Drafter
Clerk 08/20/2003
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A MOTION authorizing the King County executive to enter into an interlocal agreement with Tacoma Public Utilities to implement restoration projects at Auburn Narrows on the Green river.
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WHEREAS, the city of Tacoma, Department of Public Utilities, Water Division (doing business as and referred to in this ordinance as "Tacoma Water") withdraws water from the Green river in King County as a principal source of potable water supply for the city of Tacoma and its customers, and
WHEREAS, in its 1987 Tacoma Comprehensive System Water Plan, Tacoma Water identified the need for a second supply pipeline from the Green river, and as part of water plan implementation, designed and permitted a pipeline that runs from the diversion works on the Green river through south King County to the existing water supply system near Tacoma ("Pipeline 5"), and
WHEREAS, as construction of Pipeline 5 necessitated crossing a number of streams and wetlands in King County, the county required Tacoma Water to develop a comprehensive mitigation plan that was approved by the King County council in 1993 through Ordinance 10776, and
WHEREAS, the mitigation plan required both on-site mitigation wherever wetlands were impacted by construction, and an additional amount of offsite compensatory wetland mitigation to account for the temporal loss of wetland values that could not be mitigated at the impact sites, and
WHEREAS, the plan also created an environmental resource fund that would over time make available two million five hundred thousand dollars to be used by King County for the purposes of acquiring and restoring fish habitat, protecting wildlife and water resources, and providing recreational opportunities within the Green river basin, and
WHEREAS, in 1995, the King-County-owned Auburn Narrows park property was identified as a candidate site for Tacoma Water's offsite wetland impact mitigation activities, and King County and Tacoma Water began evaluations for implementing a mitigation project at the site, and
WHEREAS, the Auburn Narrows site adjoins a segment of the Green river that King County has identified as a high priority for fish and wildlife habitat enhancement, and environmental resource fund funding has been targeted for a salmon habitat enhancement project at the site, and
WHEREAS, Tacoma Water and King County, through its water and land resources division, have agreed to work jointly on a conceptual restoration plan that encompasses Tacoma Water's required mitigation project and the salmon habitat enhancement that King County desires to implement, and
WHEREAS, the conceptual restoration plan has been shown to be feasible through a joint, preliminary design effort completed in early 2003, and
WHEREAS, King County and Tacoma Water wish to cooperate to implement a wetland restoration, enlargement and enhancement project and salmon habitat restoration project at the Auburn Narrows site, and
WHEREAS, in accordance with chapter 39.34 RCW, the Interlocal Cooperation Act, King County and Tacoma Water are each authorized to enter into an agreement for cooperative action;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The county executive is hereby authorized to enter into an interlocal agreement in substantially the same form as Attachment A to this motion, subject to approval of
suitable replacement property by the state of Washington Interagency Committee on Outdoor Recreation.
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