City makes land purchases in 2010

    The downtown enhancement project occupied much of the City of Washington?s time and resources in 2009. In 2010, the city shifted its focus to land acquisition. All told, the city purchased 279 acres for three separate projects this year.

    The largest purchase was for 126 acres from Bernard and Judith Bartholow, who owned property west of Elm Grove Cemetery. The city paid $1.5 million for the property, which will serve as the location of the new sewer plant. The city will also use the new property to enlarge Elm Grove Cemetery and to build a connecting road between Highway 1 and Buchanan Street.

    The state and federal governments have ordered Washington to build a new wastewater plant. Those governments are constantly increasing their standards for the cleanliness of treated water, and Washington?s current sewer plant cannot live up to the new standards. Parts of the plant were built in the 1920s.

    City Administrator Dave Plyman remarked, ?If this community refused to build a new sewer plant, we?d find ourselves in court.?

    The cost of a new sewer plant is estimated at $18 million. In addition to the plant, the city will build a 14,000-foot gravity sewer pipe to traffic sewer from Sunset Park to the treatment plant.

    Under the current configuration, the city is unable to transport all wastewater to the plant in a hard rain. When this occurs, the city discharges untreated wastewater into a creek that flows through Sunset Park and a trailer park, which is in violation of state and federal law. The gravity sewer pipe designed to fix this problem will cost about $3.5 million.

    Plyman said the sewer project will be the largest capital project in the city?s history. Construction on the sewer plant and the gravity sewer pipe will begin next year. He hopes the new sewer plant will be finished by the end of 2012.

    ?These are projects that span generations,? he said. ?We?re hoping not to have to make any improvements to the new plant for a very long time.?

For more, see our Dec. 29 print edition.