In 2015, my last year as a Council member, a presentation was made to Council outlining the Seismic Hazard Area at the Edmonds Waterfront. It’s huge, even larger than I recall from the presentation. Here is a link to the GIS map of Edmonds.
Check “critical areas” — the Seismic Hazard Area is the red crosshatching.
The Seismic Hazard Area encompasses the Port of Edmonds, Harbor Square, Edmonds Marsh including the marsh east of SR 104 and extending very near to 3rd Avenue South. It extends up the shoreline to a point north of Sunset Ave walkway.
Here is a link to code related to Critical Areas.
Scroll down to:
23.80.040
Allowed activities – Geologically hazardous areas.
“B. Seismic Hazard Areas. The following activities are allowed within seismic hazard areas:”
“1. Construction of new buildings with less than 2,500 square feet of floor area or roof area, whichever is greater, and which are not residential structures or used as places of employment or public assembly;”
Residential structures or places of employment or public assembly are not allowed. The Waterfront Center, an obvious place of public assembly, was built directly in this Seismic Hazard Area.
There is a tsunami risk at the waterfront. There is a 100-year flood plain at the waterfront, with ever more frequent flooding occurring. BNSF has plans to build a second track. There is no emergency access over the tracks. Despite all of this, the Council-approved 2024 Comprehensive Plan includes the following:
P. 50 Future land use map:
Downtown Mixed Residential- on the corner of Main and Sunset, directly north of Seismic Hazard Area.
Master Plan Development- entire Port, and what looks like a large part of the Edmonds Marsh and Unocal property are also within Seismic Hazard Area.
My questions for Mayor Rosen, staff and Council:
- Why did staff not inform council of the existence of the Seismic Hazard Area and related code prohibiting “residential structures” and “places of employment or public assembly”?
- Why did staff allow the inclusion in the 2024 Comp Plan of Mixed Residential and Master Plan Development in the Seismic Hazard Area?
- Why was Councilmember Will Chen not informed by staff that a “hotel” could not be included in the 2025 Comp Plan because it is not an allowed use in a Seismic Hazard Area, per our code?
Finally, why didn’t any of you respond to my 3-25-25 email to mayor, council and Director Hope outlining all of the above?
Why are all of you pretending that the Seismic Hazard Elephant at the Waterfront doesn’t exist?
Author Joan Bloom served on the Edmonds City Council from 2012-2015.
Joan,
Thanks for the link to the map of Edmonds that shows the critical risk areas: https://maps.edmondswa.gov/Html5Viewer/?viewer=Edmonds_SSL.HTML
It looks like Edmonds could have protected new homes on Sunset by having them set their fronts back a few feet.
Here’s a map that tells more about the waterfront: https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/slr/3.5/-13624021.813449597/6075041.643866964/16.000/satellite/none/0.8/2050/interHigh/noAccretion/NOS_Minor
Harbor Square is likely to be submerged at high tide if sea level rise gets up to 3 1/2 feet. (That doesn’t include storm surges or tsunamis.) Last I saw, total rise by 2050 looked like one foot. 3.5 feet is very possible by 2100.
Construction planning tends to think buildings last only 50 years. Maybe new buildings in the Waterfront area will reach the end of their (50 year) lives before they get their foundations submerged, and maybe we’ll be lucky with earthquakes. (Should we call this “cross-your-fingers planning” or “maybe-we’ll-be-lucky planning”?)
In the Waterfront open houses for the Comprehensive Plan, residents asked for low impact wild beach area parks that could be replaced cheaply if they were washed away in storms.
Nick,
This is called “ignore the Critical Areas code” planning and “build in unsafe locations” planning. Which isn’t planning at all. It’s arrogance and ignorance in favor of wants (Waterfront Center for example) not safety. Wasting taxpayer money, and putting residents at risk is the worst possible course for Mayor Rosen and his staff to pursue. And that’s exactly what is happening and has been happening for decades.
Arlene Williams’ Reader View highlights putting properties at risk by Mayors/staff who have allowed development directly beside steep slopes in Westgate.
The Waterfront center is a great place to meet, socialize and enjoy the ambiance of our famed little village by the sea, but the reality is it’s not in the safest place to be if global warming and sea rise keep happening. Of course DJT says it’s all a big hoax so I guess we have nothing to worry about. Our Mayor, his planners and the majority City Council will continue to promote the dreams of Rosen and Chin’s hotel by the Sea, Haakenson’s, Earling’s and AFM’s completion of the Missing LInk and Nelson’s and Paine’s purchase of the still polluted Unocal property. And all magically, with empty coffers being the news of the present day. Oh that’s right, the citizens are going to just pony up another General Fund hike in the near future to complement the RFA debacle. and all will be well and good. A few of us fight back; but I’m tired of the up hill slog and ready to surrender for the most part I’m sorry to say. Time to try to cash out on Edmonds. “You can’t fight City Hall,” as they say.
Plans for the Sandpiper project entails 25 condos and 47 parking spaces. This condominium would be built along 3rd Ave S between Walnut and Dayton. The majority of this property is on a seismic hazard zone. City Code 23.80.040 B – Seismic Hazard Areas states: “The following activities are allowed within seismic hazard areas: 1. Construction of new buildings with less than 2,500 square feet of floor area or roof area, whichever is greater, and which are not residential structures or used as places of employment or public assembly.” The seismic hazard zone was not addressed by the builder, which is required under code 23.80.050. It was also not addressed by the city planners who I am sure are aware of this code. There is also a marsh along the entire western parcel of land, a wildlife refuge, and the wetland is in a 100 year flood plane. If disaster hits the builder will be long gone and there will probably be new people on the city council. Edmonds citizens will still be here and need to care about what is happening in their city.
Again, a perfect example of ill informed council, Mayor, city planners, etc. Or is it, they don’t care?
Thank you Joan for the information.
Thanks all! Really interesting to turn on the map layers just one at a time. Can anyone recall what “25% slope for trees” requires? Tree preservation?
I remember the story of the Marina District in the 1989 San Francisco Loma Prieta Quake. It was built on landfill that liquefied and buildings collapsed. Some caught fire. People were trapped. Some died despite heroic efforts to save them. It was horrifying to see this happening on television at the time. If Edmonds could avoid a tragedy like that, by not permitting a large condo building, why wouldn’t they stop this Sandpiper project? If you want to see what could happen, go to the 12:20 time mark in this CNN video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxjcjSRs6Ak.
No one knows if a quake will happen in Edmonds this century but the probability is higher than some think. Edmonds has active faults running through it. Why roll the dice? They can at least follow the Code that has already been developed.
(see: https://geologyportal.dnr.wa.gov/2d-view#wigm?-14056695,-12882622,5740644,6307501?Surface_Geology,500k_Surface_Geology,Map_Units)
The poor planning mentioned in this LTE, is this all related to Strom Peterson’s HB 1220 & HB 1110? These planning issues are too important to be forced down our throats by a few electeds. These issues belong in the hands of voters, taxpayers.
When you point out very legitimate citizen concerns about how things are done in Edmonds, (like forever), someone invites you out to coffee or for a beer to gently tell you to chill out, be quiet, and go with the flow so we can just keep pretending that all is well; and really smart people are on it; and getting things done right and for everyone’s best interest. Guess what? Not true. Then you get labeled a troublemaker and not a team player because you dared to go against the “Edmonds Kind of Day” vibe that has gotten us overrun by development and improper protection of our Critical Areas and CARA’s. I’ve just been to this Rodeo once too often I guess.
Nick Lopez,
What is relevant today is that former Director (McLaughlin), Council, former Mayor (Nelson) AND Mayor Rosen, staff and Council have ALL been informed of the code above prohibiting residential structures, and “places of employment or public assembly” in the Seismic Hazard Area at the Waterfront. Despite receiving this information, Council voted to include housing and Master Plan Development (a mix of uses) at the Waterfront in our 2024 Comprehensive Plan. Council has chosen to ignore our code.
If housing and mixed uses are not removed in the 2025 update to our Comp Plan, code will have to be written to allow these uses at the Waterfront.
When HB1220 and HB1110 were proposed by Strom Peterson, I wrote to our state representatives. Strom Peterson never replied to my emails. Peterson should have known better than to have forced up-zoning on all cities, taking away local control. Edmonds is unique in its striking location and is the “Gem of the Puget Sound” because of its environmental assets. Protecting our environment from over development is key to Edmonds residents, visitors, and future generations safety, well being, and quality of life.
Excellent question. Thanks for asking. And, yes, ultimately it’s all related.
Nick Maxwell,
Thanks for reminding us that, “In the Waterfront open houses for the Comprehensive Plan, residents asked for low impact wild beach area parks that could be replaced cheaply if they were washed away in storms.”
Thanks for the map that “tells more about the waterfront.” And, especially, thank you, so much, for your hard work as a member of the Planning Board. Your contributions to the Planning Board are greatly appreciated by many community members.
https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/03/cascadia-subduction-zone-earthquake-flooding-expansion-tina-dura.html
“Flood risk increasing in Pacific Northwest”
“The next great earthquake isn’t the only threat to the Pacific Northwest.”
“A powerful earthquake, combined with rising sea levels, could significantly increase flood risks in the Pacific Northwest, impacting thousands of residents and properties in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, according to new Virginia Tech research.”
https://www.californiaresidentialmitigationprogram.com/resources/blog/loma-prieta-earthquake-1989-lessons-learned
“On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 PM, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit near Loma Prieta, CA., shaking the San Francisco and Monterey Bay regions. The epicenter was near Loma Prieta peak, about 9 miles northeast of Santa Cruz and 60 miles southeast of San Francisco. The Loma Prieta quake damaged or destroyed over 20,000 structures, injured 3,757 people, killed 63 people, and caused over $6 billion in damages.”
The east side of the Bay Bridge collapsed as well some overpasses.
https://www.earthquakecountry.org/northridge/facts/
Northridge Earthquake on January 17, 1994.
Human Impact. “The Northridge earthquake caused at least 57 deaths and over 9,000 injuries. Some 125,000 people were made at least temporarily homeless. The damage to transportation and utility systems? Seven major freeway bridges in the area collapsed, and 212 were damaged, disrupting traffic in the Ventura-Los Angeles region for weeks following the earthquake. Communication, water and power distribution systems were affected and several fires started. “
My family and I experienced the Loma Prieta and the Northridge earthquakes.
Kathleen, those quakes must have been terrifying to be there in person. I only saw them on television news, but they still affected me.
In addition to the threat facing us from earthquakes, detailed in this study you link to, other threats from climate change include the fact that warmer air holds more moisture and therefore rainfall can be more intense. Plus, with the breakdown in the jet stream from the warming of the poles, there is a greater tendency for storms to stall, creating precipitation amounts like 20 inches in a couple days. All of these impacts, from sea level rise to flash-flooding storms, are in our future. Any Comprehensive Plan, which is supposed to plan for the future, needs to take this into account and not ignore the impacts that development will have on critical areas. We can’t just think about how many homes can be built. We have to think about climate adaptation by protecting slopes, wetlands, and at-risk shoreline.
Thanks, Kathleen. It’s frightening to read the statistics of those earthquakes. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to experience them.
Thanks, Arlene. You said “Any Comprehensive Plan, which is supposed to plan for the future, needs to take this into account and not ignore the impacts that development will have on critical areas.” In the 2024 Comp Plan, which is the framework for the next 20 years, there is NO protection of our critical areas. If they don’t remove the proposed development at the Waterfront, code will have to be written to allow the development. This holds for all the proposed up-zoning. Once in the Comp Plan, the development can happen.
Here is a link to your excellent RV on Westgate for those who haven’t read it and the comments yet. It’s well worth reading:
https://myedmondsnews.com/2025/04/reader-view-opinion-edmonds-development-code-must-protect-steep-slopes-in-westgate-neighborhood/