Design is the start. Execution is the key

Town council members, planning commissioners and a few citizens spent last Thursday and Friday touring La Conner with a panel of scientists, engineers and professors. Survival, not tourism, was the focus. This design charrette was in support of next year’s updating of the Town’s comprehensive plan.

Town administrator John Doyle brought together staffs from the University of Washington’s Climate Impact Group, United States Geological Survey and the Skagit Climate Science Consortium to focus on infrastructure needed to protect the town from the coming regular and cyclic sea rises and flooding due to climate change.

As the planning commission shapes the comprehensive plan revision due at the end of 2018, they know the mayor and council are preparing for the expense of needed infrastructure projects.

Council and planning commission members are considering policies to develop and the technical assessments needed to confirm infrastructure capacity. If, as is likely, there is a lack of capacity, plans – meaning budgets and schedules – will have to be created. Implementation will require funding.

Doyle and Mayor Ramon Hayes understand that a catastrophic event, the local equivalent of this summer’s hurricanes and California’s recent forest fires, are impossible to protect against. They are just as clear for the need to address the “shift of the norm:” Infrastructure is needed to protect against more frequent large storm events that will bring flooding.

The charrette occurred ahead of Skagit County’s promotion of Flood Awareness Week this week.

Being aware is a critical first step. La Conner’s leaders are moving decisively forward to have the comprehensive plan address flood mitigation. Mayor Hayes is clear: “We are ground zero. The realities of the world set our direction. We must take steps to manage our future. If we don’t take steps the future will manage you. We have to be prepared.”

The discussion, and the decisions for the years ahead – the new normal – will wrestle with paying to protect the place we call home.