By John Henderer, The Chronicle, 4/29/99
Rather than possibly jeopardize residents, Lewis County commissioners decided Tuesday not to rip out a new dike in East Lewis County, one of two difficult choices offered by a state agency.
Instead, the county will return a $115,000 grant used to buy flood-ravaged properties under and behind the dike.
Commissioners faced the dilemma after receiving an ultimatum from the state Military Department Emergency Management Division, which administers federal money for disaster cleanup.
An official at the agency said the state would not have offered Lewis County the grant buyout money had he known a private firm was building a dike on the land.
''Nothing can be built on the properties acquired with hazard mitigation grant funds except with the express written (approval) of the (Federal Emergency Management Agency) regional director,'' said Marty Best, state hazard mitigation officer.
The county never got permission.
Commissioners agreed this week that removing the dike would have created more problems. They never appeared to have considered removal a viable option.
''We're not going to remove that dike,'' Commission Chairman Richard Graham said last week.
The unusual ultimatum, the first after 160 state buyouts, came after state officials learned last month about the dike.
Pacific Lumber and Shipping built the dike along Silver Creek, a Cowlitz River tributary near Randle, to protect its Cowlitz Stud mill and log yard.
The mill owner constructed the dike on both sides of the creek, effectively protecting two homeowners' properties that were severely damaged in 1996 floods.
Homeowners nearby hope to connect the new dike with one upstream built by the county in 1979. A 600-foot gap sits between the two dikes. The dike extension would protect up to 11 more homes.
But when the local diking district applied for funding and permits to build the new section, Best, the state official, learned of the Cowlitz Stud dike on bought-out properties.
The mill's dike presents a problem because of its location, Best said.
FEMA buyout money removes often-flooded land from harm's way, requiring the property to be left as open space. Nothing may be built on it.
''We're not buying homes out of harm's way to put something else in harm's way,'' Best said.
County Commissioner Dennis Hadaller had expressed hopes of negotiating a cheaper settlement, but that was impossible, apparently.
''I have no ability to negotiate anything less than what was owed to the government,'' Best said.
Meanwhile, although several county officials attributed the misstep to poor communication, a former county official said he and the county commissioners were aware of both projects.
Bob Berg, former county Public Services director, supervised workers upstairs in his office who processed the buyout grant and those downstairs who processed Cowlitz Stud's dike permit application.
''I had both sides of the story and so did the commissioners. In my mind, the one did not cancel out the other at all,'' Berg said. ''Cowlitz Stud has no duty to protect anybody else, so you can't rely on what they choose to do through altruism now as a permanent fix.
''Redundancy isn't necessarily a bad thing. Where is the harm?''
John Henderer covers county government and environmental issues for The Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail at jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
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