Clallam County approves sewer funding for Clallam Bay/Sekiu

Published 2:45 pm Tuesday, February 24, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners have approved a funding package worth more than $10 million for the Clallam Bay/Sekiu sewer system inflow/infiltration pipe replacement project.

“This is an agreement for the continuation of a pipe replacement project,” county administrator Todd Mielke said during the commissioners’ regular meeting Tuesday. “We own the system out there. We’re in the process of redoing that piping. We have leakage that is causing, I would say basically water in the area to get into the pipe and then move down and causes more flow than we should have at our treatment facility.”

The funding package offered by the Department of Ecology Clean Water State Revolving Fund is for $10,030,145. That includes more than $2.1 million in a Centennial grant, more than $4 million in forgivable principal and more than $3.8 million in a standard loan, according to county documents.

Utilities Program Manager Ron Garcelon spoke to the commissioners and addressed a public commenter who expressed concerns about the project and sea level rise.

“With respect this project, we are just replacing existing collection pipe in place,” Garcelon said. “There’s nothing new being constructed here. There’s just replacement of old concrete pipe with new modern PVC construction. That will be watertight and prevent intrusion from groundwater surface block. As far as any discussion that we’ve had regarding location sea level, that was related to the future construction of a wastewater treatment plant.”

The county will replace 10,704 linear feet of sewer main, 33 manholes and 1,720 feet of side sewer connectors.

RV ordinance

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, a portion of the monthly Commissioners’ Forum was dedicated to discussion of the work the county is doing to draft a new ordinance regarding the use of recreational vehicles (RVs) as homes.

Community Development Director Bruce Emery was invited to the forum so he could address questions and comments from the public.

“The truth of the matter is, I’m not even sure how this ordinance is going to play out,” Emery said. “When we first undertook it, our primary goal was to try to get us out of the business of regulating occupancy because that was a barrier to people using these in the way that a lot of people are already using them.”

Emery provided an example of RV use from a conversation he had with a Vietnam War veteran who told him about the RV he has in his backyard for a friend to live in. The veteran said rent from the RV is how he supports himself. He also had an RV in the front yard to use for weekend getaways.

“That stuck in my mind as a reasonable threshold,” Emery said. “People should be allowed to house, and they should be allowed to use an RV.”

The argument then becomes how many RVs should be allowed on one property. There’s a threshold where too many RVs on one property could bring pressure from the Urban Growth Hearings Board on the issue, Emery said.

“That’s where someone could say, ‘Hey, look, each of those RVs are, in fact, a residential unit,’” he said.

The use of that many RVs will affect the use of septic, water and power and generate more traffic to the area, which will impact normal residential use.

The state Growth Management Act states the density for rural areas is one dwelling unit per 5 acres or less, Emery said.

“So we have these limitations in the rural area,” he said. “The original standard for accessory dwelling units was structured to be able to demonstrate that an ADU is nothing more than an extension of the primary residence.”

Current county code states that two or more RVs on one property constitute an RV park, and those are not allowed everywhere.

“It’s basically set up right now in our code to either be strictly for like a recreational destination location or for an urban setting where you have higher-density development,” Emery said.

Emery also addressed the occupancy limit for an RV, which the current county codes says is no more than 90 consecutive days.

“It’s really not enforceable, but it’s still a provision in the code and prevents us from telling someone over the counter, ‘Hey, you can do this,’” Emery said.

Another change the proposed RV ordinance makes is to require a power source which would prevent RV users from having generators that create a lot of noise for neighbors, he said.

The Planning Commission will do more work on the ordinance in March or April, Emery told commissioners earlier this month.

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