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2023 Elk Meadows Compliance Plan for McElroy Bridge <br />April 26, 2023 <br />May 02, 2023 <br />MRC <br />Alternative 1: Do nothing. <br />This alternative is not acceptable to Kittitas County Flood Control Zone District, nor to Kittitas <br />County Department of Public Works. Continued participation in the Community Rating System <br />and National Flood Insurance Program is deemed essential by the Board of County <br />Commissioners. Public Works (PW) has been imposing private bridge development standards <br />since 2019. Consistency in regulatory application is deemed essential by the Board of County <br />Commissioners. Doing nothing to mitigate the risk of bridge failure during regulatory flood <br />events continues placing Elk Meadows (EM) residents and emergency responders at physical <br />risk. In summary, the "Do nothing" alternative is not an option for EM or Kittitas County (KC). <br />In the absence of action on the part of EM, KC will likely utilize the code violation process <br />requesting Superior Court order abatement of the bridge. This option does not provide any <br />assistance from the County to the water district. <br />Reguired County resources. <br />80 hours code enforcement staff and 80 hours of prosecutor staff. Undetermined cost of <br />abatement. Likely imposition of a special district leaning all properties retiring the cost of <br />abatement. Using average employee wage and benefit rate of $501hour; $8,000 to $10,000 is the <br />current estimated cost range for county services. <br />Alternative 2: _Modifications to McElroy Bridge. <br />Two minimum performance standards must be met modifying the existing McElroy Bridge: <br />• Creating three feet of freeboard under bridge superstructure with no resulting flood rise <br />• Creating a minimum single lane fire code width of twenty feet. <br />This alternative requires a variance from existing county road standards relative to required <br />minimum bridge width. The variance to width will require support from the Kittitas County Fire <br />Chiefs Association and County Engineer. This option requires EM to accept recent county flood <br />modeling of the Easton reach of the Yakima River completed by its consultant Watershed <br />Science and Engineering. The recent remodeling work, once accepted by the Federal Emergency <br />Management Agency (FEMA), will become the new regulatory standard for Easton Reach. Time <br />is of the essence, and the county desires to focus time, money, and effort towards assisting in the <br />modification of the McElroy Bridge and not seeking remedies diminishing or altering flood <br />study outcomes. This alternative affords continued use of the bridge for water district water <br />supply deliver and access to the district's water supply reservoir. The county will provide <br />permitting assistance to EM as a part of this alternative. <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />