Belfair sewer project progressing on schedule

Swanson says project is going according to plan

Matt Baide | Mar 23, 20230

Courtesy of Mason County Public Works count

Workers work on completing the Belfair sewer project.

Almost one year ago, after months of public hearings and commissioner debate, the Belfair sewer project was approved to go out to bid and move forward with construction.

Since then, the project has been going great, according to Public Works Director Loretta Swanson.

Harbor Custom Homes built the portion of the sewer line that runs next to the Belfair View apartments and the Olympic Ridge housing development up to the Navy rail. Swanson said that part is complete.

The contract was awarded to Pape and Sons Construction of Gig Harbor last October for a year, and the project is on schedule, according to Swanson. The total amount of the contract for the construction was $4,231,500, and Pape and Sons balance left to build is $2.3 million, according to Swanson.

"They're on schedule. They're within budget. We've got no hiccups or surprises to date," Swanson said. "They've been great to work with. We meet weekly with the contractor, the engineering team, the landowner frequently has somebody present. Sometimes the landowner's engineer is on the call as well because we've had some coordination to work through as far as how the sewer alignment relates to the emergency vehicle access so we're making sure we aren't having to redo things on either part."

The pipe through the property owner's land is just about done, according to Swanson. The other two parts of the project that need to be completed are constructing the lift station and boring under the Navy rail. County commissioners recently approved the easement to go under the railroad tracks.

"On either side of the tracks, there will be a large area opened up and excavated so that you can get a piece of equipment that can drive pipe and basically bore a hole under the tracks and move that pipe through," Swanson said. "This is a big pipe. ... Large diameter and then inside of that is our sewer line itself. They weren't sure what type of material they would encounter under the rails so if you drive around, you'll see there are these occasional, really massive boulders on the surface and around and so there was some geotechnical work and boring prior to the project to say, what's the soil like down 30 feet under the ground? Are we going to see just nice, lovely sand, no problem? Or are we going to see these massive boulders?"

The lift station is planned for construction behind Sozo Church, on state Route 3 just south of the Mason Transit Authority's Belfair facility, which is where the end of the pipe is for now.

County commissioners recently granted an extension on talks with the City of Bremerton and the Port of Bremerton on extending the line up to the Puget Sound Industrial Center, and Swanson said talks are going well.

"The City of Bremerton is updating its general sewer plan so that's kind of a governing document that says here's how we will provide sewer service within either a city or urban growth area," Swanson said. "When the city was looking at the very southern portion of the boundaries and the southern portion of the Puget Sound Industrial Center, they thought it may be more cost-effective to run sewer to the Belfair facility then to construct a new (facility) down there. That's why they initially started thinking about, does it make sense to partner up and talk with the county about this and they're in the process of doing their general sewer plan update to reflect that's where they're thinking about."

Swanson said the overall project has gone according to plan and the project overall is small compared to the road projects Public Works has to do regularly.

"Our meat and potatoes is roads, bridges, that type of thing and so to take on this size of a sewer project, that's a good chunk of change for sure," Swanson said. "Certainly key in terms of overall benefit, it's a huge project. It's huge in my mind in that respect because this is what is facilitating the growth in Belfair.

"It has been a really good project so far. It really has. We expect it to stay that way."