City updates council on Olympia Sea Level Rise Response Plan; partners, timelines and midterm infrastructure needs outlined

City climate staff briefed council on progress implementing the Olympia Sea Level Rise Response Plan (2019), on near-term accomplishments and on planned midterm actions through 2050.

Climate Resilience Coordinator Natalie Weiss and Director of Climate Programs Dr. Pamela Braff summarized why Olympia is planning for a high-range sea-level-rise scenario and what public assets are most vulnerable. The plan focuses on adaptation measures for publicly owned shoreline and rights-of-way because much of Olympia's downtown shoreline is publicly owned. "We have an Olympia Sea level rise response plan that was published in 2019," Weiss said, and the city is implementing the plan together with partners including the Port of Olympia and the LOTT Clean Water Alliance under an interlocal collaborative.

Near-term progress and tests Staff reported that 86% of near-term implementation tasks identified in the 2019 plan were completed on time. Completed actions include installing backflow prevention on key stormwater outfalls, improved sandbagging operations and outreach during high tides, publishing a downtown flooding information page, and conducting winter preparedness and coordinated operational responses. Weiss said recent king-tide events provided a real-world test: temporary protections and sandbagging reduced potential damage to some businesses.

Midterm strategies and costs The presentation laid out a hybrid green-and-gray strategy for midterm protection through 2050 (the plan's midterm horizon). Staff showed a map of interventions needed to provide roughly two feet of protection by 2050, including berms and green infrastructure in Percival Landing Park and constructed interventions along Fourth Avenue. Weiss emphasized adaptive-pathways planning to identify trigger points when the city should move from temporary to permanent infrastructure. "This is going to cause some significant intervention and investment," she said, urging early coordination because capital project delivery takes time.

Science, federal data and funding risks Staff discussed the role of federal tide gauges and NOAA-produced projections in informing local planning and noted there is an element of uncertainty in projections; Dr. Braff explained that projections account for multiple drivers and that some restoration projects (for example, estuary restoration) can reduce certain tide-driven flood risk by up to roughly a foot for some event types but will change river-driven flood dynamics. Staff also described concern that federal funding and grant programs and federal agency staffing reductions could slow access to design and construction funds; staff reported one planning grant won for separation work but said other grant pipelines were uncertain.

Next steps Planned near-term work includes an "adaptive management pathways" contract to set trigger points for action, guidelines for incorporating sea-level projections into public capital projects, and continued coordination with the Port, LOTT and the Department of Enterprise Services. Staff will bring a recommendation on FEMA accreditation of any constructed flood-mitigation systems to the collaborative's executive committee in September; accreditation could reduce flood-insurance needs for some properties but staff noted that currently few downtown properties would benefit under existing FEMA maps.

What council asked Council members asked about estuary restoration impacts, links to emergency management and to FEMA accreditation and raised questions about funding sources and private property owner engagement. Staff said they will expand outreach to downtown property and business owners as midterm projects move toward design and funding.