SEQUIM — For 900-plus days, Sequim has been under construction — and that trend doesn’t look to change in 2020.
City of Sequim staff recently revealed several big projects slated for 2020, ranging from the completion of the Guy Cole Event Center’s final remodel to continued road work on West Fir Street.
The construction timeline follows the city’s current six-year Capital Improvement Program, said City Engineer Matt Klontz, which he and city councilors plan to update this month.
As part of a proposed updated six-year plan, Klontz said 2020 will likely keep construction going all of next year as well.
“We know with a lot of certainty, the projects [scheduled] will move forward in 2020,” Klontz said.
Tentative Capital Improvement Program projects for parks, streets, buildings and more could be approved by Sequim City Council members July 22 as a plan, with next year’s projects approved for the 2019-20 budget later in the year.
Building projects
The city budgeted $100,000 to finish the breakout rooms of the Guy Cole Event Center.
Klontz said the city plans to advertise construction this year and will close the facility down late December-early February for construction.
This would complete the third phase of the remodel, Klontz said, one that started with the main hall and the kitchen.
Additionally, the city plans next year to permanently install Emergency Operations Center equipment in the Sequim Transit Center for a cost of $50,000.
Klontz said this moves equipment from tubs and speeds up efficiency.
“The process [for setup] can take up to 30 minutes so that’s a significant savings [in an emergency],” City Manager Charlie Bush said.
Also, city staff will install a fuel station in the city shop in 2020; the tentative cost estimate is $817,000.
Over the six-year plan, there are about $1 million in planned improvements and expansion to the city shop.
In 2024, city staff are planning $300,000 for installing citywide broadband.
Each year of the plan, the city’s new Peoples’ Project! will continue at $150,000 annually.
This year, City Council members plan to follow residents’ recommendation from a community voting effort to fund water bottle refilling/drinking fountain stations in Sequim parks, and add solar powered compact trash and recycling cans.
Streets
Construction along Fir Street by Sequim schools will cost more than $3.8 million in 2020 through various funds for road, sidewalk and water/sewer needs, Klontz said.
“We’ll still be under construction in 2020, but hopefully be physically complete [by late June] next year,” he said.
Klontz said the irrigation main along the road has been difficult and flooded work areas a few times.
“It’s great we’re replacing it,” he said. “It is a problem.”
Next year, the city plans to continue its efforts to rehabilitate pavement at an estimated $229,000 in subdivisions seeing utility trenches settling and creating large uneven areas.
City staff plan to begin preliminary work on reaching out to community members about completing streets such as Prairie Street with new sidewalks and lighting as they look for new ways to create east-west throughways south of Washington Street by new potential commercial areas.
From 2020-23, about $3.5 million is scheduled for planning and construction.
Sequim also received about $1.1 million with a Safe Routes to School grant to build a sidewalk on the west side of Sequim Avenue from Hendrickson Road to Old Olympic Highway and improve the roundabout.
Next year, city staff said they anticipate designing and purchasing right of way for up to $350,000 and spending more than $1.1 million in 2021 for construction.
Sewer, Water and Parks
City staff budged nearly $1.1 million to increase capacity for handling solid waste at the Water Reclamation Facility.
Klontz said they haven’t secured funding yet but that they plan to pursue more grant and loan opportunities.
The facility will tentatively see $335,000 go toward odor control after being put on hold due to staff backlog, Klontz said.
Grants help pay for more than $300,000 in stormwater upgrades with $190,000 going to infiltration facilities at the southwest corner of Seventh Avenue and Washington Street.
Additionally, $113,000 supports creating a discharge system to place roadway water on Brown Road into Bell Creek.
Inadequately-sized piping will be removed near Bell Street and Hemlock Street in 2020, too.
City staff plan to spend up to $100,000 for a water and sewer utility rate study to be conducted leading to discussions on future rates in 2020.
Another $50,000 is slated for a study of the city’s parks impact fee and master plan.
City staff look to pave/overlay parking lots in Carrie Blake Community Park and the Water Reuse Demonstration Site for nearly $800,000 in 2021.
They also look to upgrade Kirner Park playground equipment in 2022 ($318,000).
For more information about Sequim’s proposed Capital Improvement Program, visit www.sequimwa.gov or call 360-683-4908.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
