2019-02-11-minutes-public-works-study-session

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iIW E►;t 1 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT 501 North Anderson Street, Ellensburg WA 95926 Land Use Permitting (549) 952-7231 Construction Permitting (549) 962-7239 Kirsten Sackett, Director Phone: (549) 962-7232 Fax: (509) 925-8655 E -Mail: sackettk@cLellensburg.wa.us February 6, 2019 Mark Cook Kittitas County Public Works Director 411 N. Ruby Street Ellensburg, WA 98926 Dear Mr. Cook REFERENCE: Whiskey and Mercer Creek LOMR Submittal Materials The purpose of this letter is two -fold. The first purpose is to respectfully and formally withdraw the previously -signed concurrence form for the proposed Whiskey/Mercer Creek LOMB. The signed form was emalled to Karen Hodges and Chris Frei of Watershed Science on December 3, 2018. However, the December 4, 2018 response received from Mr. Frei, as the County's contractor, indicated that his firm would be making some updates to the LOMR application, and that an updated acknowledgment form would also be forwarded to the City for a signature. A copy of that email exchange is attached. Since that December 2018 correspondence, the City has not received any updates from County Staff, or from Watershed Science. However, after further review of the LOMR submittal and accompanying scientific methodology, as stated above, the City is withdrawing its concurrence. City Staff would ask that the previously -signed form NOT be included in any future submittals to FEMA. The second purpose of this letter is to advise the County that the City will not be signing a concurrence form for inclusion in the application to FEMA even if updates are made to the LOMR submittal. We wanted to make you aware of this decision, as it may impact any County decisions to expend additional funds to obtain updated LIDAR imagery. While the City has the same desire to provide accurate flood mapping for our residents, we would respectfully point out that our valley is located in an alluvial fan, and that the irrigation systems located north of town greatly impact the direction and flow of any flooding that may or may not occur to the south. These impacts affect properties within both the City limits and the County. The City would prefer to work with the County in devising a means for improved monitoring of the irrigation activities occurring north of town, and/or developing any other appropriate solutions to the flooding, prior to submitting any changes to FEMA. When a property is added into FEMA's FIRM maps, it is at great expense to the affected property owners who then have to obtain flood insurance. If this LOMR is adopted by FEMA in its present state, 1298 parcels within the City and the Urban Growth Area (UGA) would be negatively impacted by this flood map. The City has also calculated that another 130 properties located outside the UGA would also be impacted. This is not a matter to be taken lightly, and as such, the City would want to be very certain that any updates to the flood maps are as accurate as possible, prior to agreeing to any kind of LOMR submittal to FEMA.