Coupeville council hears final draft of coastal adaptation strategy; consultants caution against large seawall

Coupeville’s Town Council on May 27 received the final draft of a coastal adaptation strategy funded by the Washington Department of Ecology, which lays out options to address sea level rise and coastal erosion across the town’s roughly 2.4 miles of shoreline.

The plan, presented by Community Planning Director Joshua Mulvore, recommends a mix of near-, mid- and long-term measures — from stormwater management, revegetation and beach nourishment to building elevation, floodproofing and, ultimately, relocation of highly vulnerable infrastructure. Mulvore and the consultant team emphasized that while some hard-armoring can be repaired or maintained, a continuous floodwall or large seawall is not recommended as a preferred town-scale solution because of permitting hurdles, very high construction and mitigation costs, and likely habitat and public-access impacts.

Why it matters: Coupeville’s downtown waterfront includes overwater historic buildings, utilities and the wastewater treatment plant; decisions about how to protect them will affect the town’s built heritage, local economy and shoreline habitat for species that use Penn Cove.

Most of the strategy uses established sea-level-rise projections and a grant-mandated evaluation framework that looks at environmental, technical, social and political feasibility. The plan notes the wastewater treatment plant is not projected to be at high risk in the next 25–75 years but may face inundation pressures toward 2100; the consultants recommend continuing floodproofing and starting planning for potential phased relocation of the plant. For shorefront businesses and historic overwater buildings on Front Street, the plan lists a range of options (floodproofing, elevation, reconstruction, relocation or abandonment) and identifies difficult trade-offs involving historic preservation, business viability and coastal processes.

Mulvore said the consultant team’s technical judgment and conversations with state agencies show a large regional seawall would ‘‘quickly exceed our capacity to hold off’’ sea level impacts and that associated mitigation and permitting costs could make such a project unviable for a town of Coupeville’s size. He added, “this is not a good situation to be in, and it will be expensive, and it will be unpleasant.”

Public commenters and local business owners urged the council to consider harder protections for Front Street. Jesse Lebach, executive director of the Coupeville Historic Waterfront Association, told the council hard armoring is a viable option in Penn Cove and asked the town to allow building owners to apply for hard-armoring projects and to meet with the Department of Ecology. Property owner Chantal Barber Summers said she is not seeking town funding but requested the town change its Shoreline Master Program so owners could apply to fill a small gap in existing armoring near 12 Front Street rather than elevate the building. Summers described the lifting/elevation process as costly and disruptive and said elevation would require new foundations, removal of decks and utilities, and variances for height.

Mulvore and the consultant team laid out the technical reasoning: softshore approaches (beach nourishment, large wood, revegetation) reduce wave energy and are lower-cost but limited in scale; rock revetments and bulkheads can stabilize toes of bluffs but are subject to state shoreline rules and may require mitigation; flood barriers are a different category that must be designed to be watertight and raise distinct permitting, cost and habitat concerns. The plan ties recommended actions to the Shoreline Master Program and the state’s shoreline management framework.

Council members asked about examples, costs and sequencing. Mulvore said the strategy is an action plan rather than a full funding analysis; more detailed feasibility and cost studies would be next steps. He noted federal and philanthropic grant programs (including the Natural Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Coastal Resilience Fund) and local funding mechanisms could help but warned many communities will compete for the same funds.

What comes next: Mulvore told council staff will consolidate feedback and finalize the draft, and he referenced upcoming state rulemaking by the Department of Ecology and a required local Shoreline Master Program periodic update (the transcript indicates a 2030 target for the periodic update). Councilors and the public discussed continued outreach to building owners, whether the town’s current Shoreline Master Program should be amended to enable certain armoring projects, and the need for phased design and funding work.

Ending: The presentation concluded with council members and staff agreeing that the plan provides a framework for more detailed engineering, permitting and funding steps; the town will use the strategy to guide near-term actions (stormwater and limited hard-armoring repairs), further studies and community engagement around Front Street options.