The City of Hoquiam is in line to collect $250,000 in non-matching grant funds from the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority to begin pre-design work on the Northshore Levee-West Segment, which would cover West Hoquiam properties not currently included in the Northshore Levee design.
“Basically the west segment takes over from where the Northshore Levee stops and covers the rest,” said Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay.
The North Shore Levee itself will cover only to the east bank of the Hoquiam River. The design left downtown Hoquiam, three elementary schools, the middle school and high school out of the protection zone.
The west segment levee would tie in with high ground north of State Route 109 just west of the high school, continue south and east to the west bank of the Hoquiam River, north along the west bank of the river, then wrap around Lincoln Elementary school, tying into high ground to the west.
The money comes from a reallocation of funds originally designated for the China Creek flood restoration project in Centralia. Because that project came in under budget, and because the Hoquiam levee project ranked highly with the flood authority and the city is prepared to begin work quickly, those funds will be made available to Hoquiam.
“Within the next 30 days a grant agreement will be prepared by the Recreation and Conservation Office for the $250,000 award,” said Shay, who added the Hoquiam City Council approved the mayor signing the grant agreement at its Monday meeting. “By the end of the year, Hoquiam will need a consultant under contract who can complete the necessary tasks by July 1, 2019.”
Those tasks include extensive surveying, hydraulic modeling, geotechnical and drainage analyses, biological evaluation and design drawings. The end goal is protecting properties from damage from large-scale flood events and removal from the mandatory federal flood insurance requirement.
The study would also take in two additional areas; one in the Woodlawn area along the East Fork Hoquiam River, another west of Lincoln Elementary along Endresen Road. Shay said these areas will be studied to find solutions to chronic flooding issues, whether they may require a levee or not.
“We’ll be analyzing the whole west side of town,” said Shay.
Additional funding
The Office of the Chehalis Basin Board adopted its recommended budget Oct. 15, which will be sent to the Governor for consideration during the 2019 legislative session. In it, $416,403 was recommended for the west segment levee and an additional $10 million for the City of Aberdeen for Fry Creek restoration and the North Shore Levee. Shay said the Fry Creek money would “provide the necessary capital to replace the pump station, which is essential” to both Fry Creek restoration and the North Shore Levee.
The current Fry Creek pump station moves only 60 cubic feet of water per second and has no fish-screening capability. The new pump station would move 400 cubic feet per second and include fish screening. The first phase of Fry Creek restoration is expected to begin next year; it has already been fully funded. Once the new pump station is installed, the “daylighting” — the restoration of 280 feet of culverted creek to an open flow — can begin.
