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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRes 0645 - CDBG Block Grant for Green River Basin Surface Water Management Program RESOLUTION NO. 645 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN A JOINT H &CD BLOCK GRANT APPLICATION WITH THE CITIES OF AUBURN, KENT, RENTON, AND KING COUNTY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING OUT COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND PUBLIC USE ENHANCEMENT DESIGN PROJECTS AS PART OF THE GREEN RIVER BASIN SURFACE WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM. WHEREAS, Tukwila and the cities of Auburn, Kent, Renton, and King County have prepared and adopted the Green River Basin Program as the Comprehensive Surface Water Management Plan for the Green River Basin; and, WHEREAS, An objective of the Green River Basin Program is to insure that federal plans and projects are compatible and consistent with the Basin Program and with the objectives of local comprehensive plans; and, WHEREAS, Expanded opportunies for community involvement and programs to provide public use enhancement features in major flood control projects are consistent with local objectives and result in increased public awareness and support for the Basin Program; and, WHEREAS, Stronger community orientation and local advocacy program for the Basin Program and Flood Control projects will maximize the chances for success in providing local financial support for the non federal share of project costs; and, WHEREAS, Projects supported conceptually by the local community, especially where local financing is available when needed, will result in early implementation of much needed flood and drainage protection in the Green River Basin. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The Mayor is hereby authorized to enter into a joint H &CD Block Grant Application with the cities of Auburn, Kent, Renton, and King County for the purpose of carrying out community involvement and public use enhancement design project in support of the Green River Basin Program. Section 2. The City Council recognizes that this will not place any direct financial costs to the City and that any future costs to the City must first be approved by the Tukwila City Council. PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUKWILA, WASHINGTON, at a regular meeting thereof this day of 5 e-, 1978. COUNCIL ACTION MEE.ANl DATE I AGENDA ACTION TYPE ITEM PLANNING �jW I gel M PARKS CITY of TUKWILA BUILDING {{F RECREATION OFFICE of COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 1 10 August 1978 M E M O R A N D U M TO: Mayor Bauch FROM: Kjell Stoknes SUBJECT: Joint Block Grant Application on Valley Drainage Program The attached formal motion would authorize you as the Mayor to make a joint application with King County, Auburn, Kent and Renton for the purpose of furthering the agreements established between our jurisdictions for the pur- pose of storm water control and related purposes in the Green River Valley. The proposed grant as developed by the King County staff is for $100,000.00 and the primary purpose of the grant is to begin the community involvement process and consider multi -use enhancement in flood control design. KS /ch 6230 Southcenter Boulevard Tukwila, Washington 98188 111 (206) 242 -2177 PLANNING PARKS CITY of TUKWILA BUILDING RECREATION OFFICE of COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 14 August 1978 M E M O R A N D U M TO: -M Bauch FROM: Kjell Stoknes SUBJECT: Joint Block Grant for Valley Flooding Last week I submitted to you a proposed motion authorizing the City Council to grant you the authority to enter into a joint block grant with the other valley cities and King County for purposes of community involvement and design projects as part of the Green River Basin Surface Water Management Program. The attached is support information to that formal motion. I recommend we sup- port this grant application out of the joint needs monies part of the H &CD block grants. ICS /ch Attachment 6230 Southcenter Boulevard Tukwila, Washington 98188 (206) 242 -2177 Introduced by: O Proposed No: C �O MOTION NO. A MOTION authorizing the King County Executive to prepare and enter into a joint H &CD block grant application with the cities of Auburn, Kent, Renton and Tukwila for the purpose of carrying out community involvement and public use enhancement design projects as part of the Green River basin surface water management program. WHEREAS, King County and the cities of Auburn, Kent, Renton and Tukwila have prepared and adopted the Green River Basin Program as the comprehensive surface water management plan for the Green River basin; and WHEREAS, an objective of the Green River Basin Program is to insure that federal plans and projects are compatible and consistent with the basin program and with the objectives of local comprehensive plans; and WHEREAS, expanded opportunities for community involvement and programs to provide public use enhancement features in major flood control projects are consistent with local objectives and will result in increased public awareness and support for the basin program; and WHEREAS, stronger community orientation and local advocacy program for the basin program and flood control projects therein will be translatable into local financial support for the non federal share of project costs;. and WHEREAS, projects supported conceptually and financially by the local community will result in early implementation of much needed flood and drainage protection in the Green River basin. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY: The King County Executive is hereby authorized to prepare and enter into a joint H &CD block grant application with the cities of Auburn, Kent, Renton and Tukwila for the purpose of carrying out community involvement and Public use enhancement design projects in support of the Green River Basin Program. PASSED this day of 1978. KING COUNTY COUNCIL KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON Chairman ATTEST: O P Clerk of the Council c IFS �0�`Q0 GREEN RIVER BASIN PROGRAM (Community Involvement and Multi -Use Enhancement in Flood Control Design) 10. FULL STATEMENT OF THE PROJECT I. GENERAL A. Problem: Surface water management problems extend throughout the entire 480 square miles of the Green River Basin and along the, 90 -mile length of the river from the Cascades to Elliott Bay. Historically, the lower valley has been the focus not only of most of the flooding problems but of the resulting controversy over proposed solutions to them. This portion of the basin contains the geographic floodplain of the Green River with an area of some 8,400 acres. Average annual flood damage prevention benefits within this floodplain area are estimated by the Corps of Engineers and Soil Conservation Service to exceed 2.5 million dollars. It is estimated that over 100,000 people live in the contributing watershed of the lower Green River basin with a substantial population of low and moderate income residents living on the Valley floor which is subject to periodic inundation. Within this area are located the five sponsoring jurisdictions of the SCS Watershed Projects and Corps Levee Improvement Project: King County, Auburn, Kent, Renton and Tukwila. Collectively, the four valley cities have jurisdiction over 90 percent of the lower valley floodplain. Within the entire basin there are 9 municipal governments and a variety of special purpose districts with surface water authority. King County has jurisdiction over approximately 85 percent of the basin lands, most of which are upland areas, In addition, the cities of Enumclaw and Black Diamond have authority over upper basin lands within their corporate limits. The scope of surface water issues and problems in the basin is extensive and affects all of these jurisdictions and residents therein. The flooding of interior areas that occurs almost annually in the lower Green River Valley results from waters which runoff of and through the boundaries of numerous governments and special districts. The resulting fragmented responsibility and inability to pursue and implement effective surface water management plans and projects in the basin have added to the overall problem rather than alleviated it. In addition, local governments who are sponsors of major federal flood control projects in the basin have, in the past, relied heavily on analyses, recommendations and decisions made by 1 federal agencies. Local decisions have often been made without a working knowledge of federal regulations and guidelines under which those projects were planned or of possible alternative solutions offered by them. The problem has been heightened by the fact that federal, state and local agencies planning surface water and flood control programs in the basin have not coordinated their efforts as fully as possible. In a similar sense, citizens have not always had a workable mechanism or opportunity to provide public input and review of the planning and design of major structural flood control works. Local public reviews have resultantly been critical of the planning process, the proposed structural design of major works of improvement and the impact these facilities would have on the natural environment and other community values. To a. large extent this public intervention has caused rather than alleviated delays in the completion of permanent flood protection for the lower Green River Valley. B. Purpose: The Green River Basin Program represents a three part local action program through which King County and the cities 'of Auburn, Kent, Renton, and Tukwila will investigate and resolve the remaining flooding and surface drainage problems in the Green River basin. The program is based on the assumptions that: 1. Solutions to water resource problems in the Green River basin should be developed with an emphasis and reliance on an integrated planning program. 2. Surface water management planning in the Green River basin should be oriented to basin -wide considerations and relationships. 3. Local governments should have a strong role in decisions that affect the planning and design of surface water measures within their jurisdiction. 4. Improved coordination of federal agency programs and projects that affect local flood control and drainage management decisions should be initiated and effectuated by actions of local sponsor governments. Major parts of the four year basin program include: 1. Early Action Measures, intended to provide an immediate response to surface water and flood control regulatory needs in the lower Green ,River Valley. 2 2. Valley Interim Policy and Regulatory Plan, resulting in an areawide set of policies and regulatory controls to mitigate flooding problems in the lower valley until federal flood control projects are implemented. 3. Basin Wide Surface Water Management Program, intended to coordinate and integrate federal, state and local programs /projects affecting water resource management in the Green River basin. Another significant feature of the program includes the establishment of the Green River Basin Executive Committee (BEC) of elected officials to provide policy guidance and direction as well as a management framework to deal with problems, issues and coordinated actions of local sponsors in response to individual projects or in overall basin program development. Additionally, a Technical Committee made up of planning and public works representatives will prepare technical analyses and recommendations for review by the BEC. This framework for decision making is expected to result in a stronger voice for local governments in decisions that affect the planning and design of surface water measures within their jurisdiction. Public knowledge and support for the Green River Basin Program and the various major planning elements that make up the program is considered a key and important consideration to insure that local governments are truly in charge of and responsible for the surface water management destiny in the Green River basin. The project described herein is proposed to provide the mechanism and opportunity to involve all the public throughout the planning program and to purposely develop program tasks which insure that public and multi -use enhancement benefits are products of surface water system designs. II. PROJECT INTENT A. Goals: The overall goal of the Green River Basin Program is to bring about effective and efficient water resource utilization and conservation throughout the basin. Additional goals have also been established for each phase and element of the basin program as described in detail in the adopted comprehensive work program. Specific goals for this project, which is being carried out as a major element of the basin program are as follows: 1. To provide a continuous and structured process to insure an adequate exchange of information between all segments 3 of society and local /federal agencies responsible for planning and designing surface water management plans and projects in the Green River basin. 2. To provide environmental quality and public use enhancement features in the planning, design and implementation of drainage and flood control systems in the Green River basin. 3. To insure that surface water management planning and project implementation is consistent with and furthers the objectives of state, regional and local comprehensive plans. B. Objectives: To accomplish the goals stated above, the project will be developed in two mutually supportive component parts: 1 community involvement, and 2) multiple-use design enhancement. Community involvement will involve the fulfillment of the citizen participation program identified as an important element of the Green River Basin Program. A Program Coordinator and logistical support consisting of administrative, clerical, secretarial and communication services will manage and carry out an active public involvement program on all aspects of the basin program. The public involvement program, will provide a continuous and structured process to insure adequate exchange of information and opinion between the public and local /federal planning agencies. Resources will be utilized to recruit citizen committee representatives, plan and mobilize attendance at public meetings and workshops and closely coordinate the planning program with "target groups" that are vital to politically viable plan results. A variety of public involvement and information dissemination techniques (i.e., newletters, surveys, brochures, displays, etc.) will be used to insure citizen involvement from the widest possible range of basin demographics. The Coordinator will also be responsible to establish a public relations image with property owners of land needed for channel or levee rights -of -way, wetlands proposed for acquisition, and buildings and homes that must be relocated. This assistance is expected to facilitate enhanced options and negotiations at such times as these properties are acquired by right -of -way representatives of the King County Real Property Division. Additionally, the establishment of a strong and workable liaison between federal, state and local agencies will be an important benefit of the Program Coordinator activities. This liaison link will provide communications between all programs and projects impacting surface water management in 4 the basin and will provide the focus for resolution of issues at the Green River Technical and Basin Executive Committee levels. An example of the need for this liaison and coordination will be required in the reformulation of the West Side Green River Watershed Project which will involve the Corps of Engineers, Soil Conservation Service, the cities of Auburn and Kent and King County. These jurisdictions with the assistance of the general public will be reviewing such complex issues as river flows, agriculture, wetland and urban development land use issues and upland surface water management in the Mill Creek sub -basin as a part of developing drainage and flood control projects for this area of the lower valley. Opportunities for "pooling" federal and local public involvement programs and funding to offer expanding public participation programs will also be important investigations and probable results of activities by the Coordinator in this element of the overall basin program. The second component of the proposed project will deal with specific planning and design opportunities to develop envirnmental quality and public use enjoyment considerations in the implementation of structural flood control improvements. These activities, which heretofore have never been considered in the initial phases of project planning, will be designed to insure that the ultimate flood control system is envir acceptable and is consistent with and furthers the objectives of state, regional and local comprehensive plans. Design studies, site plans and comprehensive landscape and development plans for each of the several components of the flood control system will be prepared. The majority of the work will be contracted out to consulting firms with planning, landscape and site design expertise. Funds will also be used as local "seed money" which can be combined or matched with federal dollars appropriated for similar purposes. These joint funded design studies will permit expanded study scopes and a greater proportion of the financial burden to be assumed by other than local agencies. In addition to environmental enhancement, these investigations are expected to result in the identification of additional recreation, open space and other social benefits which will be important in economic evaluations and justifications required of all federal water projects. Typical examples of the areas of need that currently exist for such design investigations include: 1. Channel Design for East Side Watershed Project This investigation would involve a design and landscape study of the drainage channel rights -of -way for the East Side Green River Watershed Project. Local funding would enhance joint financing opportunities with the Soil Conservation Service. Visual, wildlife and landscape 5 enhancement alternatives would be investigated utilizing tree and grass plantings, sculpturing and slope rounding of channels. Recreation development potential would be analyzed in larger areas proposed as retention ponds as well as along linear public rights -of -way needed for the drainage channels themselves. 2. Joint Design Corridors with Interurban Trail This design study would be sub contracted with planning and design consultants to analyze the opportunities and recommendations for joint design corridors in locations where drainage channel and interurban trail corridors abut one another. Combined rights- of-way design segments would be developed with the objective of maximizing the utilization /conservation of those public properties. Economic efficiencies in designs, land acquisitions and linkages to other recreation facilities in the area would be.probable products of this investigation. 3. Design Alternatives and Enhancement of River Levees This project would be the follow -on phase to the Green River and Environs Project as part of the basin program. Consultants working with representatives from the Corps of Engineers would investigate design and use potential alternatives for reconstructed levees along Green River and setback levees in locations they are desired. Levee design investigations would include analysis of structural /non-structural alternatives as well as specific site design plans for river nodes and greenbelt areas. 4. Streamside Enhancement This consultant project would be developed to coincide with and take advantage of State t Fisheries and Game Department enhancement programs in small watersheds in the basin (i.e., Springbrook Creek, Kent and Auburn Mill Creeks). Streamside shadings, planting of riparian vegetation and flow augmentation analyses would be carried out. Analyses and recommendations on human use developments appropriate within the streamway corridor would be conducted as well as organized stream identification and enhancement activities by schools and other citizen groups. Cost shared programs with the State are expected. C. Tasks and Cost of Each: The community involvement component of the project will require personnel start -up activities in the form of job description preparations, job announcements, screening, interviewing and placement for the coordinator positions and well as supplementary logistical and clerical support. Additionally, some on the job training from King County Planning Division personnel would be included prior to the 6 program element being capable of assuming work responsibilities with minimal supervision. (2 months). A community involvement work program would be prepared and circulated to the Green River Technical Committee and Basin Executive. Committee for review and approval. Formal liaison channels with designated representatives of participating County departments, local sponsors, federal agencies, and private groups and individuals would also be established at this time. (2 months). Citizen Committee recruitment, scheduling of public workshops, meetings and hearings, preparation and compilation of surveys and questionaires, corrdination of citizen interests with Technical and Basin Committees and overall program managment will be carried out over the balance of the project year. (8 months). The public use design enhancement component of the project will involve the preparation specific design study scopes, coordination of RFP's, screening, and selection of consultants. Further negotiations on work scopes, schedules, products and costs will be ongoing. Preparation and administrative coordination of contracts will complete pre- contract activities. Contract monitoring both technically and budgetarily will be required in addition to coordinating work .products with federal agencies, citizen groups, Technical and Basin Executive committees. (on -going over 12 months). D. Resources: Th King County Planning Division Resource Section will directly coordinate project planning and task accomplishments. Work programs, schedules and products will be coordinated, reviewed and approved through the Green River Technical and Basin Executive Committees. Temporary field office space with support personnel, supplies and logistical assistance may be required dependent upon space available in Planning Division quarters. III. PROJECT EVALUATION The project evaluation will to a large extent depend on the overall success of the comprehensive Green River Basin Program. Evaluative criteria established for the basin program are as varied as there are major elements of the work program, and include specific timetables for the enaction of early action measures. Criteria have been developed and are identified in the work program for the Green River Basin Program. Other criteria, such as the success of the BEC to reorient the pXIanning approach to flooding and drainage management in the basin are implied, and are equally important. 7 The evaluation of this project will be based on how successfully and expeditiously the goals of providing full scale public involvement together with a design enhancement program to insure multi -use features in all facets of surface water management are implemented. Increased public awareness and support for the Green River Basin Program will be measured through citizen surveys, questionaires and participation at public forums. Specific evaluation and performance criteria will be developed as part of consultant contracts and used thoughout the various phases of contract completion. It is, expected that 1979 monies and products will be viewed as local "self help" programs which will positively influence federal agencies (i.e., Corps and SCS) to financially participate in planning design studies, implementation programs and on- going, coordinated public involvement programs. 8 Green River Basin Program Map