State allocates $20 million for Port Hadlock sewer project

PORT HADLOCK — The state Legislature has allocated $20.175 million to the Port Hadlock sewer project, bringing it to within about $2 million to move forward.

The funding will come from recent federal relief and infrastructure packages that the state has received.

The total cost of the project to bring a sewer to the “core area” of Port Hadlock is estimated to be $23.6 million. Officials are working to secure the last $2 million, which they believe they can do through additional funding sources, Monte Reinders, county public works director, said in a press release Monday.

The core area of Port Hadlock includes lower Hadlock and the Old Alcohol Plant.

The sewer project in the Port Hadlock Urban Growth Area has been discussed since the UGA was established in 2002. In 2017, the majority of property owners in the commercial core approached the county with renewed interest in seeing the sewer project completed, Reinders said.

County commissioners have been working with state legislators from the 24th District that encompasses the North Olympic Peninsula to get funding for the project.

Last year, the Legislature awarded $1.422 million to complete the project design, which is expected to be completed in summer, Reinders said.