PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County commissioners are as yet undecided about the repair of Undi Road as the deadline to finish the work this year is approaching.
The 0.8-mile stretch on a remote area of the north bank of the Bogachiel River in West Jefferson County was severely damaged during fall and winter storms and has been reduced to one barely navigable lane, cutting access for five people.
Repair estimates range between $1.1 million and $1.6 million.
The board is considering two alternatives: continue to work to fix or replace the stretch of road or do nothing more.
“We have done as much as we can,” District 2 Commissioner David Sullivan said near the conclusion of a 90-minute workshop meeting Monday.
“People need to take responsibility for their decisions [to live in a remote area] and realize that we aren’t going to solve all their problems.”
District 3 Commissioner Kathleen Kler sees it as a measure of priorities.
“With all of the other projects we haven’t begun, it may be tough to sell a $1 million project that only benefits five people.”
Jefferson County Public Works Director Monty Reinders, who has worked to maintain Undi Road for several years, told the commissioners that too much time has been invested in the project to just give up.
“I don’t think we should put the brakes on right now,” he said.
“We are still in the ballpark and can find a way to accomplish this.”
Reinders submitted three options: construct an alternate route, buy out the owners or try to stop the slide.
He expressed a preference for the first option and did not present what became a fourth option, which is to do nothing.
Further discussion of the matter was postponed to the commissioners’ next workshop session at 1:30 p.m. Monday in commissioners’ chambers at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1810 Jefferson St., Port Townsend.
Reinders would like them to approve the bid process then, so that the work could be finished before the fall rains.
Postponement could push the project into the summer 2017.
Should the county choose inaction, the state Department of Natural Resources or Clallam County might provide financial assistance, Kler said.
George Powers, a retired logger who is one of the five residents isolated by the washout, favors rerouting the river and said he “could do it myself if they just brought out a [bulldozer].
“This is a public road that the county owns,” he said.
“We can manage the river. It can be done.”
Reinders does not favor this option. It could cost up to $5 million and take three to five years, he said.
Powers, who is willing to sell the property for $150,000, said if the county abandons the road, residents have two options, put in the road without approval and go to jail or hire an attorney.
Powers said he proposed constructing a cable system to move past the slide but was told it was not feasible.
The residents have been active and have written several letters “but they all fall on deaf ears,” Powers said.
“If any of us keels over dead and an ambulance can’t get here, the county is responsible.”
Kler said her meetings with the residents have been frustrating.
“Either they have a plan they are not sharing or they have no plan at all,” she said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
