Town offering Port 1 lead role in developing sewer lagoon site

The Cathlamet Town Council is offering Port District 1 the opportunity to take the lead in redeveloping its sewer lagoons adjacent to the Elochoman Slough Marina.

The town is nearing the end of construction of a new treatment plant, and the town's current treatment site will become surplus property.

Council members voted to offer the lead role to Port 1 after an executive session at the end of their meeting Monday.

The council also voted after executive session to create a new line item with $5,000 in their budget to cover professional services to support mediation and or arbitration over differences in their contract with Wahkiakum PUD for sale of water to the Puget Island Water System.

The concept of turning the old sewer lagoons into marina spaces has circulated for some time, but with construction of the new plant nearing completion, town officials have raised it again.

Mayor George Wehrfritz said the concept would have two phases.

In the first, the town and port would exchange property. The town would deed to the port some street right-of-way that is currently parking area for the port's park model cabins, and the port would deed to the town a sliver of land over outfall for the town's treated wastewater.

In the second phase, the town is suggesting that the port be the lead agency in redeveloping the waterfront and lagoons. The town would lease the lagoon property to the port and improve the streets leading to the marina.

The town completed improvements to 3rd Street last year, Wehrfritz said. Now officials will try to find funding to improve Chester and 2nd streets which lead to the marina, and to Beal Street, which has an undeveloped right-of-way that connects 2nd and 3rd streets and runs along the edge of the marina property.

Wehrfritz hopes to have 2nd and Chester classified as arterials, which would qualify them for state Transportation Improvement Board funding.

Port Manager Jackie Lea learned of the council's action Tuesday and said the soonest Port 1 commissioners would discuss it would be their July 11 meeting, unless they call a special meeting.

She said the concept has been discussed over the years, but it isn't included in the port's comprehensive development plan.

"It would be a nice piece of property to acquire and expand," she said.

She added that a feasibility study is needed to determine whether or not there would be adequate depth in the lagoon area for a boat basin or if bedrock would be too close to the surface.