A new downtown rejuvenation project is set to begin after the Chehalis City Council approved a contract on Monday, Jan. 22, for HBB Landscape Architecture from Seattle to act as a consultant and begin the community engagement and project design phase.
The project’s scope will look at possible improvements to downtown Chehalis’ infrastructure, including streets, sidewalks, streetlights and parking, according to Chehalis Public Works Director Lance Bunker.
HBB will also create design concepts, survey existing conditions, draft and finalize a downtown rejuvenation master plan, provide cost estimates and more.
The master plan will be developed in accordance with city code and state law, according to the council’s meeting agenda report.
“HBB’s experienced planning team has worked on 180 streetscape projects, including 20 as part of downtown revitalization efforts,” the report stated.
The contract was approved by a vote of 5-2, with Councilors Daryl Lund and Kevin Carns opposing it.
Both Lund and Carns had budgetary concerns with the project.
“We have a million-dollar budget deficit, Mr. Mayor, and I don’t know that we can keep kicking the can down the road. I’m going to be a ‘no’ on this,” Carn said.
Lund said that under city code, some aspects of this project, like sidewalk maintenance, were the responsibility of downtown property owners.
“So this is going to take care of it for them,” Lund said.
He also asked Bunker why the city wasn’t just choosing projects and putting out requests for proposals from contractors for the work.
“Part of this process is community engagement, that’s a big part of this,” Bunker said.
According to Bunker, city staff wanted to ensure all downtown business owners were on the same page and onboard with any proposed rejuvenation projects.
Chehalis City Manager Jill Anderson added that many of the projects are needed to address existing safety hazards.
“The streetlights are a significant concern, their ability to withstand high winds and (they) are deteriorating from the inside-out in terms of rusted bolts,” Anderson said.
Many of the sidewalks also pose trip hazards.
“Trip things hit a nerve with me,” Lund said. “I had a sidewalk downtown that was a trip hazard, and I had to pay to replace it, so how come we haven’t made the rest of these people pay to replace their sidewalks?”
As for the project’s funding, Bunker explained money had already been budgeted for it in 2023 and 2024, with $300,000 set aside in 2023 and $275,000 in 2024.
The money is coming from Chehalis’ water, wastewater, stormwater and transportation benefit district funds, he added.
“The total estimated cost of the completed plan currently is $474,462.88,” Bunker said.
An additional 20% contingency of $95,000 was included in HBB’s contract.
As for when rejuvenation projects will actually begin, Bunker said he anticipated construction itself to start in 2026.
“This year would be the design of the master plan, next year would be engineering, and then the third year would be construction,” said Bunker.
Lund still had concerns and mentioned how constituents have contacted him about the nearly $1 million budget deficit the city is facing in 2024, as previously reported by The Chronicle.
“The public thinks we’re spending a lot of money on this that we probably shouldn’t,” Lund added.
Anderson said the idea behind this project as a whole is using community engagement to develop a master plan to make it easy to apply for grant money to fund the actual rejuvenation projects.
“To have a good solid plan, have the preliminary assessment, then do the engineering, that we’re going to be in a much better spot and long term, spend a lot less money,” Anderson said.
For more information about HBB Landscape Architecture, visit https://hbbseattle.com/.
