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A MOTION stating the Flood Control District executive committee's intent to proceed to thirty percent design for the Willowmoor Floodplain Restoration Project with a project that balances flood control, habitat restoration, fish passage, recreational access and on-going maintenance, including beaver mitigation and a dynamic weir.
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WHEREAS, the Willowmoor Floodplain Restoration project proposes to reconfigure the Sammamish River Transition Zone ("Zone") and adjacent undeveloped King County property; and
WHEREAS, the Zone was constructed as part of the overall Sammamish River Improvement Project in the 1960s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("Corps") in cooperation with King County primarily to control flooding in the Sammamish river valley; and
WHEREAS, King County is responsible for maintaining the improvement project through an operation and maintenance agreement with the Corps; and
WHEREAS, the Zone as currently constructed has required increasingly intensive maintenance, including regular mowing, trimming, removal of vegetation, removal of accumulated sediments in the channel, and associated mitigation efforts; and
WHEREAS, in recent years property owners around Lake Sammamish have expressed concerns about high lake levels impacting their properties resulting from increased vegetation density within the Zone; and
WHEREAS, state agency and tribal government representatives have expressed concern that these maintenance actions adversely affect water quality and habitat and are in conflict with federal, state and local efforts to protect and enhance riverine habitat for recovery of salmon species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act; and
WHEREAS, the Willowmoor Floodplain Restoration Project seeks to reduce the frequency and duration of high lake levels in the Zone while maintaining downstream Sammamish River flood control performance and enhancing habitat; and
WHEREAS, sin...

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