PORT ANGELES — Clallam County leaders on Monday moved toward hiring a consultant to study running an eastward sewer line along U.S. Highway 101 outside the city.
The sewer line is seen as key to future economic development along the Highway 101 commercial corridor in an area where septic systems now limit growth.
Public Works Director Craig Jacobs recommends that Brown and Caldwell Environmental Engineering of Seattle be ranked at the top of a list of 18 firms he reviewed for the consulting work.
The company has worked with the city of Port Angeles, giving it a knowledge of the city’s sewage treatment system.
County Administrator Dan Engelbertson said the county would discuss the proposed sewer line project with Brown and Caldwell, and Public Works would return in two weeks to bring county commissioners a “scope of work” report.
Routing the sewer line
Specifications and options for routing the line would be discussed, Engelbertson said.
The county administrator has been trying to negotiate a mutually beneficial city-county revenue sharing agreement should the city annex the Highway 101 commercial corridor between the city limit almost at DelGuzzi Drive and Morse Creek to the east.
City officials have made it clear that sending a sewer line eastward would prompt annexation, a plan opposed by some business owners and residents.