HomeMy WebLinkAbout060622ra02 Regular Agenda
615 Sheridan Street
Aehsan Port Townsend, WA 98368
www.JeffersonCountyPublicHealth.org
Public Healt
JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
TO: Board of County Commissioners
Mark McCauley, County Administrator
FROM: Pinky Feria Mingo,Director,Environmental Health and Water
Quality
Tami Pokorny,Natural Resources Program Coordinator
DATE: June 6,2022
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION re: Authorization to Legally Bind Jefferson County
with Respect to an Application for Grant Assistance to the RCO for
the Hoh River Resiliency—Lindner Complex Reach Project and
related Letter of Support
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
Public Health requests approval of a resolution re: Authorizing the Jefferson County Board of
Commissioners to Legally Bind Jefferson County with Respect to an Application for Grant Assistance to
the RCO for the Hoh River Resiliency—Lindner Complex Reach Project as well as a related letter of
support.
ANALYSIS:
Public Health has initiated a grant application to the Washington Coast Restoration and Resiliency
Program(WCRRI: imps, rt s.sa.,gov/grant/washingtom-coast-restr,ratum-and-re,ilif:ri ) ir7itiatisc/)for
the Hoh River Resiliency—Lindner Complex Reach(design only—no construction, RCO#22-1375)
project located in WRIA 20. Its goal is to enhance habitat for salmon, protect public infrastructure from
erosion by the mainstem Hoh River, and to provide other community benefits. If the Lindner project is
selected for funding, an agreement with the RCO will be submitted to the BoCC for consideration in
2023. As part of the application process,the RCO requires approval of a specifically worded resolution
authorizing representatives to execute documents, confirming review of a sample grant agreement,
stipulating that any assistance will be used only for appropriate costs on a reimbursement basis, and
confirming additional understandings. Also needed is a letter of support for the project from the local
elected body.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The costs for approving this resolution are negligible.No matching contribution is required by the
WCRRI Program; however the Hoh Tribe has offered an in-kind contribution of new LiDAR imagery.
Community Health -r,vironmental Public Health
Developmental Disabilities Water Quality
360-385-9400 360-385-9444
360-385-9401 (f) Always working for a safer and healthier community (f) 360-379-4487
RECOMMENDATION:
JCPH Management recommends that the BoCC approve the resolution re: Authorizing the Jefferson
County Board of Commissioners to Legally Bind Jefferson County with Respect to an Application for
Grant Assistance to the RCO for the Hoh River Resiliency—Lindner Complex Reach Project as well as a
related letter of support.
REVIEWED BY:
4 ),- z,2- -
Mark McC ey, County Administrator 0 ate
Community Health Environmental Public Health
Developmental Disabilities Water Quality
360-385-9400 360-385-9444
360-385-9401 (f) Always working for a safer and healthier community (f) 360-379-4487
JEFFERSON COUNTY
STATE OF WASHINGTON
In the Matter of Authorizing the Jefferson }
County Board of Commissioners to Legally }
Bind Jefferson County with Respect to an } RESOLUTION NO.
Application for Grant Assistance to the RCO }
Project(s)Number(s),and Name(s)RCO#22-1375: Hoh River Resiliency-Lindner Complex
Reach
This resolution authorizes the person identified below(in Section 2)to act as the authorized
representative/agent on behalf of our organization and to legally bind our organization with respect
to the above Project(s)for which we seek grant funding assistance managed through the Recreation
and Conservation Office(Office).
WHEREAS, state grant assistance is requested by our organization to aid in financing the cost of the
Project(s)referenced above;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that:
1. Our organization has applied for or intends to apply for funding assistance managed by the
Office for the above "Project(s)."
2. Our organization authorizes the following persons or persons holding specified titles/positions
(and subsequent holders of those titles/positions)to execute the following documents binding
our organization on the above projects:
Grant Docun>reni Name of Signatory or Title of Person Authorized to Sign
Grant application (sLbmiss on thereof) Natural Resources Program Coordina:oi
Project contact(day-to-day Natural Resources Prograrr C rdina ur
adminrstenng of the grant and
communicating with the RCO)
RCO Grant Agreement(Agreement) N,�A
Agreement amendments NrA
Authorizing property and real estate N1A
documents Notice of Grant. Deed of
Right or Assignment of Rights if
applicable).These are items that are
typical recorded on the property with
the county.
The above persons are considered an"authorized representative(s)/agent(s)"for purposes of the
documents indicated. Our organization shall comply with a request from the RCO to provide
documentation of persons who may be authorized to execute documents related to the grant.
3. Our organization has reviewed the sample RCO Grant Agreement on the Recreation and
Conservation Office's WEB SITE at: Baps://rco.wa.gov wp-
content/uploads/2019/06/SampleProjAgreement.pdI. We understand and acknowledge that if
offered an agreement to sign in the future,it will contain an indemnification and legal venue
stipulation and other terms and conditions substantially in the form contained in the sample
Agreement and that such terms and conditions of any signed Agreement shall be legally binding
on the sponsor if our representative/agent enters into an Agreement on our behalf. The Office
reserves the right to revise the Agreement prior to execution.
4. Our organization acknowledges and warrants,after conferring with its legal counsel,that its
authorized representative(s)/agent(s)have full legal authority to act and sign on behalf of the
organization for their assigned role/document
5. Grant assistance is contingent on a signed Agreement. Entering into any Agreement with the
Office is purely voluntary on our part.
6. Our organization understands that grant policies and requirements vary depending on the grant
program applied to,the grant program and source of funding in the Agreement,the
characteristics of the project,and the characteristics of our organization.
7. Our organization further understands that prior to our authorized representative(s)/agent(s)
executing any of the documents listed above,the RCO may make revisions to its sample
Agreement and that such revisions could include the indemnification and the legal venue
stipulation. Our organization accepts the legal obligation that we shall,prior to execution of the
Agreement(s),confer with our authorized representative(s)/agent(s)as to any revisions to the
project Agreement from that of the sample Agreement. We also acknowledge and accept that if
our authorized representative(s)/agent(s)executes the Agreement(s)with any such revisions, all
terms and conditions of the executed Agreement shall be conclusively deemed to be executed
with our authorization.
8. Any grant assistance received will be used for only direct eligible and allowable costs that are
reasonable and necessary to implement the project(s)referenced above.
9. [for Recreation and Conservation Funding Board Grant Programs Only] If match is required for
the grant,we understand our organization must certify the availability of match at least one
month before funding approval. In addition,our organization understands it is responsible for
supporting all non-cash matching share commitments to this project should they not materialize.
10. Our organization acknowledges that if it receives grant funds managed by the Office,the Office
will pay us on only a reimbursement basis. We understand reimbursement basis means that we
will only request payment from the Office after we incur grant eligible and allowable costs and
pay them. The Office may also determine an amount of retainage and hold that amount until all
project deliverables,grant reports,or other responsibilities are complete.
11. [for Acquisition Projects Only] Our organization acknowledges that any property acquired with
grant assistance must be dedicated for the purposes of the grant in perpetuity unless otherwise
agreed to in writing by our organization and the Office. We agree to dedicate the property in a
signed"Deed of Right"for fee acquisitions,or an"Assignment of Rights"for other than fee
acquisitions(which documents will be based upon the Office's standard versions of those
documents),to be recorded on the title of the property with the county auditor. Our organization
acknowledges that any property acquired in fee title must be immediately made available to the
public unless otherwise provided for in policy,the Agreement,or authorized in writing by the
Office Director.
12. [for Development,Renovation,Enhancement,and Restoration Projects Only—If our organization
owns the project property] Our organization acknowledges that any property owned by our
organization that is developed,renovated, enhanced, or restored with grant assistance must be
dedicated for the purpose of the grant in perpetuity unless otherwise allowed by grant program
policy,or Office in writing and per the Agreement or an amendment thereto.
13. [for Development, Renovation,Enhancement,and Restoration Projects Only—If your
organization DOES NOT own the property] Our organization acknowledges that any property
not owned by our organization that is developed,renovated,enhanced,or restored with grant
assistance must be dedicated for the purpose of the grant as required by grant program policies
unless otherwise provided for per the Agreement or an amendment thereto.
14. [Only for Projects located in Water Resources Inventory Areas 1-19 that are applying for funds
from the Critical Habitat,Natural Areas, State Lands Restoration and Enhancement,Riparian
Protection,or Urban Wildlife Habitat grant categories;Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account;or
the Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration program,or a Salmon Recovery Funding Board
approved grant] Our organization certifies the following:the Project does not conflict with the
Puget Sound Action Agenda developed by the Puget Sound Partnership under RCW 90.71.310.
15. This resolution/authorization is deemed to be part of the formal grant application to the Office.
16. Our organization warrants and certifies that this resolution/authorization was properly and
lawfully adopted following the requirements of our organization and applicable laws and
policies and that our organization has full legal authority to commit our organization to the
warranties,certifications,promises and obligations set forth herein.
This resolution/authorization is signed and approved on behalf of the resolving body of our
organization by the following authorized member(s):
Signed
Heidi Eisenhour,Chair Greg Brotherton,Member Kate Dean,Member
Title Date:
On File at:
This Applicant Resolution/Authorization was adopted by our organization during the meeting held:
(Local Governments and Nonprofit Organizations Only):
Location: Date:
Washington State Attorney General's Office
Approved as to form 2/13/2020
Assistant Attorney General Date
June 6, 2022
Dear WCRRI Review Team,
The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners would like to express our enthusiastic support for the Hoh
River Resiliency – Lindner Complex Reach project application to the Washington Coast Restoration and
Resiliency Initiative (WCRRI). The project’s focus is a two-mile-long reach of the Middle Hoh River (River
Mile 21 - 23), including the mainstem, shorelines and existing forested side channels. It will engage
engineering consultants and landowners in the Lindner community to develop a final design for
placement of engineered logjams (ELJs). This phase of the project does not involve any construction
activities. ELJs are needed to reduce erosion risks to essential public infrastructure and to improve and
expand fish habitat. The project will also continue resiliency planning and partnership development in
the Hoh River valley more broadly.
The proposed Lindner project will mimic the role of natural logjams by identifying locations for ELJs to
stabilize Lindner forests and side channels and help prevent the need for additional bank armoring in
the form of riprap or dolosse. The logjams themselves will improve fish habitat by increasing scour and
shade, providing thermal refugia during low water periods, improving spawning success, retaining and
enhancing existing off-channel rearing habitat; and improving habitat abundance, complexity and
diversity. ELJs will be designed to look as natural as possible and sited with careful consideration for
boater safety.
The Lindner area, accessed from Highway 101 by the Upper Hoh Road, lies within the usual and
accustomed hunting, fishing and gathering area for the Hoh Tribe. It is a residential, commercial and
agricultural center developed by homestead families in the 1800s and includes the Nikolai Memorial and
several local businesses that offer lodging, meals, supplies, services and walking trails, primarily to the
hundreds of thousands of tourists to Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rainforest upstream. The Lindner
reach of the Hoh River is also important to independent recreational boaters and fishers as well as for
fishing and scenic river guides and their clients.
The proposed Linder project is the highest priority of the non-regulatory and collaboratively-developed
Middle Hoh River Resiliency Plan (WCRRI #18-2005; www.co.jefferson.wa.us/1427/Hoh-River-Resiliency-
Plan). Resiliency planning for 17 river miles began in 2018 in response to expanding erosion-related
impacts to the Upper Hoh Road as well the loss of cabins, pasturelands, forested buffers, and productive
off-channel fish habitats.
Cumulative human impacts, including extensive timber harvest, road building, and bank armoring have
over decades altered the natural processes that created and sustained abundant runs of salmon and
steelhead in the Hoh River. “Floodplain turnover” – how frequently the mainstem returns to a given
area – has increased in recent decades from an average of about once per century to up to five times
due largely to the loss of extensive floodplain forests of massive conifer trees and enormous natural
logjams. As a result, floodplain vegetation in the Middle Hoh is increasingly dominated by younger
willow and alder.
Approximately 150 acres of forested side channels, including young and mature conifers, buffer the
Lindner community from the mainstem river. Sandwiched between the Upper Hoh Road and the Lindner
side channels is a Jefferson County Public Works road maintenance facility as well as a private homesite
and property owned by the Hoh Tribe that was operated as a gas station. The river occupied this area
most recently in 1994, and riprap was placed at about that time.
The project proposal has received broad, although not unanimous, support from local residents and
private landowners. If the grant is awarded, landowners will be invited to participate in the planning
process and to provide input on initial conceptual designs representing a comprehensive restoration
approach to the reach. Agreements with landowners to accommodate engineered logjam placement
and related construction activities will lead to development of initial final design and permit application
materials.
In other West End and Puget Sound watersheds such as the Upper Quinault, Elwha, and Cispus Rivers,
engineered logjams are being used successfully to provide and improve habitat, reduce erosion, and
enhance climate resilience. Middle Hoh River Resiliency planning has brought the community together
to develop a proactive approach to addressing the challenges linked to the mainstem river and loss of
protective side channel habitats.
We are eager to see the resulting collaborations continue and succeed in sustaining jobs, quality of life,
and traditions that rely upon this world-renown river and its natural habitats. We support the Lindner
design project as the logical next step in Hoh River mainstem restoration planning and request that you
fund it in the 2023-25 WCRRI cycle.
Commercial and Public Infrastructure Area
LINDNER COMPLEX REACH
Upper Hoh Road
Lindner Complex Reach Vicinity Map Sponsor: Jefferson County
Commercial Area
Hoh River Resiliency