City advances channel survey

A required engineers’ survey of the Colfax flood control channel, which generated ardent protest from Mayor Norma Becker and council members when introduced, moved a step closer to reality March 1. The city council authorized City Administrator Carl Thompson to determine what first steps will be needed in meeting the survey requirement which has been estimated to cost the city $57,000. The city objects to the survey as they believe the cost is too much.

The survey has been required by FEMA which noted the 1964-65 flood channel construction by the Army Corps of Engineers was done according to plans which lacked an official engineer’s signature. Lack of an engineer’s signature means the flood channel fails to meet FEMA certification standards and that could result in the downtown and North Flat areas being re-classified as being located on a flood plain.

An engineer's survey and sanction would certify the project for FEMA.

Thompson told the city council the city now has 11 months to meet the FEMA requirement. He reported the city’s objections have finally drawn responses from U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, but those responses didn’t alter the city’s predicament.

Public Works Director Andy Rogers said he has learned the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t start placing engineer’s signature stamps on project plans until 1974. The corps has declined to go back and sign off on pre-1974 projects because that would commit them to insuring the projects in the event something went wrong.

City officials see the new FEMA requirement as an outgrowth of Hurricane Katrina when corps-built channels failed in New Orleans.