Kent targets 2018 FEMA accreditation of Green River levee repairs

The city of Kent could get the Green River levee system accredited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) if enough repairs are made over the next two years.

Crews have finished several levee repair projects over the last five years, are working on a couple of others and still have a few more to fix in an effort to get the system accredited, which would remove properties behind the levee from FEMA flood maps to reduce development restrictions and flood insurance requirements in the Kent Valley.

“We are making progress,” said Mike Mactutis, city environmental engineering manager, during a levee system update report on April 19 to the City Council. “We’ve made a huge amount of progress in the last five years.”

FEMA has delayed its flood remapping process several times, but the latest date to issue the maps is expected to be June 2018, although that date could change, too, city staff said.

“We still don’t know when FEMA is going to start the remapping process,” Mactutis said. “They’ve always told us when they get funding from Congress they will start. We don’t know when that will happen. They will send us a letter and tell us to send all of our documentation.”

Councilman Jim Berrios asked staff if they could get all of its levees certified by June 2018. FEMA will not accredit the levees until the city provides data showing that the levees are sound.

“I’m very optimistic,” City Public Works Director Tim LaPorte said.

LaPorte said his primary concern about meeting the deadline remains the Lower Russell Road levee because city, King County officials and other stakeholders have yet to agree on the best way to repair that levee.

“It’s a big deal, with a lot of stakeholders and we want to preserve the park,” LaPorte said.

City officials are concerned about proposals for a setback levee further than required in order to create new fish habitat that reaches into the Green River Natural Resources Area. The city owns much of the property along the levee. City staff also is closely watching the relocation of the 10-acre Van Doren’s Park, 21901 Russell Road, which is expected to be shifted as a portion of it sits right along the river’s edge and where plans call for the setback levee.

“It is at 30 percent design now,” Mactutis said. “There are some really complicated design aspects that still need to be worked through. The proposal is to relocate Van Doren’s Park, so that’s not a simple thing. That’s one of the city’s most valued parks so to make sure the flood district does that correctly is really important.”

The levee stretches along the east side of the river from about South 212th Street to South 228th Street, a distance of approximately 1.4 miles.

County officials help oversee levee repairs through the King County Flood District, which is funded by an annual property tax of 10 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation on county property owners.

Millions of dollars already have been spent on levee projects and more funding is needed for the Lower Russell Road levee.

“The current cost estimate is $43 million,” Mactutis said. “The flood district has funded about half of that at this point and they are working on grants and other revenue sources to try to finish that.”

State grants have helped fund previous levee projects.

Crews will finish work this summer on the State Route 516 to South 231st Way levee. Work remains to be done on the Hawley Road, Milwaukee II and Signature Point levees. Work will finish this year on the Briscoe/Desimone levee, a major project from South 180th Street to South 200th Street.

The flood district spent $17 million, which included a $7 million state grant, on the Briscoe/Desimone levee. That project caused controversy between the city and county before an agreement was reached about how to fix the levee without a huge setback levee that would have meant buying up property and businesses to the east of the river.