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August 30th, 2012

Skagit River General Investigation reaches major milestone
County, Corps move ahead to study three alternatives

SKAGIT COUNTY - On August 20, Skagit County officials and U.S Army Corps of Engineers staff participated in the Alternatives Milestone Meeting for the Skagit River General Investigation in Seattle. The purpose of the meeting was to outline the study's path forward to completion under the Corps' new stringent planning parameters. The Corps was represented by the Seattle District, Portland Division, and Headquarters.

Earlier this year, the General Investigation Project Delivery Team (PDT) developed six preliminary alternatives and received feedback from the community at various forums. At the Alternatives Milestone Meeting, the PDT recommended carrying forward three alternatives for further design and evaluation: Levee Setbacks, Swinomish Bypass, and the Joe Leary Slough Bypass. Each bypass will be analyzed as both a confined channel and unconfined sheet flow. Optimizing flood storage at the Baker Dam reservoirs and non-structural measures will be a part of each alternative.

Once designed, these three alternatives will be evaluated based on numerous criteria, including risks to life safety, economic damages, impacts to agricultural resources, impacts to environmental resources, and construction costs. The PDT will present the conclusions from this analysis to the community during spring 2013. The PDT will use the analysis and public input to recommend a plan that will be taken to Congress via a Chief of Engineers report.

The Corps of Engineers recently reset and reclassified their entire portfolio of feasibility studies, reclassifying a large number of studies to "inactive." Out of 365 active studies, 68 had been ongoing for more than 10 years. Of those only 9 were identified as being eligible for review and re-scoping. The Skagit River General Investigation was selected as one of those 9.

Under the new planning parameters, all studies will be completed in no more than three years, cost no more than $3 million, and integrate the three levels of the Corps including headquarters, division and district.

For further information, contact Kara Symonds, Skagit County Public Works, 360-336-9400.