CLIPA White Paper - Financial Projections

Predesign will focus on efforts to maintain the existing lake and the proper disposal of dredged lake sediment. We recommend a new dimension to this effort, in which the predesign study will include performance objectives and strategies to achieve long-term maintenance of Capitol Lake. The identification and quantification of scientifically-based, measurable objectives will then establish and be used as a baseline for future monitoring and public reporting by General Administration (GA) to the Legislature on a five-year cycle, timed to coincide with the expected needs for ongoing maintenance dredging.

 

For example, elements of the predesign study might include:

Our recommendation is that any planning includes what we deem a necessary step of setting up a Capitol Lake/Deschutes Watershed “coordinating board” of public and private partners. Such a board is intended to provide intentional coordination and collaboration in the management of the Deschutes Watershed, and Capitol Lake's role in water quality and sediment management consistent with maintaining a healthy "lake environment." The coordinating board of public and private partners would oversee and guide the implementation of the plan for long-term sustainability and accountability.

 

A Water Quality and Sediment Management Plan for Capitol Lake should be a priority. It would identify improvements to and ongoing efforts needed for the long-term management of the Deschutes Watershed under the leadership of the County and the State, along with riparian and stormwater management by the cities and the Department of Transportation. The new “coordinating board” would provide routine reporting to the public on progress towards a healthy Deschutes Watershed and Capitol Lake program.

 

The intent is to obtain Corps of Engineers and State permits to authorize the interim maintenance dredge of about 100,000 cubic yards (cy) of sediment with a list of sites for disposal to be considered and selected in the predesign work. Ongoing routine and scheduled maintenance dredging would be included in the permit process.

 

A preliminary draft plan was used to develop the attached draft budget for presentation to General Administration and to the Legislature as part of our proposed recommendations. The initial plan anticipates that the North basin of Capitol Lake would be dredged to an average depth of 13 to 15 feet (taking into account sloping bank contouring) and then be maintained at a depth that is consistent with the water quality and sediment management objectives for the lake, along with any other needs further identified during predesign (or future study and reporting).

 

We recommend, and have included in our cost considerations, the incorporation of various strategies that will provide flexibility in the ongoing maintenance of Capitol Lake. Such strategies might include infrastructure needed for future dredges or “leave-behind” transition structures, such as a piping infrastructure at the dam (shown in CLIPA’s Maintenance Plan document) for piping dredges to lower Budd Inlet for barging, as possible options.