PORT TOWNSEND — The city of Port Townsend is expected to finalize design and construction contracts soon for a stormwater system that will serve the businesses expected to occupy the planned Howard Street commercial corridor.
Howard Street currently ends about 800 feet north of Sims Way and 400 feet south of Discovery Road.
The extension project will connect the two major thoroughfares by extending Howard Street and is expected to turn 82 acres of vacant and under-utilized land into shovel-ready industrial property.
It entails constructing a regional stormwater facility to benefit a mostly undeveloped commercial area, located north of the Howard Street roundabout and Sims Way (state Route 20), and a light manufacturing property, totaling approximately 33 acres south of the Howard Street roundabout and Sims Way, according to city documents.
Private, public
The stormwater facility would be for both the private commercial development properties as well as being sized to handle the runoff from the city rights-of-way located within the benefit area, according to documents.
This benefit area includes private properties as well as public rights-of-way. The project also includes stormwater piping, trail improvements and connection to an existing stormwater pond to the south of Sims Way.
After the City Council voted to authorize the stormwater project’s contract process at its May 15 meeting, the city plans to start advertising for contractors around June 1, according to Assistant City Engineer Samantha Trone.
The contract requests will stay in place for about one month with hopes that the design process would then begin in mid-July or August and take about eight months.
Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2017.
The first step will be the completion and connection of an underground utilities system.
“We will start by connecting the utilities on Sixth Street,” Trone said.
“Once we get into the field, it should be fine, but at first there will be some inconvenience [to motorists].”
Extension work
Once the utilities are in place, work on extending Howard Street to Discovery Road will begin, which could also cause some traffic delays. A new roundabout will be built at Howard Street and Discovery Road.
The extension would be built on what is now trail and open land, taking a jog around existing homes.
The city has acquired all of the parcels necessary for the rights of way, Trone said.
Construction of the roundabout is scheduled to begin this summer and finish in the spring, she said.
In October, the City Council authorized the use of eminent domain to acquire the needed parcels, but that process was not invoked.
The combined cost of the stormwater and street extension projects is about $6.5 million.
The stormwater project will be funded by a $300,000 grant from the Community Economic Revitalization Board, a $2.1 million grant from the state Transportation Improvement Board, $1.05 million from the state Department of Transportation, and $1.7 million of water and sewer utility funds from the city.
Making up the difference is a $1.2 million loan, also from the Community Economic Revitalization Board, which will be split between the Howard Street project and the development of the adjacent stormwater system.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
