The City of Chehalis is scrambling to address a 5-foot-wide, 6-foot-deep sinkhole that opened up adjacent to the BNSF railroad tracks where they cross Northwest West Street near the city’s downtown corridor.
City staff believe a failing storm water drain is the source of the issue.
A total of $250,000 in grant funding from the .09 Distressed Counties Fund will help cover the emergency repairs, which could total more than $475,000.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners approved the grant funding request during its weekly Tuesday business meeting after denying a $450,000 request for the same project a week prior.
This week, however, they voiced support for the project, which will seek to repair a burst pipe beneath the rail lines that is believed to be the cause of the sinkhole.
Commissioner Scott Brummer said he was “in support of the $250,000 with some cost share from the city” and asked about a timeline for the project.
According to Chehalis Public Works Director Lance Bunker, the city planned to send a contract out to its chosen contractor on Tuesday afternoon and start work as soon as possible. Bunker expects it to take roughly a week to prepare for the project and five to seven days to complete the work.
The night prior to the county meeting, the Chehalis City Council unanimously approved a request from Bunker and Chehalis Capital Projects Manager Sheena Woods to declare the project an emergency and approve up to $476,820 in spending of city stormwater capital funds. As is the case with .09 grants, the $250,000 in grant dollars will be delivered as a reimbursement.
The emergency declaration allows the city to spend up to the maximum amount, but Bunker, both Monday night and when asked about it Tuesday, said he expects the total to come in as much as $100,000 below that number.
According to both city documents and discussion from Woods, city staff are considering multiple options for repairing the stormwater drain, which stretches beneath the nearby railway. The planned response is quoted in city council documents at around $379,000 in costs to the city.
The leading plans prioritize not disturbing the railroad lines and would also avoid going through the engineering process, which saves money. Those plans primarily involve techniques for patching the pipe, such as a cure-in-place pipe replacement.
Traffic disruption for the emergency project remains to be seen as Bunker said one option would not have any impact on traffic, while another approach could involve closing lanes on both Northwest West Street and North National Ave.
Just a week before the final approval of the emergency project, the county commissioners unanimously declined a $450,000 request and were surprised to see the increase from an expected $250,000 ask, which was noted in the original grant application. According to Clerk of the Board Rieva Lester, the minutes from the meeting during which the larger ask was approved by the .09 Advisory Board also did not record the increased ask.
“For me, there’s just too many discrepancies between what was in the minutes with the 250 ask and this appropriation for 450, as well as a very general quote for the work that’s to be done here,” Brummer said.
The .09 Distressed Counties/Economic Development Advisory Board is led by the Lewis County Economic Alliance and includes representatives for local governments, port districts and other interest groups. However, Lewis County as the financial agent has some control over the funds and requires a more detailed application process for grants over $250,000, which seemed to add to the commissioners’ surprise.
“We put in a policy that anything over 250 would have to have a more extensive application process instead of the short application,” Commissioner Sean Swope said. “I mean, if we start circumventing and doing that, I can see where other opportunities will arise within the county declaring something an emergency, and then for us to circumvent the policies that we've put in place.”
During the commissioners meeting the week prior to the approval, Lester said the city originally requested the $250,000, but increased the ask by $200,000 when discussing the project with members of the .09 Distressed Counties Advisory Board.
Bunker confirmed after this week's meeting that city staff had been encouraged to increase the ask after the fact, but hadn’t realized that a request of more than $250,000 came with a more detailed application process. In the end, Bunker said the city was happy to simply accept the originally requested amount.
The commissioners also appeared to have their concerns assuaged, with Swope thanking Chehalis city staff, including City Manager Stacy Denham, for sending additional information and offering a short visit to the site of the needed repairs.
