The Metropolitan King County Council met today for the first time as the King County Flood Control Zone District (FCZD) Board of Supervisors, the panel responsible for implementation of the King County Flood Hazard Management Plan. The plan developed by King County Executive Ron Sims identifies an urgent need to address maintenance and repairs to King County's aging system of 500 levees and hardened embankments that protect urban and rural floodplain residents, businesses, regional economic centers, public infrastructure and roads. The flood protection improvements will cost between $179 million to $335 million.

The Flood Control Zone District Advisory Committee is responsible for presenting recommendations to the FCZD Board of Supervisors on project planning and funding allocations, and four members briefed the Supervisors today on their recommendation for a property tax levy rate of 10 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, which would raise about $30 million per year for levee repairs.

“If the levees fail, if the dikes fail, then within 2 to 3 days we start worrying about where the supplies of bread and cereal and milk are going to come from. What roads will they travel through? When will gas for cars get to the hillsides? And how are the workers on the hills going to get to and from their jobs?” said Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis, who noted that a fabrication plant in Auburn produces all the titanium parts for Boeing planes worldwide. “Those river cities throughout the area spreading into Seattle are the single largest industrial area in the state of Washington. This is not a matter of those in the heights and those in the lowlands. This is a countywide issue that needs a countywide solution.”

“Hurricane Katrina showed us the importance of maintaining our infrastructure. Two years later and that region’s economy still has not recovered,” said Kirkland Deputy Mayor Joan McBride. She said the Advisory Committee examined a range of funding options from 5 cents to 16 cents per thousand of assessed valuation. “We need to do this right. We are all concerned about the tax burden, but at less than 10 cents too many projects had to be delayed or they could not be completed. It was much less expensive for all of us to fix the problems with our levees now, than to pay for them and rebuild them after a failure.”

“With last year’s destructive flooding events, we are again reminded that much of our levee system and infrastructure needs updating and maintenance. Clearly, we need to do much more to ensure the safety of our citizens, homes, and businesses during the flood season,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, who represents residents who live along many river systems in east King County. “The actions that the Flood Control Zone District Board will take over the upcoming months will set the foundation for much needed improvements to our flood infrastructure to protect our citizens and environment.”

The 15 members of the Flood Control Zone District Advisory Committee are:

“Repairing levees and improving flood control measures to protect people, their businesses and property, our food supply, roads, and local economy is a top priority for King County,” said Larry Phillips, Chair of the County Council’s Growth Management and Natural Resources Committee. “Doing this work now will save lives, homes, and livelihoods as we face wetter winters and more powerful storms in a warming world.”

“Urban, suburban, and rural areas alike are affected when storms and flooding damage our bridges and levees,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson. “Repairing our fragile levee infrastructure is a regional responsibility, and one that will keep us safe and connected to the goods, services and people we rely on each and every day.”

“Climate change and aging infrastructure, along with increased population in flood-prone areas, are making the old piecemeal approach to flood control obsolete,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine. “We are creating a unified, regional system to protect lives and property, while guiding future investments in repairs and upgrades to flood control facilities across King County.”

In other action, the Supervisors today elected Larry Gossett as Chair of the Board of Supervisors.

In April, the King County Council approved creation of the Flood Control Zone District as the first countywide body with the responsibility to fix the county’s failing flood protection facilities. The FCZD replaces 12 separate districts that addressed areas of localized flooding, with little or no coordination between them.

The King County Flood Hazard Management Plan, adopted unanimously by the County Council in January, identifies priority repairs and upgrades that can be made over the next decade, including work on flood containment levees and bank stabilization projects. King County has more than 25,000 acres within the mapped, 100-year floodplain, or more than 40-square miles. The Plan also recommends that funding for the new King County FCZD come from a countywide property tax levy.

“The Flood Control Zone Advisory Committee raised a number of important questions about these levee projects,” said Councilmember Reagan Dunn. “As we move forward with this critical decision, we will need to answer all the concerns about cost, timing, and level of flood protection that will be provided to our residents."