November 5, 1998 By JEFF BURLINGAME - DAILY WORLD WRITER The Aberdeen Daily World
OCEAN SHORES - Citing an "imminent threat to public health, safety and the environment," the city of Ocean Shores Wednesday night declared a state of emergency allowing it to go ahead with a controversial project to slow beach erosion.
The council's unanimous vote came just minutes after it denied an appeal from a Seattle law firm that could have indefinitely halted the placement of 540 feet of "geotubes" on the city's southern coastline.
Despite the emergency declaration, the city is still racing against the clock to embed the tubes - huge sausage-shaped bags full of sand - in a dune north of the North Jetty before the brunt of the winter storm season hits.
The emergency declaration will help speed up the placement of the tubes, city officials say. But the tubes still won't be in place by mid-November as the city had hoped.
"The low tides the second week of December is the best possibility (for installation)," City Engineer Paul Richart told the council.
"But it's all weather and supplier dependent."
Consultants have told the city that a breach in the dune is likely this winter. A breach could flood the entire southern end of town and destroy multi-million dollar city utilities and private homes and condominiums, and knock out roads and isolate residents, consultants say.
Without declaring the state of emergency, the project would have been pushed back to the end of February or the beginning of March, the city engineer said. Construction bids and material are being sought for the project, Richart added.
Prior to the declaration, the city heard testimony on an appeal filed by the Seattle law firm Smith & Lowney, which is representing several environmental groups, including the Washington Environmental Council and a group called the Surfrider Foundation.
Representatives of the law firm were not present at the meeting and have not returned numerous phone calls from The Daily World.
The law firm was appealing the city's June 23 "determination of non-significance," which stated that the geotubes will not have an adverse effect upon the environment.
Smith & Lowney have argued all along that the tubes would be an eyesore that, among other things, would spoil the aesthetics of the beach.
City Attorney Art Blauvelt first explained the appeal process to the council and handed out copies of letters faxed back and forth between he and Smith & Lowney attorney Knoll Lowney. Blauvelt then asked the council if it wanted to proceed with the hearing or wait for a time when the attorneys were present.
"Mr. Lowney had every opportunity," Councilman Peter Jordan said. "I recommend that we go ahead with this."
The council unanimously agreed with Jordan and opened a public hearing on the matter.
Sue Patnude, the city's director of community development, led off the hearing by giving a brief overview of the process the city has gone through to place the geotubes on the beach.
The city has spent several months applying for permits with several state and federal agencies and fighting protest from environmental groups, Patnude said.
"We've dealt with water quality issues, habitat, wetland, air quality, traffic, anything that would impact the environment," said Patnude, who has been involved with the process since the spring of 1997. Conditions have been placed on the tubes by several agencies along the way. Some of those conditions include assurance that the geotubes will be removed when permits expire and that the tubes will be monitored for failures and repaired if necessary.
"Should we need to keep the tubes on the beach for another year, we need to continue permits," Patnude added.
The city has already granted a conditional use permit for the project. After the city presented its case, citizens were given a chance to speak out on the issue.
"I've been really irritated with the procedures we've been forced to go through," said resident Lois Westlund, who lives near the jetty. "There hasn't been much common sense in people that have been interfering. I hope by mid-December you have them in place so the Austins don't lose their house."
Westlund was referring to Gary and Dee Austin, Ocean Shores residents whose home near the North Jetty is within feet of sliding off the dune and onto the beach. The Austins were present at last night's meeting but did not speak.
The state legislature has already appropriated $175,000 to pay for the tubes. They are scheduled to be in place through May 15, 1999, at which point the city has the option to seek a permit for another year. In order to keep the tubes in place, the city must show that it is making progress toward finding a long-term solution to its erosion problem.
Several other stipulations have been placed on the geotube project by state agencies, Patnude said. There is to be no construction activity when the tidal waters hit the construction area and a building moratorium will be placed on 200 feet of either side of the project.