Clallam to apply for state funding

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, July 21, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Clallam County will apply for state funds to connect new housing to water and stormwater infrastructure.

The Clallam County commissioners heard a request on Monday to submit a grant application to the state Department of Commerce’s Connecting Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP) for Peninsula Housing Authority’s Eklund at Gales, a 24-unit multifamily residential development in Gales Edition. The application would be for up to $300,000 to cover the costs of on-site water and stormwater infrastructure development.

Tim Dalton, the county’s housing and grant resource director, told commissioners the county previously received a CHIP grant of $50,000 for the project, and when they had about $12,000 left over, the commerce department’s contract manager said the funds could be used for on-site development such as running water lines from the meter to the building and doing some stormwater development.

The project needs closer to $250,000 to complete storm water development, Dalton said. He was advised to apply for another CHIP grant and told the project will be scored favorably because it’s an existing project. There is no match attached to the funds.

The application period for this round of CHIP grants opened Monday and will close Sept. 25, Dalton said. Any amount received will be added to the county’s 2025 CHIP award, so work done between now and the grant being awarded will be covered by the grant, Dalton said.

A related item the commissioners discussed was a request from Peninsula Housing Authority for the county to waive the system development charge in the Port Angeles Eastern Urban Growth Area, which includes the Eklund at Gales housing development’s Eklund Heights mutual self-help build for seven single-family homes.

The houses are being built by people who make 80 percent of the median income or less. They are putting 1,500 to 2,000 hours into the builds.

“I think I’m very happy to waive this fee,” Commissioner Mike French said.

The county recently approved a similar request to waive the fee for a single-family home being built for a disabled veteran in Forks, French said.

“So I think this is a very routine thing that we do,” he said. “I think that when it comes to building housing, this is exactly what we should be doing, is supporting developers and making sure that we can get more housing in all of our areas. So I’m very happy to waive it.”

Another item commissioners discussed Monday was a request from the Conservation Futures Program Advisory Board to sign a project grant agreement between the county and North Olympic Land Trust for the acquisition of a conservation easement on Big Red Barn Farm.

The total grant award provided by the Conservation Futures Fund for the project will not exceed $1.4 million, according to county documents.

The North Olympic Land Trust purchased the more than 100-year-old farm at the end of 2025 to save the land from being converted into a 27-lot residential development.

The Conservation Futures Program Advisory Board approved the $1.4 million funding request April 8, and the county commissioners approved a resolution to authorize the expenditure during their April 21 meeting.

“I’ve got a request on behalf of the Conservation Futures Program Advisory Board for you to sign a project grant agreement between us and the North Olympic Land Trust for the acquisition of a conservation easement on Big Red Barn Farm,” said Enrique Valenzuela on behalf of the board. “The grant for the acquisition of this easement was previously authorized by you this year, and this agreement is just an updated copy that’s been used for successful easement acquisition in previous projects before and it’s been reviewed by the legal department.”

Commissioner Randy Johnson commended the land trust for taking on the purchase of the farm before they had all of the funding in place.

“It was a risk on their behalf,” Valenzuela said.

The land trust used a financing package that included a Washington State Farm PAI loan, seller financing and previous community contributions to purchase the property for $6.25 million.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.