on Ocean Shores Boulevard and the Pacific Ocean dunes. The dunes are a popular area with increasingly dense and potentially flammable vegetation. Vehicles, beach bonfires, hikers, and Fourth of July fireworks all pose a high risk of dune grass fires. Ocean winds can also feed these fires and spread them more quickly to the wax myrtle located in the secondary dunes.

The high growth of wax myrtle to the west of hotels and residential properties was identified as a major concern in a 2019 presentation from the Ocean Shores Fire Department to the Ocean Shores City Council. The dense vegetation creates an access issue that may delay or eliminate firefighting capabilities, they said. A square yard of dense Wax Myrtle yields a heating value of just over 2 quarts of gasoline.

In conjunction with the city, the Fire Department proposed creating a clearing behind the hotels extending 50 feet. The firebreak, which extends from Damon Road on the north side to Pacific Avenue on the south, provides the Fire Department with access for defense attacks.

Permitting on the firebreak is a complex issue, and momentum has largely halted in recent years due to needing approval from overlapping jurisdictions, such as the Department of Ecology and the Army Corps of Engineers. Particular concern has been given to mitigating the damage to wetlands ecosystem per state and federal regulations.

The city and the Ocean Shores City Council determined that work on the firebreak would be conducted in stages to save money and allow permitting to move forward more quickly. The Phase II proposal is now moving forward, and the city is advertising for bids through Dec. 21, 2021.

This penultimate phase includes clearing vegetation from the firebreak corridor and future maintenance activity for the entire length of hotel row. The project will also involve hand clearing in the wetlands, which will run through the end of September 2022.

The city is also moving forward with the high dunes trail, which was originally intended to be a part of the firebreak before it became its own project. Before construction, property rights must be confirmed. Ocean Shores has entered into an agreement with Gray and Osborne Inc. to work on the Right-of-Way Phase. That will lead to the obligation of construction no later than June 2022.

The trail will run from Damon Road to West Chance a la Mer, and will consist of a 10-foot wide winding shared use, paved recreational path for pedestrians and bicycles on the highest part of the dunes. The trail will also be ADA accessible so recreation in the dunes will be available to everyone.

Mayor Jon Martin worked with the late Mayor Crystal Dingler to secure funding for the project while he was still on the City Council.

“It wouldn’t be happening if not for Mayor Dingler … it’s something that was very important to her. It will be a tribute to her to get it done, and I’m really excited that in the spring we could see ground break,” said Martin.

He expects the trail will have the added benefit of being a tourist attraction in attention to providing residents with a space for exercise.

In order to make the city more prepared in the event of seismic activity, the vertical evacuation project is in its design phase. Structural engineers at Degenkolb are designing a tsunami tower. The structure is planned to hold 800 people, but will be built to accommodate three times as many people for a short period of time.

The readiness of the area in the event of seismic activity is a concern for the North Beach School District and will be addressed by their proposed bond measure. If passed, the bond would fund the creation of multi use spaces above 50 feet at both Ocean Shores Elementary and North Beach Middle/Senior High School.

The City Chat was Mayor Martin’s first informal public meeting since being appointed to the position last month following the passing of Mayor Crystal Dingler. The forum was an opportunity for residents to communicate directly with the mayor and city staff.