Following a July 24 Chehalis City Council workshop addressing issues surrounding the city’s ability to supply water to the south urban growth area (UGA), Port of Chehalis commissioners wrote a letter to the council Aug. 4 detailing more concerns.
All three commissioners — Mark Giffey, Paul Ericson and Mark Anders — signed the letter.
During the workshop, city staff proposed a dual-project solution to address the issue as, the Bishop Road loop project and the Market Boulevard pinch-point project.
Chehalis Public Works Director Lance Bunker said at the workshop he expected the Bishop Road project to be completed by the end of the year. It will connect two water main lines and increase service reliability, he said. Bunker said the project would cost approximately $1.1 million.
The Market Boulevard project’s start will depend on how the Bishop Road loop affects the city’s ability to deliver water to customers in the south UGA.
When completed, it will include a water main line size increase from 8 inches to 16 inches from 11th street to 21st Street along Market Boulevard and an upgraded pump station. Bunker expected the project to cost approximately $6 million.
Port Executive Director Lindsey Senter was present at the July 24 workshop and briefly spoke about some of the port’s concerns. The letter posed other questions to the city councilors.
“We question city staff's explanation of rapid growth in the UGA since 2020,” the commissioners said in the letter. “From the figures the city staff presented at the July 24, 2023, workshop, it appears the pump station was over 95% of its capacity in 2020. Why has this gone unaddressed for so long, and more importantly, how has this gone unnoticed for so long?”
The port is currently working with a new potential developer who is interested in developing land in Chehalis’ south UGA. This developer is considering building in the UGA and would bring competitive wage jobs if it does come to Chehalis, according to the letter. The developer is CRG, a nationwide real estate investment and development firm with a regional office in Gig Harbor.
However, in July, Chehalis city staff told CRG about the potential water supply issue in the UGA and added there was “no water” and the potential for a development moratorium in the city, all without first consulting port staff, the letter states.
“Without any notice, we are now in a position where we must reassure them and other potential job creators that there will be a path forward and there is no current moratorium,” the commissioners’ letter said.
The commissioners also thanked the city for its long history of collaboration with the port on development projects, but wrote they feel city staff have not had the same level of commitment to collaboration in recent years. Other developers the port works with have raised concerns revolving around the city’s permitting management and other utilities and economic development responsibilities city staff oversees, the commissioners wrote.
In a phone call with The Chronicle this week, Chehalis City Manager Jill Anderson addressed the port’s concerns raised in the letter. She said she understands the commissioners’ frustrations with the city suddenly bringing the issue to the forefront.
“Hindsight is 20/20. Probably should have had a more definitive analysis done (in 2020),” Anderson said. “All of the staff that’s been involved at the leadership level in the Public Works Department that was with the city in 2020 is no longer with us.”
Due to multiple staff members leaving, those remaining had to work outside of their departments on top of their normal jobs, Anderson added. The city also operates with the position growth should fund growth, meaning developers often are responsible for upgrading infrastructure and are compensated with deals such as late-comer agreements.
“I think the fact that we’ve had so much growth so quickly, the idea has sort of been lost since we've had such an influx of growth and interest in our community,” Anderson said.
According to Anderson, the influx in growth began after the pandemic. To compensate for it, she said the city is now stepping in to design and find funding sources to facilitate necessary infrastructure projects such as the Bishop Road loop and Market Boulevard pinch-point.
“We will also need to find a way to recoup the cost borne by the current rate payers,” Anderson said.
Additionally, the city has been working to acquire more water rights in recent years to ensure supply can be maintained as growth continues. Anderson said no shortage of water exists, the problem, rather, is the infrastructure can’t deliver what’s needed.
“I don’t think we realized that 50 years of (projected) growth, half of it would happen in three years,” Anderson added.
Even though it’s an issue that should have been addressed earlier, Anderson said city staff are concentrating on trying to solve it now, before more developers come. Staff are working with engineers from Kennedy/Jenks Consulting, Inc. out of Seattle on new water modeling in the south UGA to get a better idea of what the existing infrastructure is capable of.
“It’s incredibly frustrating for everybody, but we want to get good information now and act on good information, so we can have a much better course of action moving forward,” Anderson said.
Anderson expects the new modeling to be completed by the end of August.
