PORT TOWNSEND – Groundwork for eight new aircraft hangar sites at Jefferson County International Airport have been delayed for about a month to allow the ground to dry out, Port of Port Townsend officials said Wednesday.
The decision means another delay in the project, now slated for completion a month later than originally planned, said port Deputy Director Jim Pivarnik, addressing the port commissioners on Wednesday.
“Everyone thinks Sept. 1 is a good date,” Pivarnik said.
The commissioners unanimously approved the new plan.
Seton Construction, based near the airport at Four Corners, has the port’s $1.5 million hangar groundwork and taxiway contract to remove 8,700 cubic yards of soil from the airport.
The pad sites have been dug and once the ground dries, Pivarnik said Seton will lay in gravel 26 inches deep.
The project is near the northeast end of the airport’s runway, and follows completion of a 4.5-acre stormwater retention pond built near state Highway 19 and the east end of the runway to offset run-off from new airport development.
Groundwater was also hit during excavation in late May, not long after the project began.
A long, wet winter is to blame, port officials said.
