San Juan County reviews plan to move McKay Harbor Road inland at Agate Beach

Deputy Public Works Director Jesse Douglas Seitz and engineering technician Hunter Buffum briefed the San Juan County Council on a proposed inland relocation of a portion of McKay Harbor Road at Agate Beach, describing progress on design, permitting and a constrained funding and mitigation path.

"We have completed the 30'60% design, and our target for the 90% design will be June of this year," said Hunter Buffum, an engineering technician with Public Works. He told the council that county permits are under review and that staff hopes to put the project out to bid in the winter of 2027, with construction in spring and summer and final chip seal work in August.

Buffum gave a cost range for the package: "Our cost estimate at the moment is between 1.6 and 2,000,000," he said. Seitz and Buffum said the present plan focuses on a smaller, targeted relocation and rebuilding of a failed revetment to protect public access and ensure emergency access for residents.

Council members pressed staff on wetlands and mitigation. Buffum said the site contains a Class 3 wetland adjacent to the road and that staff have been working with Parks to identify mitigation opportunities off-site. "We have some impact to a wetland that runs adjacent to a section of the road," he said, adding that the county is evaluating mitigation on the Oddland South property to offset upland impacts.

Seitz explained the trade-offs council is weighing: moving the highway farther inland reduces immediate shoreline risks but increases wetland impacts and permitting complexity. He said a larger relocation previously studied carried a much higher cost; earlier analyses indicated multi-million-dollar relocation alternatives.

Staff emphasized the plan is intended to be a pragmatic, phased fix intended to preserve access and to reduce risk while permitting and funding for larger, more extensive alternatives continue to be explored. They described the shoreline work as potentially "self-mitigating," where removing rock from the vulnerable intertidal zone could reduce the overall revetment footprint and provide some mitigation credit during permit review.

Next steps: staff said they will complete the 90% design this summer, continue the SEPA and other permit reviews, and return with additional detail as the permitting process clarifies mitigation requirements and potential impacts to parkland and private property.

The council did not take a formal vote on the project at this meeting.