Shopper News Report on Packwood CMZ Maps Town Meeting 7/18/09
Clicking this link will download to your computer our report in pdf format of the meeting about the new Lewis County Cowlitz River Channel Migration Zone Maps which seriously reduce property values of about 800 Packwood area properties. Also discussed were the study of possible Packwood wastewater system and the closing of the waste drop box.

Suggested Letter for Property Owners Injured by the CMZ Maps to send to County Commissoners (First Suggested Aug. 3, 2009)

Lewis County Commissioners' Aug. 12, 2009 Reply to Letter Above
Clicking this link downloads the Commissioners 8/12/09 reply as pdf to your computer.

Dave Bunting's Aug. 31, 2009 Second Letter to Commissioners
Clicking this link downloads Dave's 8/31/09 second letter as pdf to your computer.

 

Commissioners' Sept. 15, 2009 Reply to Dave's Second Letter Above

Clicking this link downloads the Commissioners 9/15/09 reply as pdf to your computer.

Dave Bunting's 9/21/09 comments on Commissioners' 9/15/09 Reply above:

I strongly support the focus on Issue A) channel control work by NRCS on the river. As we haven't been informed what the NRCS work is, I presume it is channel control work: bulldozing, riprap, channel deepening, etc. We agree that the channel migration and flooding can be reduced or controlled by relatively inexpensive channel improvements and we support that work. And we all want safety and fish.

However I want us to also work toward Issue B) no maps until mapping is made accurate, which is the other more immediate and almost completely separate issue. The CMZ maps should be unpublished willingly by the county because, as their second letter above says, the maps were not ready to be published and won't be for a long time because:
1. They contain gross inaccuracies.
2. They were published without hearings.
3. There was no requirement to publish them.
Unpublishing the maps will have no effect whatever on safety and fish.

I strongly disagree with their statement: "...identifying and mapping where changes to the river are likely to occur... is not the cause of property value loss..." One reason the county doesn't unpublish the maps is that, as their letter admits, they don't understand that their publishing the maps has definitely reduced-- destroyed-- our property values, in many cases totally wrongfully, due to simple error. If they understood this they wouldn't have published them. They need to unpublish them now.

Also my second letter observations of river heights in 1977 compared to 2006, showing that the 2006 flood was not a "New Flood Of Record" are really not "anecdotal," as they were verified by the initial USGS report, and can be verified in many ways. The point is, making of new CMZ maps is only required if there is a "New Flood of Record." As there is not a new flood of record, the county is not required to make new CMZ maps.

Cowlitz River CMZ - Channel Migration Zone Update 09/02/09
This website contains links on page 2. It is our hope to provide as accurate information as possible. We do not take ownership of these documents but provide them to meet a goal of "laying out truth" to the questions what, why, where, when, who and more. There are lots of rumors flying around about this issue and our hope is to find and document the facts and communicate those well to those in the Packwood/Randle areas. The end result will hopefully be a law that we all can "live with."

The county has appointed the CMZ Technical Committee. Those appointed have been invited to a meeting on Sept 3rd. At this meeting the NRCS will present a briefing of their study of the upper reaches of the Cowlitz River which will have important implications in identifying channel migration hazards in the Packwood area. I will try and take good notes and add them as a link on "the site".

If you would like to be on the mailing list, click the link on the website; there is an easy form on the home page and the "contact" page to "opt in".

Submitted by: John Anderson

NRCS Packwood Flood Meeting Oct. 3, 2009 Shopper News Report
Clicking this link downloads the Shopper news article about the 10/3/09 meeting as pdf to your computer.

NRCS Complete Final Report Presented at Meeting Oct. 3, 2009 (42mb, 200 pages) Well I tried to put this whole report up here for you but it's too big. Many of us who attended the meeting picked up the CD of this report and can copy it for you. Instead here's their preliminary report which is like a PowerPoint, a series of images incl the ones I referred to in the news report:

NRCS Preliminary Report, a pdf that is a series of images, well that didn't work either, also too big. Will try later in the week. But read on below.

Clicking this link downloads the NRCS complete report pdf of 200 pages and 42mb to your computer.

Dave comment: The NRCS presentation and report at the meeting were much more positive than the CMZ issues.

We have no reports of errors in the NRCS maps as we have for the CMZ maps, but the maps haven't been out long enough, aren't known to but a few owners, so there's been little chance for errors to have been found. The NRCS process done by Tetra Tech is very impressive. One bottom line we need to remember is that both the CMZ and the NRCS maps are only PREDICTIONS of future river behavior, and rivers certainly do confound and surprise predictors. No one really knows what the Cowlitz will do.

However, little has changed because of the presentation and publishing of the NRCS maps. The Lewis County CMZ maps, showing that there is high, moderate or low risk that the channel of the Cowlitz River will migrate to the 800 affected properties within ten years, remain published, the statement of government.

As regards the impact of these maps of flood predictions on prospective purchasers and thus property values, both the seller and any agent are required by Washington State law to disclose the CMZ and NRCS maps to a prospective purchaser, as they are material facts about the property.

Real estate agents are required by law to disclose defects to any prospective purchaser of properties within the zones. The Duties of a Licensee under Washington State Law are:
RCW 18.86.030
Duties of licensee. (1) Regardless of whether the licensee is an agent, a licensee owes to all parties to whom the licensee renders real estate brokerage services the following duties, which may not be waived: (d) To disclose all existing material facts known by the licensee...

Every seller, even without an agent, of property in Washington is required by State Law:
RCW 64.06.020
(1) In a transaction for the sale of improved residential real property, the seller shall deliver to the buyer a completed seller disclosure statement that contains the following information:
Complete the following form. Do not leave any spaces blank.
7. Are there any shorelines, wetlands, floodplains, or critical areas on the property?
9. Are there any other existing material defects affecting the property that a prospective buyer should know about?
B. The foregoing answers and attached explanations (if any) are complete and correct to the best of my/our knowledge.

The purchaser will be discouraged from buying the property by these CMZ maps. The NRCS maps, if they were used to show the purchaser, do reduce our HV8 property's risk to "Moderate" and within 50 years instead of 10 years. That would discourage the purchaser less. But the CMZ maps with their worse predictions remain the statement of flood risk by the county so they must be shown also, it seems to me.

I emphasize these are only my opinions. However, as far as I know I'm still a licensed but inactive real estate broker in Washington, and I was also a certified appraiser.

Visit John Anderson's uppercowlitz.info for much more information