Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Stream Restoration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents urge county help with Libby Creek sedimentation, request 310 permits and grants
Summary
Residents described severe bank erosion and sedimentation on Libby Creek and asked Lincoln County for help securing 310 permits and resiliency grants; staff warned federal and state permitting and private-property permissions complicate large-scale streamwork.
Residents at the Feb. 4 Lincoln County meeting described worsening bank erosion and submitted requests for county support to secure state permits and grant funding to repair Libby Creek and protect infrastructure at Hammer Cutoff.
Judith McCabe, a local resident, told commissioners the creek has scoured banks and the riverbed has dropped dramatically near her property. "Were going to have to help these people write 310 permits," McCabe said, pressing the county to help elderly, fixed-income property owners apply for individual permits and to coordinate a longer-term engineering plan for a larger reach of the stream.
McCabe and other commenters recounted a 1990s Libby Area Conservancy district that assessed property owners for stream work and handed the commissioners historical paperwork that staff agreed to review. The group said they had been in touch with county planning, emergency services and engineering firms (WWC) and urged the county to pursue available resiliency and nonpoint-source grants and to contact state legislators for support.
County staff explained two permitting threads: individual 310 permits for property-level work and a separate, more extensive engineering-driven permitting process for larger channel restoration, which requires surveying and coordination among up to 70--80 private property owners as well as federal and state agencies. Staff warned that work on federal lands and FEMA reimbursement rules add complexity: FEMA typically reimburses eligible projects only after funds are spent and generally will not reimburse work on federal land.
Staff encouraged residents to pursue property-level mitigation where possible and said the county would assist with grant applications and with making contact information available for legislative advocacy. Commissioners agreed to collect the conservancy district documentation and return with next steps for targeted grant applications.
The public-comment exchanges highlighted the limits of local authority over federal lands and the practical burdens on elderly property owners needing individual permits, and they underscored a near-term risk of infrastructure damage if the county, state and federal permitting processes are not coordinated.
