Rosalia moving forward with infrastructure improvements

Gazette Staff

Sam Mineer, engineer with JUB Engineers, Inc., shares plans for Rosalia sewer improvements at the Rosalia Ice Cream Social July 20.

On July 20, the Town of Rosalia hosted an ice cream social and town discussion at the Community Center so residents could hear the latest on town infrastructure projects.

Mayor Nan Konishi, town clerk/treasurer Jenna McDonald, members of the town council, town employees and J-U-B engineers were available to give an overview of upcoming work and to field questions from the approximately 50 community members in attendance.

J-U-B Engineer Trevor Skelton was the first to take the floor with an update on the most immediate project, the Whitman Avenue rebuild between Eighth Street and Josephine Avenue. Although the project start date was delayed, it is now on track to commence Aug. 14. Skelton described the project as a “buffet of things” which will involve excising the road down to the earth and rebuilding it. This will include installation of curtain gutters for water drainage.

“Lake Rosalia will be a thing of the past,” said Skelton, referring to the history of problems with standing water in that area.

Skelton also noted that parking in front of the school will be maintained, and although it will cover less area than it currently does, it will be more delineated and have better drainage.

The project is scheduled for 35 working days, and during that time there will be approximately two-and-a-half weeks near the start of the project that the road segment under reconstruction will be completely closed to through traffic. During this time, traffic other than semis will be re-routed residentially around the work area until road specifications are met that will allow the road to be re-opened as one-lane traffic for the duration of the project.

For the period of full road closure, semi-trucks will be re-routed along Highway 195. This raised questions about harvest trucks.

“That’s going to be an inconvenience for farmers,” said one attendee.

Skelton recognized the inconvenience and reiterated that the full closure of the road would only last a couple of weeks.

Skelton emphasized that those living along the length of the closed road will be provided access to their homes at all times. There were questions concerning mail delivery and garbage pickup. Mayor Konishi explained a plan is in place to temporarily re-locate mailboxes; however, information on the plan for garbage pickup will be made available after further consultation.

A final point was made concerning utilities. There will be some minimal utility cutoffs early in the project.

“Those affected will be given at least 48 hours notice and a time when things will be back on,” said Skelton. “We anticipate these to be short outages, around two hours.”

Next, engineer Sam Mineer briefed the crowd on the wastewater system, which has been in a study phase. Cameras have been run through as many of the pipes as possible which has revealed issues primarily at the joints between pipes, along with some pipe breakage and root intrusion and occasional collapse. Of additional concern is seepage of water into the wastewater system from compromised pipes and at the old brick linings of manholes, which causes an unnecessary water burden and can lead to overload at the treatment facility.

“These are the issues that can make messes in basements, and it’s a town effort to keep the wastewater system going,” said Mineer. “We need your feedback, because as engineers we aren’t here living day in and day out.”

Project engineers and town officials are in the process of prioritizing the work that needs to be done, with some sewer repairs on Whitman Avenue to be completed while the ground is exposed during the road repair.

The plan moving forward is to catch the fall cycle of Washington Department of Ecology grants and loans for addressing sewer issues town-wide.

“The idea is to get it done as much at once as we can, so that we don’t have to keep tearing up the town year after year after year,” said engineer Layne Merritt.

Merritt spoke about the town water situation as well, noting issues with water mains and tired valves.

“At this point it is band-aids put on band-aids, and we’re going to have a catastrophic blowout if we don’t replace,” Merritt said.

In addition, lead components within the water system need to be removed and replaced with appropriate materials.

“The water chemistry is okay, but the state wants (the lead components) out of the system,” explained Merritt.

Also possible is an additional well at the opposite end of town from the two existing wells situated next to each other, a change that would provide a backup in case of water contamination at the existing well site. Included in the preparedness planning is the acquisition of backup generators for pump sites to assure water access in the case of power outage. Currently, the town only has a generator at the treatment facility to manage wastewater during a power outage.

In addition, aspects of reservoir aging will need to be addressed, with new lining and a possible second reservoir to be considered. Merritt also mentioned concerns about the pressure booster pumps, characterizing them as an “access nightmare” and saying they are looking at installing pumps above ground to improve access for maintenance. The age of water pumps is also a concern, since most have been in service constantly since the 1950s. Although the well two pump has recently been re-habilitated, the well one pump has diminished capacity.

“We got our money out of them,” said Eric McDonald, Rosalia Public Works director for water.

McDonald and Eljay Sanders, Public Works director for sewer, later reiterated that the old water infrastructure materials had held up well for more than 50 years, but the latest materials are expected to last at least twice that long, with new pipe to last much longer.

“We’re not only fixing this for us now, we are giving this to generations of future Rosalia residents,” said McDonald.

Based on recent Department of Health loan qualifications, town officials are planning to address main line water system design engineering and improvements in tandem with the sewer work during the road reconstruction.

To close out the evening, engineer Tim Ike discussed the close collaboration with Mayor Konishi and council member Robert Ward on airport engineering for small communities.

Ike opened by clarifying the standard funding framework for these projects.

Rosalia qualifies for an annual FAA grant which covers 90 percent of the project cost.

Of the remaining 10 percent, the Washington State Aviation Division typically covers five to seven percent, leaving the remaining amount to be covered by the town.

Mayor Konishi added a reminder that due to the town’s use of FAA grant funds, money generated at the airport must stay at the airport, including money acquired from the insurance settlement for the hangar that burned in 2014.

Plans for the current FAA grant project, scheduled for 40 days in September and October, include replacing runway lighting and navigation aids, improvements in the fuel station, creating a taxi lane associated with new hangar development and clean-up of vandalism along with inclusion of preventative fencing. The goals of these improvements are to increase based-aircraft registration, which assures continued qualification for FAA airport improvement grants, and to set the stage for increased airport revenue through hangar leases, fuel sales and possible airport land leases.

“In our experience, any town that has lost an airport always regrets it down the road. It’s a great asset,” said Ike.

The meeting adjourned with an opportunity for attendees to personally speak with the engineers and take closer looks at the project planning draft boards. Mayor Konishi encourages anyone with additional questions or concerns to contact Rosalia Town Hall.