Waterfront reports roughly $2.2 million FEMA reimbursement after 2022–24 storms

Waterfront staff told the Harbor Commission that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved reimbursement of roughly $2,200,000 of approximately $2,600,000 in storm-related claims submitted after historic storms between 2022 and 2024.

Director Mike Wilshire said extensive storm and swell activity had damaged waterfront facilities, inundated the Harbor West parking lot with sand and required emergency work including the installation of a roughly 400-foot rock revetment to protect the Harbor business district. Wilshire said installing the revetment followed a previously designed plan and was completed in under two weeks at a cost just over $1 million, paid from waterfront reserves at the time.

Wilshire told commissioners the FEMA reimbursement is not yet in hand but that staff are working with city finance and FEMA to return the funds to waterfront reserves. He credited Facilities Manager Brian Adair and city finance staff for the extensive documentation and claims work that produced the reimbursement. Wilshire emphasized that although reimbursement is a substantial recovery, the waterfront still incurred about $500,000 of un-reimbursed costs because the total claim was larger than the reimbursement amount.

Commissioners asked about related funding for dredging and about how the reimbursed funds will be used. Wilshire said there remains one Army Corps-funded dredge cycle (FY25 funds) that staff expect to use in January or February and that beyond that cycle the harbor will have no guaranteed future federal dredge funding without additional appropriations or emergency funding in a future event.

The commission received the report; no formal vote was required on the update.