BURLINGTON — Plans to lift Burlington out of the 100-year floodplain can wait no longer, Planning Director Margaret Fleek said Friday.

On Thursday, the city gave notice that it plans to bolster current levees, possibly build new ones and amend its urban growth area to accommodate added flood protection measures. The document, known as a determination of significance, lays the groundwork for Burlington to conduct an environmental review.

Agencies, affected tribes and members of the public have until Aug. 29 to comment to the city about that upcoming review, known as an environmental impact statement.

“You may comment on alternatives, mitigation measures, probable significant adverse impacts, and licenses and other approvals that may be required,” stated the notice, which names the city and Dike District 12 as the lead agencies for the plan.

Fleek stressed that Burlington is interested in working with neighboring jurisdictions to coordinate flood protection measures, but she added that the city will wait no longer to launch its own effort.

“We certainly are working in a coordinated approach, but at the same time we are moving forward to protect Burlington,” she said.

“I wouldn’t criticize any jurisdiction for looking at individual solutions to their problem,” Mount Vernon Mayor Bud Norris said. “... I am in a position where I really do appreciate the coordination that we do have with Burlington since we are the two cities that are the most vulnerable to flooding.”

Fleek said Burlington has already issued a request to engineering and geotechnical firms for proposals. The chosen firm, or firms, will be charged with conducting studies associated with the project, she said.

However, the entities with the most say about new flood protection measures in Burlington are the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The corps is gathering hydrology information that is to be submitted to FEMA and used to develop new flood maps.

It is expected that the new maps will raise flood elevations, but it remains to be seen how much. Burlington and Mount Vernon have enlisted the firm Pacific International Engineering to study flood elevations as well. The data gathered by PIE could be used by Burlington and other municipalities to appeal the corps findings.

Whatever the final maps show, Fleek said Burlington plans to build or reconstruct levees that will protect the city from a 100-year flood, which has a 1 percent probability of happening in any year.

“The bottom line goal is to not get our base flood elevations any higher than the already are,” Fleek said. “... We cannot revitalize old downtown Burlington, which is 30-foot lots, if all of a sudden the buildings are (required to be) three feet higher in the air.”

But if water is not let into Burlington during a flood, where does it go?

Fleek responded: “Yes it is going to send the water somewhere else, but we are thinking that if we get it right on how much water gets here, we can work together on viable alternatives.”

Such alternatives could include a gate system to send water to farmland, she said.

“We have a good enough working relationship with the city of Burlington that I do not think they are going to do something that is detrimental to us,” Norris said. “... We will be working together to make sure what either of us do is not going to be detrimental to the other.”

Thursday’s notice about the project stated: “The City of Burlington and Dike District 12 recognize their responsibility to ensure flood protection measures which help protect Burlington’s urban area are, to the extent possible, also helpful in protecting ... adjacent communities. It is the goal of the City and of Dike District 12 to implement flood measures which lower risk to adjacent communities, in addition to Burlington’s urban area, to the maximum practical extent.”

Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at .