A retrospective assessment of permitted shoreline stabilization designs using new design guidelines
Presentation Abstract
Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife regulates development of marine shorelines, including the construction and replacement of seawalls, through the issuance of Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) permits. In 2014, the Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines (MSDG) were published to offer a dynamic approach to evaluate site characteristics and provide general design recommendations for areas that may need shoreline stabilization to protect a primary structure such as a dwelling. We applied the assessments from the MSDG to previously issued HPA permits to determine to what extent shoreline stabilization designs for HPA permits issued prior to the publication of the MSDG were consistent with the new MSDG design recommendations. We gathered information from permits and available online maps and used the MSDG cumulative risk score, coastal processes assessment and alternatives analysis to identify the MSDG recommended design technique. We then compared the recommended designs to the permitted HPA design specifications to identify the degree of similarity. For projects where permitted designs were inconsistent with MSDG recommendations, we assessed whether the permitted designs would be considered a ‘harder’ or ‘softer’ approach to shoreline stabilization than the MSDG design recommendation. We found that the majority of the HPA permitted designs were inconsistent with the MSDG design recommendations, and of these the majority were a harder design than recommended by the MSDG. While we recognize that there may be additional extenuating circumstances that our assessment did not account for, this exercise highlighted the need to use MSDG at the onset of project planning to help inform appropriate shoreline stabilization design techniques that addresses site-specific conditions and minimize impacts to nearshore ecosystem processes.
Session Title
A Review of Shoreline Armoring Permitting Effectiveness
Conference Track
Shorelines
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Coastal engineering--Washington (State); Hydraulic structures--Washington (State); Shore protection--Washington (State); Shorelines--Washington (State)
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Washington (State)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
A retrospective assessment of permitted shoreline stabilization designs using new design guidelines
2016SSEC
Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife regulates development of marine shorelines, including the construction and replacement of seawalls, through the issuance of Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) permits. In 2014, the Marine Shoreline Design Guidelines (MSDG) were published to offer a dynamic approach to evaluate site characteristics and provide general design recommendations for areas that may need shoreline stabilization to protect a primary structure such as a dwelling. We applied the assessments from the MSDG to previously issued HPA permits to determine to what extent shoreline stabilization designs for HPA permits issued prior to the publication of the MSDG were consistent with the new MSDG design recommendations. We gathered information from permits and available online maps and used the MSDG cumulative risk score, coastal processes assessment and alternatives analysis to identify the MSDG recommended design technique. We then compared the recommended designs to the permitted HPA design specifications to identify the degree of similarity. For projects where permitted designs were inconsistent with MSDG recommendations, we assessed whether the permitted designs would be considered a ‘harder’ or ‘softer’ approach to shoreline stabilization than the MSDG design recommendation. We found that the majority of the HPA permitted designs were inconsistent with the MSDG design recommendations, and of these the majority were a harder design than recommended by the MSDG. While we recognize that there may be additional extenuating circumstances that our assessment did not account for, this exercise highlighted the need to use MSDG at the onset of project planning to help inform appropriate shoreline stabilization design techniques that addresses site-specific conditions and minimize impacts to nearshore ecosystem processes.
