QUILCENE — Port of Port Townsend administrators have decided that the port can legally sponsor a feasibility study of a community wastewater treatment facility in Quilcene.
The matter is expected to go before port commissioners at 1 p.m. next Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 333 Benedict St.
The feasibility study would solidify the project’s cost and process while polling the estimated 101 property owners in the Quilcene rural village area to determine if they would support and pay for such a system.
“We need to do this study and get the preliminary design in place so we can determine what kind of system we need and how much it costs,” said Linda Herzog of Quilcene, who has approached several county agencies with a request for sponsorship and support of the study.
Jefferson County commissioners authorized $100,000 for the study from the Public Infrastructure Fund in March 2012.
Since then, the money has remained in the county coffers awaiting a formal request from an authorized government agency to commission the study, according to county Administrator Philip Morley.
Last month, none of the three qualified public agencies — the county, the port and the Jefferson County Public Utility District — was willing or was allowed to sponsor the study.
Since then, the port has studied state code and determined it could sponsor the study, according to Deputy Port Director Jim Pivarnik on Tuesday.
The port’s sponsorship depends on commissioner approval.
The agreement would commit the port to managing the feasibility study but not to build or administer the system, Pivarnik said.
As currently envisioned, the system would provide each user with a septic tank that would connect to a central tank for waste disposal, instead of requiring individual drain fields, Pivarnik said.
“With each system requiring a drain field and backup drain field, there will be no room on many properties to build,” he said.
The cost of the system cannot be determined until the study is complete, but both Pivarnik and Morley estimated it would cost several million dollars.
Once the study is complete, the PUD could secure financing and build and maintain the system, according to Jim Parker, the utility’s manager.
“We have experience in building large on-site septic systems, so managing this project is something we could do,” he said.
“People can also petition us to create their own local utility district.”
Port Executive Director Larry Crockett, Herzog, Morley and Parker were among the attendees at a meeting last Thursday, where Morley “was giving us all kinds of reasons why he is against the project,” according to Herzog.
Morley said Herzog is mistaken.
“I am not opposed to the project,” he said.
“That the port is reinstating their sponsorship is great news.”
In 2002, the port indicated it would sponsor the study but then withdrew, according to Morley.
At Thursday’s meeting, Morley said he suggested that the county’s past experience with the sewer system in Beckett Point and a proposed Port Hadlock system should be considered as a resource, and that the feasibility study could be accomplished for less than the $100,000 allocation and without the involvement of an engineer.
“We are supportive and would love to see this happen,” Morley said of the project.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
