Langley Mayor Scott Chaplin on leveraging a career in sustainability to protect the city’s shoreline from being swallowed by the rising tides.

Interview by Emily Alhadeff

Your sustainability credentials in local government go pretty far back.
In the 1980s when I worked for the city of Ann Arbor [Michigan], which had a city council that was very supportive of energy efficiency improvements, we put together a list of everything that would save energy and pay for itself within seven years. That included switching out all the light bulbs, putting in more insulation, changing the heating and ventilation systems, and putting solar hot water on the city’s swimming pool. We paid for it using municipal bonds, and the city has saved several million dollars since then because of that project.

Then in the 1990s, you spent seven years as a researcher at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, Colorado.
They are quite famous for their energy efficiency work to help individuals, businesses and governments. They showed that the cheapest way to get new energy was not nuclear power, coal or gas, it was saving the energy we’re already wasting. They hired me to look at water the same way they had been looking at energy. I went on to help write a manual for the EPA on water efficiency for municipal utility managers and then consulted for numerous communities on water conservation and efficiency. I got interested in composting toilets, rainwater, and gray water, and I wrote quite a bit about that back in the day. Now it’s coming full circle.

In 2009, after spending six years as a trustee in Carbondale, where you ran a retail store focused on sustainability, you moved to Whidbey Island. Twelve years later, the city council appointed you mayor. How did that happen?
I hadn’t really planned on being the mayor. I had been on the city council back in Colorado, and much of my career was in government work. A few days after I filed for a seat on Langley’s council, the mayor stepped down early, and a friend said, “Scott, you should just put your hat in for the mayor’s position.” I was like, ‘You know what, it’s a good time to do it.’ Because [I knew] I would have a very supportive city council.

“I hope we can restore all of our creeks to what they once were: the world’s greatest stormwater management system and habitat for fish.”

Langley’s tagline is “The Village by the Sea.” How does sustainability factor into the city’s tranquil public image?
Back in 2020, a group of local youth activists called United Student Leaders (USL) worked with the city on a workshop on sea level rise, which involved participation from the Swinomish Tribe’s Climate Change Initiative and looked specifically at the Langley coast. It was very well attended and there were a lot of great ideas generated. A year later, after USL addressed the council and asked the city to take immediate action, we declared a climate emergency and established the Climate Crisis Action Commission, which has been putting on workshops and promoting innovative policies.

Is Langley threatened by rising sea levels?
We really are quite vulnerable along our shore. In fact, we’ve had two landslides on a private homeowner’s property just in the last six weeks. We have a small slide that’s happening along First Street, which is right in front of the water and is partly on city property. If it goes, it could take a chunk of our First Street, which could potentially cut off boat trailer access to our marina and turn First Street into a one-lane road, or worse.

What has the city done to prevent that from happening?
In the ’70s, the shoreline erosion had been coming up closer to the core of our downtown, and the city declared an emergency and got funding to put in a huge sea wall. Now, after about 50 years, it’s finally beginning to fail. We’re just beginning the discussions of whether we do managed retreat, which is a bit of a buzzword these days.

What does that mean?
Managed retreat is not allowing new development in critical areas that are on a bluff or a shoreline or where the sea level is reasonably predicted to encroach upon. We have one development that is being built near sea level. That’ll probably be the last one.

What other environmental work is Langley doing?
We are looking to do a very comprehensive watershed analysis of our community to assess how water flows through our environment and out to the sea. One element is looking at three creeks that run through Langley. They all used to have salmon running back in the day, but they’ve all been covered over with culverts and other things at various points. We’re working with the Tulalip Tribes to daylight a portion of one. I hope we can restore all of our creeks to what they once were: the world’s greatest stormwater management system and habitat for fish.