SEQUIM — To save $600,000, the Sequim Marine Science Lab of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, also known as Battelle, is no longer interested in being annexed by the city of Sequim.
That means that money that had been planned for improvements to the area between the Sequim city limit and Battelle — some $2.5 million — can be used elsewhere, City Manager Steve Burkett said.
The city learned of the withdrawal in a letter dated Aug. 23 from Larry Maples, Pacific Northwest Division facilities and operations director for Battelle, which operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, located northeast of Sequim at 1529 West Sequim Bay Road.
“While we plan to maintain our current facilities in excellent shape, our strategy is to optimize the use of existing facilities within the current footprint,” he said.
“For the time being, Battelle plans for our Sequim campus to remain part of Clallam County and not seek annexation.”
Discussions about possible annexation had been held for the past two years.
The change is “because of the national economic condition,” Burkett told the Sequim City Council on Monday.
The facility had anticipated an expansion of facilities to accommodate additional employees, which would have required improvements to roads, sewer and other services the city provides, but reductions in funding means growth is not likely to happen in the near future, Burkett said.
Engineering reports cost the city $382,437, but no infrastructure work had begun.
The $2,522,000 total project cost included a $1.2 million Clallam County Opportunity Fund Grant that the city had planned to request to assist with the city’s $1.9 million cost of extending the city’s water and sewer services to the Battelle campus property line, Burkett said.
A contribution of $600,000 from the Sequim Marine Science Lab would have completed the project, Burkett said.
Maples wrote, “We cannot justify the incremental business expense of hooking up to the city’s utilities when we are adequately served by our existing resources.”
The “incremental business expense” is the cost of constructing the infrastructure needed to be able to connect to and utilize city utilities, said Craig Ritchie, city attorney.
“Although it is on a larger scale, this ‘infrastructure cost’ is just like a homeowner in the city constructing and installing their sewer pipe up to the city sewer main at their property line and installing their water intake and meter up to and at the property line,” Ritchie said.
The City Council was scheduled to vote on the grant application Monday.
Instead, that application may be used to extend improved services where the city anticipates growth closer to the downtown area, Burkett said.
One possible area where the city could transfer funding could be for a 165,000-square-foot Fred Meyer grocery and department store that has been proposed near U.S. Highway 101 and South Sequim Avenue, Burkett said.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
