Volume I Pierce County Rivers Flood Hazard Management Plan Adopted February 19, 2013 Ordinance 2012-53s Pierce County County Pierce Hazard Rivers Flood Management Plan PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN February 2013 PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTRIBUTORS Pierce County Elected Officials Pat McCarthy Pierce County Executive Pierce County Council (2012) Dan Roach, District 1 Joyce McDonald, District 2 (Council Chair) Roger Bush, District 3 Timothy Farrell, District 4 Rick Talbert, District 5 Dick Muri, District 6 Stan Flemming, District 7 Pierce County Council (2013) Dan Roach, District 1 Joyce McDonald, District 2 (Council Chair) Jim McCune, District 3 Connie Ladenburg, District 4 Rick Talbert, District 5 Douglas Richardson, District 6 Stan Flemming, District 7 Brian J. Ziegler, Director Public Works and Utilities Flood Plan Advisory Committee The Flood Plan Advisory Committee consisted of 26 members representing cities, counties, tribes, state and federal agencies, business, environmental and agricultural interests, floodplain residents and citizens outside of the planning area. Bill Anderson, Citizens for a Healthy Bay Gail Clowers, Drainage District #10 Nell Batker, Tahoma Audubon Society Buzz Grant, Citizen, South Prairie Creek Jay Bennett, City of Pacific Justin Hall, Nisqually River Council Russ Blount, City of Fife Kathy Hatcher, Citizen, Nisqually River Robert Brenner, Port of Tacoma Marsha Huebner, Pierce County SWM Bryan Bowden, Mount Rainier National Park Steve Kalinowski, WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife Richard Carkner, Farmer, Lower Puyallup River Mart Kask, Town of South Prairie Pierce County Public Works & Utilities ii www.piercecountywa.org/water Surface Water Management PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN Dan Sokol & Chuck Steele, WA Dept of Ecology Mark Palmer, City of Puyallup Charlie Solverson, City of Tacoma Bill Pugh, City of Sumner Tiffany Speir, Master Builders Association of Catherine Rudolph, TPC Association of Realtors Pierce County Tim Rymer, National Marine Fisheries Service Jeff Sproul, Citizen, Carbon River Richard Schroedel, PC Emergency Management Bill Sullivan, Puyallup Tribe of Indians Dave Seabrook, Pierce Conservation District and Mary Lou Tkach, Citizen, Puyallup River Puyallup River Watershed Council Ken Wolfe, City of Orting Pierce County Project Team A Pierce County Project Team made up of representatives from SWM, Transportation Planning, Emergency Management, Planning and Land Services, Economic Development, Government Relations, and Parks and Recreation Services guided development of the Plan. Lorin Reinelt, Project Manager Marsha Huebner, PWU SWM PWU Surface Water Management Tom Nelson, PWU SWM Anne-marie Marshall-Dody, PWU SWM Tiffany Odell, Planning and Land Services and Melissa Paulson, PWU SWM PWU SWM Rob Allen, Economic Development Helmut Schmidt, PWU SWM Ann Boeholt, PWU SWM Chris Schutz, Tribal Affairs and PWU SWM Brynn Brady, Government Relations Richard Schroedel, Emergency Management Randy Brake, PWU SWM Carrie Sikorski, Farmbudsman Dennis Dixon, PWU SWM Rance Smith, PWU SWM Todd Essman, PWU SWM Jane Vandenberg, PWU Transportation Skip Ferrucci, Parks and Recreation Planning David Grinstead, PWU SWM Pierce County Steering Committee An internal Steering Committee (composed of the SWM Management Team) reviewed all elements of the Flood Plan prior to broader external review. Harold Smelt, Surface Water Management Manager Tony Fantello, SWM Maintenance and Operations Manager Marsha Huebner, Environmental Permitting and Planning Manager Hans Hunger, Capital Improvement Program Manager Dan Wrye, Water Quality Manager Consultant Team Cardon Entrix, Inc. (Facilitation, Geomorphology, Economic Analysis) Herrera Environmental Consultants, Inc. (Environmental Impact Statement) Jones and Jones (Policy, Plan Support) URS (Capital Projects, Risk Assessment, Geotechnical) Pierce County Public Works & Utilities 3 www.piercecountywa.org/water Surface Water Management PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN Special Acknowledgments The Pierce County Rivers Flood Hazard Management Plan benefitted extensively from the planning approach, science, and content of the King County Flood Hazard Management Plan (King County 2007) and the analysis of flood mitigation alternatives in the Upper Yakima River Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan (Yakima County Flood Control Zone District 2007). Pierce County Public Works & Utilities ii www.piercecountywa.org/water Surface Water Management PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN PIERCE COUNTY FLOOD HAZARD MANGEMENT PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTRIBUTORS ..................................... i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. ES-1 ES.1 Introduction and Purpose .................................................................................................... ES-1 ES.2 Goals and objectives ........................................................................................................... ES-3 ES.3 Planning Area Description ................................................................................................... ES-4 ES.4 Plan Development .............................................................................................................. ES-6 ES.5 Problems and Proposed Solutions ...................................................................................... ES-10 ES.6 Plan Implementation and Funding ..................................................................................... ES-21 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1-1 1.1 Purpose of the Plan ................................................................................................................ 1-2 1.2 Geographic Scope ................................................................................................................ 1-2 1.3 Planning Process and Stakeholder Involvement ....................................................................... 1-7 1.4 Goals and Objectives .............................................................................................................. 1-8 1.5 Guiding Principles ................................................................................................................ 1-10 1.6 Planning Authority and Framework ....................................................................................... 1-12 1.7 Relationship to Pierce county Plans and Agreements ............................................................. 1-14 1.8 Major Studies Supporting Plan Development ........................................................................ 1-17 CHAPTER TWO MAJOR RIVER FLOODING IN PIERCE COUNTY ........................................................... 2-1 2.1 Pierce County River Systems ................................................................................................... 2-1 2.2 Flooding and Future Trends .................................................................................................... 2-7 2.3 Flood Hazards and Impacts ................................................................................................... 2-11 2.4 Pierce County Particpiation in the NFIP Community Rating System ......................................... 2-21 CHAPTER THREE FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT POLICIES ............................................................. 3-1 3.1 General Policies ..................................................................................................................... 3-1 3.2 Project Policies ...................................................................................................................... 3-2 3.3 Floodplain Land Use Policies ................................................................................................... 3-5 3.4 Flood Warning and Emergency Response Policies .................................................................... 3-6 3.5 Funding Policies ..................................................................................................................... 3-6 CHAPTER FOUR PROGRAMMATIC RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................. 4-2 Pierce County Public Works & Utilities iii www.piercecountywa.org/water Surface Water Management PIERCE COUNTY RIVERS FLOOD HAZARD MANAGEMENT PLAN 4.1 Flood Hazard Information, Mapping and Technical Assistance .................................................. 4-4 4.2 Regulations and Management of Land Uses .......................................................................... 4-16 4.3 River Channel Management ................................................................................................. 4-31 4.4 Flood Risk Reduction Facility Repair and Maintenance ........................................................... 4-44 4.5 Flood Education, Flood Warning and Emergency Response .................................................... 4-50 4.6 Coordination, Adaptive Management, and Multiple Benefits .................................................. 4-61 4.7 Implementation of Capital Projects ....................................................................................... 4-78 CHAPTER FIVE RIVER REACH CHARACTERIZATION, MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND RECOMMENDED