The Orcas Village park and ride is only a few weeks from completion, but most of a state grant to fund construction has been withdrawn.
“The project needs to be completed at this point and the county is left holding the bag with this completion,” said San Juan County Engineer Colin Huntemer at the Aug. 29 county council meeting.
On Aug. 16, Huntemer was informed that county staff will only receive $405,000 of a $760,000 grant for the project because Washington State Transportation Department staff did not properly budget for it in the state’s new, two-year budget.
The remaining cost of the project is $100,000 and the council agreed to finish it and dispute the reimbursements with WSDOT officials. The park and ride may not open until reimbursements are made, said Councilman Jamie Stephens, as leverage for WSDOT staff to cover costs.
Orcas Hill Road was relocated for the project. The road is currently missing a guard rail, said Huntemer, and about 15 residents live at the top of it and need access to their homes. Paving the gravel road started on Thursday, Aug. 31, he added.
The WSDOT grant partially funded the construction of a free parking lot at the Orcas Island Washington State Ferries Terminal for walk-on ferry passengers. The lot would eliminate passengers from unsafely parking on Orcas Road, said Huntemer.
The total estimated cost of the project is $1.2 million and should be completed by early September, he said. The county road fund accounted for roughly $1.1 million of the project, added Huntemer, as he was expecting reimbursements from WSDOT.
Stephens noted that all of the state funds should have been reimbursed by now since the project is 95 percent complete. County funds were only to cover the remaining balance, after the grant.
Stephens said he would call legislators after the council meeting to discuss possibly reappropriating some funds in the new, two-year state budget.
Huntemer said he has two signed agreements with WSDOT staff — one to lease the Washington State Ferry-owned property, which houses the lot, and another to receive grant reimbursements.
County staff will receive $405,000 of reimbursements for construction completed before the close of the 2015-17 state budget.
Around last March, Huntemer said he asked WSDOT staff if the project could be extended into August. He said WSDOT staff assured the remaining $332,000, appropriated in that biennium budget, would roll over to the next state two years. However, WSDOT staff did not inform state legislators to earmark the funds in the 2017-19 budget, which lawmakers narrowly passed under deadline on June 30.
“There was miscommunication on the part of the state granting agency, WSDOT,” Huntemer told the Journal.
The county will still receive $23,000, which was originally allocated in the 2017-19 budget.
County staff received an award letter for the $760,000 grant from the WSDOT in November 2015. The grant agreement was signed in March 2016, said Huntemer, and construction started the following spring.
“This was essentially the model project,” said Huntemer. “It was something we have developed entirely in house, using our own resources, and done on an expeditious schedule.”
Now, said Councilman Bill Watson, the lack of funds and the possible delayed opening of the park and ride only hurts county residents.
“The park and ride is not really for WSDOT, it’s not even for Washington State Ferries, it’s for our folks,” said Watson.
Watch the Journal for updates.
