LB secures Ecology dollars for pair of projects

Published 12:41 pm Monday, August 12, 2024

LONG BEACH — City councilors at a meeting last week signed off on an agreement between Long Beach and a state agency that secures necessary funding to complete a sewer and stormwater project on the north end of the city.

The Long Beach City Council unanimously authorized Mayor Sue Svendsen at an Aug. 5 meeting to sign a resolution that authorized the city to accept $1.35 million from the Washington State Department of Ecology. The funds will be used to add sewer and stormwater lines from Pioneer Road West to 26th Street NW on Ocean Beach Boulevard North.

The funding package includes a $607,500 low-interest loan from Ecology’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund, a program that provides low-cost federal and state financial assistance for water quality infrastructure projects. The city will pay back the loan over a 20-year period at 0.8% interest, while the remaining $742,500 of the overall package will be forgiven upon the loan’s closing.

Svendsen thanked the city’s deputy administrator, Ariel Smith, for working to secure the funding.

Bolstad lot update

Councilors also gave the thumbs up to further funding from Ecology at last week’s meeting for work being done at the 200 Bolstad Ave. W property the city was given in 2022. The city received the property as part of a tax write-off from the previous owners, and the lot has remained undeveloped since a 2002 fire destroyed a hotel building that was located on the property.

The former owners discovered a gas and diesel fuel spill contamination in the years preceding Long Beach receiving the deed to the property, which had been the city’s biggest concern about taking over the property. The city has been working with Ecology on the contamination site since it took over ownership of the lot to determine if and what kind of mitigation needs to be done.

In June, the city accepted a grant from the state agency that covered most of the overall cost to further monitor the site after it sought to begin clean-up work on the lot. The mandatory monitoring, which could last up to two years, is being carried out by the Bothell-based Riley Group.

The council approved an amendment to that grant agreement at the Aug. 5 meeting after the Riley Group had found petroleum while on-site and would require further monitoring and testing. Ecology agreed with the Riley Group’s determination, and increased its grant funding for the city by nearly $33,000, to just over $102,000.

The city will still be able to move forward with plans to lay gravel and make other improvements at the property so the lot can be used as overflow parking for the time being. Long Beach hopes to eventually redevelop the lot, located right across the street from city hall, although specific plans have not yet been publicly identified.