The Port Townsend City Council unanimously adopted the proposed 2019 Stormwater Management Plan on March 18, albeit not without some expressed reservations.

Assistant City Engineer Samantha Harper and Public Works Director Greg Lanning addressed the council.

Harper noted the road toward adopting this new plan began in 2017, and had included not only public comment periods, but also open houses, planning commission meetings and the Parks and Recreation and Tree Advisory Board.

Although Harper stated stormwater drainage flows and “problem areas” had been studied as part of the plan, the evening’s sole public comment, by civil engineer and land surveyor Michael Anderson of 330 Cleveland St., challenged this assertion.

Anderson deemed the stormwater management plan “premature” for, in his opinion, failing to address “minor problems all over the city” concerning drainage.

Councilman Bob Gray was among the most active in questioning Harper and Lanning.

When Gray pointed out the stormwater management plan’s total $2.2 million cost for capital projects far outstrips the city’s utility fund, Harper suggested the city could adjust from a 20-year to a 30-year loan payback schedule, which would be further adjusted as certain neighborhoods came online in the stormwater management plan, and were able to pay into the system.

Gray seemed to agree with this, marking, “All of this has to be done. It just depends on when we do it.”

Another area of concern for Gray was the stormwater management plan’s lack of specificity on the issue of rising sea levels, beyond an acknowledgement that they were likely to have some impact on Port Townsend.

Mayor Deborah Stinson, who has a seat on the Jefferson County Climate Action Committee, responded to Gray by citing studies showing that Port Townsend is not likely to be as hard-hit as other areas by rising sea levels.

“Neah Bay is getting it both directions,” Stinson said. “Their shoreline is sinking, and their water levels are coming up.”

When Gray raised a final concern about rain gardens, by objecting to the state of the rain gardens between the city’s roundabouts, Lanning agreed that was an issue that would need to be addressed, for both current and future rain gardens.

“When they get filled up with trash, it’s quite frankly disgusting,” Gray said.

Lanning suggested different methods of landscaping, as well as finding ways to pull one of the city’s existing contractors into maintaining the rain gardens.

“If they get too silted in or overgrown, the rain gardens need to be done over again anyway,” Lanning said.

Before the vote, City Manager David Timmons stipulated the evening’s vote was for the stormwater management plan itself, not the rates.