Sumner gets the money for White River flood mitigation. When will construction start?
Sumner has found all the funding for its $102 million project to overhaul the White River north of the city’s industrial area.
The state approved a $15.24 million grant to build additional pathways for the river to prevent flooding of North Sumner.
“Funding is great, but at that level, that really said something about how important this project is to the whole region,” Sumner communications director Carmen Palmer said.
Sumner’s request for $15.24 million was the largest capital ask the Puget Sound Partnership has recommended to the state Legislature. The Puget Sound Partnership is a agency that works regionally to restore and protect Puget Sound.
The White River snakes around Pierce County’s largest industrial employment center. Snow melt from Mount Rainier and heavy rainfall occasionally send the river over its banks, flooding Sumner’s manufacturing center.
The river flows against its natural path after being rerouted by farmers for irrigation. The man-made route has caused issues for decades, including sediment and debris from Mount Rainier building up. Four years ago, FEMA adopted new flood maps to include most of the industrial sites in North Sumner, said Doug Beagle, Sumner deputy director of Public Works.
Sumner began seeking funding in 2015 for four projects, totaling $178.46 million. The most expensive and largest of the four projects is the habitat restoration’s $102 million price tag, which was just secured with the approval of the state budget.
Other money comes from Sumner, Pierce County, the Port of Tacoma and other state grants. An estimated $50 million of the $102 million project was the land value where the project will take place, Palmer said.
The habitat restoration would add channels for the White River to flow through, “braiding,” additional outlets for the river to use, Beagle said.
A total of 177 acres would be converted into wetlands by removing 5 to 9 feet of soil, planting trees and digging out more routes for the White River to flow through. This portion of the project would improve habitat for endangered species like chinook and sockeye salmon, by allowing them space to hide from predators in rearing ponds.
“As they’re making the runs in rearing ponds, they can go rest and get out of the channel,” Beagle said.
Beagle said the next step is to apply for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, starting a 12- to 18-month process. Environmental agencies also will be involved.
“We have already ironed out the wrinkles that some have had, so that when we submit this, we have the best chance to have a smooth permitting process,” Beagle said.
After permits are approved, the city will open up a contract bidding process and select a construction company. Beagle doesn’t anticipate any dirt to be moved until fall of 2022 at the earliest. If the project goes well, he hopes for construction to end in 2027.
The habitat restoration is one of four portions of the White River Restoration project.
The others are:
Stewart Road Bridge ($30 million): The two-lane bridge is currently a choke point for the river. Plans would expand it by 100 feet to the east.
Left-bank setback ($25.7 million): Once the water passes under the bridge, planners want to create an embankment to hold water at higher levels.
Pacific Point bar ($20.7 million): At the curve of the river, a levee would be added to protect the 25 industrial sites on the south bank, including an Amazon warehouse.
The Stewart Bridge is at risk of closing during floods because its deck is too close to the river, but funding is coming along, Beagle said. The city is $12 million short of its funding goal.
The current width underneath the bridge between the two end walls is 232 feet, but the redesigned bridge would increase the width to 330 feet. The bridge design also reduces the number of piers from two to one, further increasing the space for the current.
The setback and point bar projects are inching along, but land acquisition has been slow-going, Beagle said. One five acre property is valued at $6 million.
The fact that habitat restoration is the first fully-funded of the four projects is good news.
“We really need the restoration project done so that we can have more capacity for flooding,” Beagle said. “If you build the bridge and make it wider, now you have this bigger opportunity for water to go down through. I think the order has evolved in our favor.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Sumner gets the money for White River flood mitigation. When will construction start?."
