County engineers to evaluate drainage issues on Point

County engineers will be coming to Point Roberts to assess drainage systems for county roads and determine how they might tie into the marina’s private drainage system.

Numerous property owners approached the Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee (PRCAC) with concerns about drainage, leading to a special meeting of the committee on December 3, attended by over 30 community members.

“We had a lot of different people coming forward with concerns about the flooding on their property and on roads,” said PRCAC chair Allison Calder. During heavy rainfall in mid-November properties in OceanView Estates, along Edwards Drive and along Gulf Road suffered from flooding. Water was over the roadway at several locations in Point Roberts, including Tyee Drive, Johnson Road, Gulf Road and Edwards Drive. “Most of the water eventually goes into the basins operated by the marina,” Calder said.

In an email to Calder and members of county council, Whatcom County engineer Jim Karcher said the county’s legal department has determined that the marina “is fully responsible for maintenance of their drainage system.” An inspection team will be dispatched from the county public works department “to attempt to determine if any system operating deficiencies exist. If system deficiencies are found, the county will make a formal request of the marina for correction of the situation.”

While Point Roberts Transportation Benefit District (TBD) funds that have been accumulating for lack of an appropriate project could not be used to upgrade the marina’s system, those funds could be used to develop an inventory of drainage infrastructure and a drainage plan for Point Roberts, Karcher reported. The fund grows through a one-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline sold in Point Roberts to be used only for transportation-related projects. The balance is over $1 million.

“Public works will seek a qualified drainage consultant to evaluate and propose improvements to drainage facilities associated with county roadways at the Point,” Karcher wrote. “This effort would involve PRCAC members, along with maintenance and operations and engineering staff.  The timeline for this effort is early January 2022.”

Calder said that the drainage plan would “Sort out what part is the marina and what part is the county,” and community participation would be crucial to help identify where drainage infrastructure, often put in many years ago and not on county maps, was located.

She added that the newest appointee to PRCAC, Brian Hunter, was coming on board at the right time for this project. Hunter, appointed to PRCAC in November, is a planning and development professional who previously served as the stormwater runoff planner for the state of Hawaii.