PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has awarded a $9.03 million bid to a Federal Way contractor to build a sewer system for Carlsborg.
Pacific Civil & Infrastructure will break ground in mid-April and will complete the construction by April 1, 2017.
The three commissioners awarded the bid by unanimous vote Tuesday.
“This project has been a long time coming,” said Commissioner Mark Ozias, who represents Carlsborg and the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
“There have been numerous commissioners and staff members who have worked tirelessly to put a really solid plan together,” he added.
“I’d like to credit [Public Works Administrative Director] Bob Martin and others in the public works department who have put such a thoughtful and well-planned project together for us.”
The contractor will build a pump station along Carlsborg Road near the Olympic Discovery Trail crossing.
Sewage will be piped from Carlsborg to the existing treatment facility in Sequim.
Pacific Civil & Infrastructure submitted the lowest of seven bids that commissioners opened March 1. The winning bid was about $2 million under the engineer’s estimate.
While no Clallam County contractor bid on the sewer, local subcontractors are expected to be involved in its construction, Martin has said.
Clallam County has been planning for a sewer in Carlsborg since the 1990s.
“It’s fair to say that many commissioners before us, and many staff members before current staff, spent a lot of time on this project in order to comply with state government GMA [Growth Management Act] guidelines and to fulfill environmental stewardship in the Carlsborg area,” longtime Commissioner Mike Chapman said.
The Carlsborg Urban Growth Area was invalidated by a Growth Management Act hearings board in 2008 because the hamlet lacked adequate infrastructure.
The ruling, which prevented businesses from expanding, was lifted when the county secured funding for the sewer.
“It’s a great project, one that I think every commissioner who’s served here for the last decade or more has supported,” Chapman said.
Clallam County is paying for the sewer with a $10 million loan from the state Public Works Trust Fund.
The 0.25 percent interest loan will be repaid from the county’s Opportunity Fund, a share of state sales tax that supports infrastructure in rural areas.
Clallam County also has $1.43 million available in a special sewer fund.
“I have listened very carefully to the concerns expressed by folks from numerous places about the sewer project,” Ozias said.
“I have studied the project thoroughly, and I believe that it is absolutely the right thing to do for the county.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
