The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Without a clear mandate, Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday tabled a vote on forming a flood control zone district for the Flandersville/Cape Horn neighborhood.

Some residents urged the commission to adopt the resolution forming the district, which would be the residents' formal organization to work with the US Army Corps of Engineers to deposit dredged sand along their eroding shoreline.

However, one resident of the western end of the shoreline, Jim Hobart, said he and his neighbors didn't need sand in front of their properties. They have riprap or retaining walls, and a sandy beach would block access point for bringing boats in and out of the water.

"I don't want to deprive my neighbors upstream of their needed sand," he said. "I suggest you exclude our area."

Other residents emphasized their need for sand to push back erosion.

"We live at the other end of Flandersville, and the destruction to our property over the past 10 years is huge," said Trish Shroyer. "Yards are falling into the Columbia River . . . It's so close to our doors. It's not for recreation; we're asking for sand to save our property."

Jim Bennett, a 35-year resident of the area, agreed.

"The destruction is unheard of," he said. "We need to get the whole area in a flood control zone . . . "

Sandra Davis said she has had to move her fishing shack three times to keep it from falling into the water. There's a 30-foot drop to the beach, and the bank is cut back to less than a foot from her circular driveway.

"We desperately need it," she said, referring to beach nourishment.

"I've been working on this for 12 years," said Richard Erickson. "If we cut out a property, it could affect persons downstream. The Corps of Engineers won't skip a property."

Commissioners had hoped to have unanimous support for the district, and lacking that, they had to pause their process.

Hobarts' neighbors weren't at the meeting, so commissioners were unsure of those peoples' opinions.

"So we have two property owners in the middle that don't want sand," said Commissioner Blair Brady. "That makes it a lot more complicated."

"We should table it till we find out," said Commissioner Mike Backman. "I don't want to make a decision until we have all the facts."

"I'd like to look at it . We haven't talked to that person."

In further discussion, commissioners agreed that if the area could be excluded as Hobart suggested, they would do that.

But if it is a problem, "I would want to include the whole area as indicated," Brady said.

"When we do these, where we'd really have an issue is if it's in the middle," said Commissioner Dan Cothren.

Commissioners agreed they'd ask consulting engineer Dave Simpson of Coast and Harbor Engineering to evaluate the situation.

"We'll make a decision next week," Brady said.

Meanwhile, both the Corps and county are making progress on getting the beach nourishment program in place for both Cape Horn and East Sunny Sands on Puget Island.

Coast and Harbor has begun gathering data for permit applications, and the Corps is working on their tasks.

"We hope the process won't be lengthy, that it can be expedited," Cothren said. "They were pretty upbeat when we met that day."