Town Councilor keeps plugging away for ring dike

The renewed La Conner ring dike discussion brings longtime Town Council member Jacques Brunisholz back full circle.

The retired La Conner High language teacher has often spoken forcefully – and continues to do so – on the need for construction of a dike to fill an open lowland gap on the north and east edges of town.

In fact, it’s been a defining issue for Brunisholz, who campaigned on flood control and dike development when he made his first successful run for the Council more than a decade ago.

Since then, Brunisholz has been actively involved in the myriad of studies, lengthy debates and extensive lobbying of officials on multiple levels related to La Conner’s dike-building options.

At one point, Brunisholz and La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes were encouraged by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers diking plan, but it eventually proved too expensive, sporting a price tag north of $4 million, both say.

“It was unattainable,” Hayes says. “We couldn’t afford their help.”

Brunisholz and Hayes are confident the Town Council will budget $50,000 next year toward a new section of dike that would run from the wastewater treatment plant along Sullivan’s Slough to Swinomish Channel at La Conner Marina.

“I’m so thankful,” Brunisholz says, “that we have the support of the Town administration and whole Town Council to tackle this.”

He is well aware, though, that the commitment in literal terms represents a mere drop in the bucket for what Hayes estimates would be a $1.3 million local investment in flood protection here.

Still, it underscores great symbolic value.

“Obviously, there’s not enough money in the fund,” Brunisholz concedes. “We’ll have to borrow to get it done, but $50,000 shows a commitment, which I appreciate.”

Brunisholz has long stressed that La Conner would be vulnerable to major Skagit River flooding, a view reinforced in a report Town Administrator Scott Thomas penned last month.

“We’re at the low end of the county,” says Brunisholz. “The water would rush here.”

The Thomas whitepaper concurs.

“Although La Conner has not flooded since 1951,” reports Thomas, “the potential exists unless upstream flood fighting efforts contain waters within the levee system. These efforts were successful in 1990, 1995, and 2003, but no guarantee exists that they will remain successful.”

Brunisholz says the added threat of sustained regional climate change, said to contribute to an increase in the intensity and frequency of floods, makes building the ring dike an even more pressing issue for La Conner.

“Climate change increases uncertainty,” he says. “It’s one more reason to be prepared.”

A 100-year flood event in La Conner would impact transportation and public services in addition to causing extensive property damage, says Brunisholz.

Having the ring dike in place, he says, would help buy time for the town to sandbag or otherwise address rising waters should a flood occur.

“Once the ring dike is established,” he says, “you can plan the next step. If you already have a dike, it buys you time – many hours – to combat a massive flood.”

For Brunisholz, the question now becomes how best to proceed.

The Council could vote on whether to finance the balance between what is budgeted and expected costs of property acquisition and dike construction or refer the matter to voters.

Brunisholz prefers the former option.

“We’re a representative democracy,” he says, “not a direct democracy.”

Hayes can’t predict what the last word on that score will be.

“That will be hotly debated, I’m sure,” says Hayes. “But regardless of whether it is decided by the Council or by a referendum, public input will be essential so people will know what’s coming.”