Recently, the cities of Westport and Ocean Shores decided to join forces under the Grays Harbor County umbrella to combat common erosion problems.

The County promptly asked Scott Boettcher of SBGH-Partners to help. Boettcher is also the project lead on the North Beach Flood Project, and has done extensive work with the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority. He updated the Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners on both initiatives at the Board’s regular meeting on Tuesday.

With regard to coastal flooding in the North Beach area, Boettcher explained that the coast is changing, chronic flooding is worsening, and management plans are out of date and out of sync. In June of 2024, the flood control district was enlarged and renamed North Beach Flood Control Zone District. The North Beach Flood Control Zone District’s duties include addressing the continuing flooding problems adversely affecting North Beach residents, property owners, emergency responders and visitors. It is tasked with planning for the enlargement, extension, acquisition or construction of works necessary to control, conserve and remove excess flood water within the district while also protecting life, property and natural resources.

Boettcher showed a time-lapse video that illustrated the northerly migration of the Connor Creek outlet into the Pacific Ocean in North Beach.

“The coast is changing, we’re in a changing environment, it’s a dynamic environment,” Boettcher said. “Back in 1987, when the watershed would drain its water out, it drained it right into the Pacific Ocean. Now the watershed has to drain this water and then flow it north another four of five miles to drain it out to the ocean. Our gradient is super low, it’s difficult to drain water when it’s basically horizontal.”

Since September 2023, flood signs have been installed, ditches and culverts have been cleared, beaver dams have been notched and gauges have been installed. However, flooding issues persist in Moclips, Ocean City, Copalis and Elk Creek.

Boettcher indicated that the North Beach Flood Control Zone District needs $250,000 possibly from the County to develop a regional “comprehensive plan of development for flood control” taking into account several factors including coastal, climate and demographic changes, housing and recreation needs, emergency response needs, economic drivers and opportunities, natural resource needs and flood mitigation capital.

He also said an additional $575,000 will be requested from the state of Washington to document and implement priority projects including the correction of the backflow issue along the north end of state Route 109 and the removal and disposal of derelict structures along Connor Creek.

Turning to the Coastal Erosion Strategy Project, Boettcher outlined the problems, solutions and next steps. In Ocean Shores, Oyhut Bay erosion has averaged 60 feet per year from 2017–2023, while in Westport, Pacific coast erosion has ranged from 2.3 to 11.5 feet per year from 2002–2016, while Half Moon Bay erosion has averaged three feet per year during the same time period. This erosion threatens public infrastructure, homes, resorts, RV parks, marinas, and the existence of Damon Point.

Boettcher was asked to lead the application process for a $150,000 Cooperating Technical Partners grant to study the region’s shared erosion problems.

“About two weeks ago, I talked with (District 3 Commissioner Vickie Raines and County Administrator Sam Kim) and they asked if I could help in convening and compiling an application to FEMA for a coastal erosion strategy. And then we find out it’s due in like 12 days,” Boettcher said. “We worked very hard and met with a lot of people and essentially we’re conceptualizing the application to focus in a big regional sense and in a more focused sense on these erosion hot spots.”

That application was submitted to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) on Friday, Feb. 14. The two-pronged approach involves creating a Grays Harbor County Coastal Erosion Resilience and Investment Strategy — a “comprehensive, multi-stakeholder look at threats, consequences, trade-offs of widespread coastal erosion” and a “forward-looking, strategic, sequenced, actionable path forward to best and most effectively address/mitigate risk.”

“There’s a real concern about losing Damon Point,” Boettcher said. “The sense of immediacy is very, very prevalent. These are regional problems beyond just what Ocean Shores and Westport can handle, they plug the holes in the dike. Emergencies are fundamentally reactive, you can’t ever get ahead of the curve. This is an idea to rally the forces, have the county lead, and develop a regional investment strategy for that area. I appreciate your trust in me.”

District 1 Commissioner Georgia Miller thanked Boettcher for his expediency with regard to the grant application.

“I would just like to thank you for your quick turnaround,” Miller said. “We didn’t have much knowledge of it and decided when we were aware that we wanted to partner with Ocean Shores and Westport because it is important.”

While waiting for an answer from FEMA, the plan is to convene all of the interested parties, begin the process and develop a common understanding of the problems and their implications.

“I would think the work on the North Beach and the coastal erosion issues is an opportunity to chart the next future for the coast given all the demographic changes that are afoot, the coastal changes,” Boettcher said. “Failure to do that is not going to be the best solution. We have an economy that’s fundamentally tied to the environment that exists out here, the coastal environment.”