SundayNewspaper

A14 News | | SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019 2 R rather than the septic sys- tems Hamilton residents use now. Connor’s wildest hope: To construct with cross-laminat- ed timber sourced from sus- tainable forestry nearby. Modular design, and density, would help keep costs down. “Triple net-zero,” Connor likes to say: Little to no net waste, energy consumption or greenhouse-gas emis- sions. The idea of relocation is encoded in Hamilton’s DNA. Town officials have talked about moving since the 1980s. Just over a decade ago, they successfully pushed to expand the region’s urban growth area to allow for expansion. At the time, town leaders were eyeing a 45-acre farm north of Highway 20. But the owners weren’t keen to sell, a recession hit and the idea went bust, Cromley said. The owner approached Cromley over a year ago with an asking price. The mayor went to Forterra for help footing the bill. Forterra pitched in $575,000 and Hamilton spent $75,000 to buy the farm. About 20 acres are buildable. Forterra plans to develop dense “workforce housing,” Continued on next page > tion purchased inMarch. Connor wants to develop a new, green town center here. Forterra envisions apart- ments, town houses and single-family homes with rooftop solar panels, a com- munal composter to turn organic waste into market- able fertilizer and a bio-filter- ing wastewater processor, A new American town? Perhaps standing at the edge of an open field lends itself to cliché. “Our belief is, if we build it, they will come,” said Forter- ra President and CEOMi- chelle Connor, as she gazed over the farmland, just across Highway 20 from central Hamilton, that her organiza- cafe marks the 2003 flood’s waterline with a sign in a store room that’s nearly up to the ceiling. At town hall, a photo shows late Mayor TimBates, Mandy’s father, driving a tractor with four more peo- ple crammed on top, scooped from floodwaters. said. “The logging went away. The mining went away. The jobs went away.” About 29% of the town’s population is below the pov- erty level, according to cen- sus data, more than double surrounding Skagit County. The town’s operating bud- get, with one full-time staff- er, is $250,000. At $700 a month, Cromley said her pay works out to less thanmini- mumwage. Hamilton can feel stretched out, with empty pockets where homes once stood, before they burned down or the Federal Emer- gency Management Agency (FEMA) bought them out due to flooding. FEMA said it has received 143 National Flood Insurance Program claims and paidmore than $3.3million in losses since 1995 in Hamilton. The agen- cy has also spent $1.3million on grant programs in the town during that time. State and local code pre- vents most new construction in the flood plain. Homes damaged beyond half their market value are considered red-tagged and not allowed to be repaired. “We’re slowly losing hous- ing stock,” Cromley said. Hamilton lacks in ameni- ties, but offers space and community. “No one really bothers us. We can enjoy our quiet cor- ner and our animals,” said Lisa Johnson, a town-council member, who lives on three acres with five horses, six dogs, two cats, hens and chickens. “It’s our own piece of heaven.” At the Hamilton Cafe & Store, owner Mandy Bates knows most customers by first name. Saturday’s regu- lar special —prime rib and prawns — is reportedly a hit among locals. The communi- ty holds Easter egg hunts and Christmas celebrations for kids. The town takes a certain pride in its flooded past. The blocks. People have adapted to its challenges. It’s home. Community and torment on the Skagit Cromley, 49, who was fascinated with orcas by middle school, began aiming for the Northwest when she was a teenager in Pennsylva- nia coal country. She and her husbandmoved to Hamilton in 2002 “looking for some- thing inexpensive to make our own.” Hamilton greets visitors with a colorful sign featuring a cheery visage of the Skagit River, its sometime tormen- tor, and a reminder the town was established in 1872. Historically, members of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe built temporary fishing villages here, said Scott Schuyler, a member of the tribe and its natural-resourc- es director. Temporary was sensible: 80% of the town is within the river’s flood plain. Hamilton now features a town hall that doubles as a pioneer museum, post office, bar, cafe, food bank and Baptist church. The town hall, a century- old house that smells like old books, is raised so high off the street that visitors must zigzag up a four-level ramp to enter. Black and white photographs inside docu- ment the economic booms that swelled Hamilton’s population, and the floods and fires that shrank it. It flooded in 2003, the year after Cromley moved to town, and again in 2006 and 2017, when she said it took 10 dumpsters to clean up the town. Hamilton has weathered nature’s wrath, but economic waves have proved hard, too. As surrounding communities boomed, Hamilton has re- mained “stagnant,” Cromley < Hamilton FROM A1 CAPE HORN RD. WATER ST. MAPLE ST. WALDERS RD. CAPE HORN RD. WALDERS RD. CROWN PACIFIC MAIN LINE RD. CROWN PACIFIC MAIN LINE RD. MEDFORD RD. MEDFORD RD. HAMILTON CEMETERY RD. HAMILTON CEMETERY RD. SNIDER RD. SNIDER RD. LYMAN HAMILTON HIGHWAY LYMAN HAMILTON HIGHWAY NOLLE ST HALF-MILE 0.5 0 HALF-MILE 0.5 0 20 20 20 20 20 20 Everett Mt Vernon Marysville Anacortes Arlington Oak Harbor Burlington Port Townsend MILES 25 0 5 20 20 Sources: Esri, Forterra, Skagit Watershed Councul Reporting by EVAN BUSH, Graphic by MARK NOWLIN / THE SEATTLE TIMES Flood-prone Hamilton considers, once again, a move to higher ground About 80% of the town of Hamilton is within the Skagit River’s floodplain. For decades, town leaders have looked at moving the town. That dream might finally be taking a step closer to reality. A Seattle-based nonprofit, Forterra, recently purchased 45 acres of farmland on higher ground, with hopes of developing it into a new, green town site. It hopes to incentivize people to move from historic Hamilton, which floods a few times each decade, on average, and convert the area back to salmon habitat. Historic Hamilton Current town of Hamilton Floodplain Hamilton water supply Proposed new 45-acre site for Hamilton Forterra envisions a new town site for Hamilton made up of net-zero energy homes, including apartments, townhomes and single-family houses with rooftop solar panels. The site could feature a communal composter, state-of-the art waste- processing systems and a community greenhouse. Decommissioned home sites to become open space for salmon and wildlife habitat Hamilton water supply Skagit River Direction of river flow Skagit River Skagit River E L L E N M . B A NN E R / T H E S E A T T L E T I ME S Scott Schuyler, natural-resources director for the Upper Skagit Tribe, tours the river with Forterra President and CEO Michelle Connor. E L L E N M . B A NN E R / T H E S E A T T L E T I ME S Chris Harris, 30, right, works on a truck with friend Jace Carlson, 17, in front of his Hamilton home. He said he doesn't plan to relocate because his home is paid off, he has space to work on vehicles and operate his fence-building busi- ness, and he does not know if a new place would allow him to have his dogs. His home is raised to protect it from floodwaters when they come. C OU R T E S Y O F MA Y O R J O A N C R OM L E Y A photo hanging in Hamilton Town Hall and Pioneer Mu- seum shows former Mayor Tim Bates, center, evacuating residents during a flood in the 1990s. MOVING HAMILTON