December
2003 Project Status Report
Background:
This is a capital project
being conducted by King County that will construct a sanitary sewer
treatment plant, conveyance facilities and marine outfall zone in
north King County or south Snohomish County. The growth pattern
in north King County and south Snohomish County creates a demand
for a third treatment plant capable of treating 34 million gallons
per day when it comes on line in 2010, expanding to treating 54
million gallons per day by 2040.
Status:
A citizen group comprised
of local elected and appointed officials served two years on a site
selection criteria committee and developed the criteria used in
identifying possible sites. Of all the sites nominated or identified,
two sites were identified that met the criteria for plant siting
– one is the Unocal site in the City of Edmonds and one is the Route
9 site at SR 522, commonly referred to as the Grace site. The King
County Executive has designated the Grace site as the preferred
site for plant construction.
Three conveyance
routes for transmitting influent and effluent were identified, with
the King County Executive designating the NE 195th Street route
as the preferred alternative. In this alternative, influent would
be sent to the Grace treatment plant via deep tunnel under NE 175th
Street. Effluent would be sent to Puget Sound, also by deep tunnel,
under NE 195th Street to Ballinger Way, up to NE 205th Street and
then on to the Sound.
The preferred conveyance
route indicates that Kenmore would have two portals to enable the
deep tunneling to be accomplished. The portals, between one and
two acres in size, are proposed to be identified in a 70 acre area
located in the vicinity of the following:
1)
NE 175th Street and 68th Avenue NE (portal #11); and
2)
NE 195th Street and 80th Avenue NE (portal #44).
The deep tunnel construction
method is estimated to occur 200 feet below surface and has been
identified to be constructed within a corridor approximately 1000
feet wide. The County needs about 40 feet of the 1000 feet in which
to do the tunneling. The County is interested in keeping the tunnel
under public rights-of-way as much as possible, limiting the necessity
for dealing with individual property owners for easements thereby
reducing the ultimate cost for the project and keeping the emphasis
of negotiations with public entities.
Schedule:
The next steps in
the process are:
-
Design and permit the project in 2004 and 2005.
-
Phased construction of facilities in 2006 through 2010.
The City Council
will be responsible for approving mitigation on behalf of the community
for any adverse affects to the overall Kenmore community, e. g.
noise, traffic, etc. The City will also be the permitting agency.
Individual property owners will be responsible for negotiating with
the County for mitigating any adverse affects to their property
caused by the County’s use of a portion of their property, either
at or below the surface.
Staff
Contact:
King County: Deborah
Ross (206) 684-6799
http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/brightwater
Kenmore: Steve
Anderson, City Manager
Office (425) 398-8900;
Fax (425) 481-3236
email: www.sanderson@ci.kenmore.wa.us
