SEQUIM — Officials expect to connect the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s new hotel and other Blyn facilities to the City of Sequim’s wastewater treatment system later this month.
The connection of the two systems originally was scheduled for February, but snow and COVID-19 closures and concerns delayed hotel construction.
Jerry Allen, 7 Cedars Casino/Resort CEO, said the tentative connection date is June 28 or 29.
The approximately $40 million, 100-room hotel is nearing completion.
“We’re at a place now where we want to flush toilets and do checks and balances,” he said.
“We’re happy that we’re going to be connected.”
The new hotel will open reservations on July 7 for an Aug. 4 opening with a soft opening for tribal citizens and employees between those dates, Allen said.
“We’re almost ready,” he said.
A sewer connection has been discussed for more than a decade with tribal leaders agreeing to pay the city about $1.59 million for a buy-in cost based on the percentage of piping and sewer capacity at between 5 percent and 6 percent of the Water Reclamation Facility’s capacity.
Payment
On June 2, Sequim City Council members unanimously agreed after an executive session to send a letter to the tribe explaining that the city’s wastewater treatment plant would not accept wastewater or effluent until the tribe paid $50,000 upfront of its late fee of about $159,000.
They agreed the tribe had until Dec. 31 to pay off the balance without interest or penalty.
Sequim Public Works Director David Garlington said in a phone interview they city reached out via mail and email to the tribe on June 3, and the $50,000 was paid the same day.
Previously, Tribal Council Chairman W. Ron Allen said the approximate $8.5 million sewer project was funded with a 40-year loan from the federal Department of Agriculture, which allows for future growth in the purchased sewer capacity.
The pipeline on the south side of U.S. Highway 101 connects 7 Cedars Casino, administrative and business buildings, Blyn Fire Station, Jamestown Public Safety and Justice Center and the tribe’s hotel/resort to the city’s Water Reclamation Facility via Whitefeather Way.
Tribal representatives sent a letter requesting a waiver from the city for an extension, but city staff said they maintained the stance of not allowing the connection until a payment was made.
Jerry Allen said they respect the process and he’s “glad the tribal council got it resolved so we can all move forward.”
Sequim Deputy Mayor Tom Ferrell said city council members support the connection.
“We want the casino to open,” he said. “We want the tourism. We want the advantages of that.”
Wastewater
On Monday, Garlington said the wastewater treatment plant began circulating reclaimed water into the city after a few weeks of being shut off due to high turbidity, a level where water loses its transparency due to particulates.
He previously said the city’s Class A Reclamation Facility has gone out of compliance and normally runs at a Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) rate “well below 1,” but it’s been at about 10, about 5 over the noncompliance level to distribute reclaimed water.
On Monday, the level was at about 1.5 and appeared to be dropping, Garlington said.
He and other state officials speculate the high level was due to residents using more bleach products during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it affected the process at the city’s treatment plant.
Unused water was being sent into the Strait of Juan de Fuca but now will be used for watering flower baskets, in the city’s fish pond, for irrigating parks, for cleaning purposes at the city shop, and to provide services for about 10 city residents.
Garlington said the water occasionally is used in the city’s reclaimed park’s rapid infiltration basin, but water is pumped just below the surface and does eventually get into the aquifer.
For more information, contact Sequim Public Works at 360-683-4908.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
