King County Shoreline Management Program Final Public Input

The third and final round of public input periods to the King County Shoreline Management Program is happening now. If you live on or near the Sound, a lake, river, or even some wetlands, then this can apply to you and your property.

You can review the draft and also attend upcoming public open house meetings in Carnation (October 16th) and Covington (October 23rd). Public inputs will be accepted until Friday November 14th, via the meetings, email, or mail.

This will be the final opportunity for public input before the completed program is submitted to the King County Council in December.

FEMA Insurance For Waterfront Properties Potentially Discontinued

Interesting set of recent events from the National Marine Fisheries Service: Since development near bodies of water can adversely affect salmon population - and salmon populations are important for the web of life food chain to endangered orcas - they have determined that the federal flood insurance program currently available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is illegal. Both salmon and orcas are protected under the Endangered Species Act.



This affects future development for any properties determined to be within flood plains, and it can also affect current owners seeking this type of ongoing insurance. In many cases, getting flood insurance in flood plains is difficult and expensive without having the FEMA program to rely upon. New development may be cost prohibitive and current owners may be left without viable insurance options.

For more information, see this article in the Seattle PI. The reporter covers the usual areas that people think of as a "flood plain": areas near rivers that can crest and flood at times of heavy flow. However, the article does not talk about the many other areas that can be considered flood plains. Even Puget Sound waterfront can be considered flood plains due to tidal/storm surges, and lake shores can rise and flood as well. The frequency of both is very low in comparison to rivers, but nonetheless official classifications and flood plain maps do exist for these areas. Both future development and existing properties along many other bodies of water than rivers could definitely be affected.

Next steps will reside with FEMA to create development requirements that will be more compatible with salmon populations, and this may allow for the resumption of the FEMA flood insurance program around the Puget Sound area. However these kinds of programs and development compromises can take quite a long time to develop, so it will be interesting to track the effects from this on local waterfront properties.

If anything, it makes existing waterfront homes more valuable since development options for new waterfront properties are further restricted. Relatively few waterfront home owners (especially on the Sound and lakes) actually purchase the FEMA insurance, so the downsides of lacking the insurance will likely be negligible except for cases where such insurance may be a requirement of a buyer obtaining financing.

We'll see what happens...

Urban Waterfront Revitalization

"Stodgy and industrial" Bremerton has been getting a reputation for thinking outside of its historical box in terms of how to best make its waterfront a centerpiece for the community and economic development. The Bremerton Naval Shipyard and the Washington State ferry terminal had long been the primary utilitarian focus along the shoreline. Now parks, residential condos, convention center, and more are already underway, all centered around the waterfront.

The mayor of Bremerton - who was previously the mayor of Bellevue - has been learning from the positive and negative experiences of other waterfront communities around Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and the entire country. As an outgrowth of his community's efforts, the Urban Waterfront Revitalization Conference is planned for September 10-12, 2008 at the Kitsap Conference Center in Bremerton (brochure). This conference is also being used to spearhead formation of the nascent group called Urban Waterfront Alliance.



The program (or see the program brochure) has a very interesting and diverse line-up. Here is their summary:

"The program addresses core concepts from projects at all stages, from strategy to implementation and beyond. Sessions will feature stories from individual communities – large and small – transforming their waterfronts. The program will also cover key areas such as:

Celebrating and Marketing Your Waterfront
Public and Pedestrian Waterfront Access
Transportation Access Issues
Urban Waterfront Housing
Sustainable Waterfronts
Public Engagement
Financing Your Project
Design and Built Elements"

It looks to be an intriguing conference for anyone desiring to expand the community value of local large scale waterfront concepts.

King County Shoreline Master Program to be Updated

The state Department of Ecology has mandated that King County update its Shoreline Master Program by 2009, part of a review and overhaul of the over 30 year old Shoreline Master Program throughout the state. This update could have potential ramifications for waterfront properties, although it is generally expected that the recent regulations brought on by the King County Critical Areas Ordinance will already cover most updates that would be deemed necessary. King County has also taken a lesson from the sometimes controversial and contentious process that resulted from the Critical Areas Ordinance's implementation, this time rolling out the process and drafts in a slower fashion with public inputs encouraged at each step. The Shoreline Master Program and CAO have the interests of the environment and larger community in mind, while sometimes these regulations may clash with the property rights interests of owners along shorelines who prefer more leeway in what they can do with their property.

The Shoreline Management Act applies to marine shorelines, rivers with a flow greater than 20 cubic feet per second, lakes larger than 20 acres, upland areas within 200 feet of these water bodies, floodplains, and wetlands associated with these shorelines. The act covers land use, public access, archaeological / historical resources, and ecology.

King County has recently distributed a draft map of areas where the Shoreline Master Program updates may apply. County representatives are also holding four public input meetings, two of which occurred last week in Carnation and Enumclaw. The next two are on Tuesday February 13 5:30-8:30 pm in Maple Valley and Thursday February 15 5:30-8:30 pm on Vashon Island. Public comments are also being accepted by mail, email, phone, or at the meetings.

The projected timeline for the next steps in the process includes a draft of the revised county plan for this June, a second updated draft in the fall, and a final version for presentation to the King County Council in March 2008. DOE requires that the county have a finalized plan completed and submitted by December 2009.