PORT ANGELES — The Federal Way contractor hired to build a sewer system for Carlsborg is getting organized for construction, Clallam County commissioners learned Monday.
Pacific Civil & Infrastructure was hired March 29 to build a pump station along Carlsborg Road and to lay miles of sewer pipes that will transport effluent to the treatment plant in Sequim.
The contractor has acquired office space in Carlsborg to handle the “nuts and bolts” of mobilization, county Public Works Administrative Director Bob Martin told commissioners.
The contractor is in the process of ordering equipment and is searching for a staging area that will be used for the one-year construction project, Martin said.
No date for the ground-breaking has been announced.
Pacific Civil & Infrastructure’s $9.03 million asking price was the lowest of seven bids that commissioners opened March 1. The winning bid was about $2 million less than the original estimate.
The sewer discussion was triggered by Martin’s recommendation for an aquatic lands easement from the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
DNR required the easement because it determined that the Dungeness River is navigable at the U.S. Highway 101 bridge, where two sewer force mains will be installed below.
The 30-year agreement with DNR has a one-time fee of $1,400.
Commissioners are expected to approve the easement next Tuesday, May 24.
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Martin said.
“Basically it ratifies the hanging of the two force mains on the Dungeness River-101 bridge.”
Clallam County has been planning for a sewer system in Carlsborg for decades.
State law requires that the Carlsborg Urban Growth Area have sewer infrastructure.
Clallam County secured a $10 million low-interest loan from the state Public Works Trust Fund to pay for the sewer.
The project must be completed by April 1, 2017, for the county to capture a 0.25 percent interest rate on the loan.
The interest rate would be 0.50 percent if construction is delayed past the deadline.
Clallam County will repay the loan from its Opportunity Fund, a portion of state sales tax that supports infrastructure in rural areas.
The county has an additional $1.4 million available for the sewer in a special fund.
Commissioner Mark Ozias, who represents Carlsborg and the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, asked Martin how citizens can keep track of the sewer project.
Martin said the project webpage will soon be updated with current information.
“The intention is that it’s a regular construction management software that’s kind of guiding everybody’s work on this project,” Martin said.
“From time to time, that software will generate a progress report that we could post on that website.”
To access the project webpage, click on the Clallam County website, www.clallam.net, and navigate to the Public Works Department.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
