Port of Allyn stages groundbreaking for well

Port of Allyn’s Board of commissioners will have a special public meeting at their administrative office Oct. 24 to discuss commissioner district boundaries and a couple of other items that Port of Allyn Operations Manager LeAnn Dennis added to the meeting agenda.

One of those items is routine — approving a $500 voucher for payment to the Economic Development Council of Jefferson County for its annual dues.

“I think we’re also adding a discussion about electricity fees to the special meeting for possible action,” Dennis said. “The agenda should be posted on our portofallyn.com website by next Friday, Oct. 21.”

Although its scheduling wasn’t announced early enough for the Shelton-Mason County Journal to send out notice, Port of Allyn Executive Director Lary Coppola sent out word of his own to the press and public Oct. 13 to let people know the port’s groundbreaking ceremony for its new well was scheduled for Oct. 19.

The site of the project is on the same lot as the port’s water storage tank, on Fife Street in Allyn. Although it’s not marked, Fife Street is above Blackwell Street. The tank is visible from Blackwell.

“Representatives Drew McEwen and Dan Griffey will be there for certain, since they helped us get the grant for this project, while Sen. Tim Sheldon has a prior commitment,” Coppola told the Journal. “The Mason County commissioners have been invited, as well as Congressman Derek Kilmer.”

Coppola said that as part of the approval for the water system in 2003, the port had agreed to drill a new well and have it online by March 1, 2020.

“No one who is here now, commissioners or staff, was aware of this, as none of them were here when that deadline was agreed to,” Coppola said. “We received a letter in early 2020 from the Department of Ecology, confirming the new well would be online by March 1. That was a gut shot to us, as there was no way we would be able to get that done in time. Between permitting issues and finances, it was just impossible, as it hadn’t been planned for previously, since none of us knew about it.”

Coppola said he requested and received an extension from Ecology until March 1, 2024, and the port set about planning and trying to find money for the project.

“We hired Aspect Consulting and NW Water Systems, who’s our system manager, to do the engineering and design,” said Coppola, who again credited Griffey, McEwen and Sheldon with agreeing to help the port, while the port’s lobbyists, who include Holly Cocci and Gordon Thomas Honeywell, convinced other legislators to support the port’s request for funding.

The Port of Allyn was ultimately awarded a $400,000 grant from the Department of Commerce, and was able to secure another $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money from Mason County.

“At this point, the engineering is just about complete, and we’ll submit the required paperwork to Commerce next week to file for the required permits,” Coppola said Oct. 13. “From there, we’ll be putting this project out to bid. Our goal is to have it online by March 1, 2023, a full year earlier than the extension deadline.”

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
[email protected]