The Port of Walla Walla is a step closer to upgrading and extending utilities at its Wallula-based business parks by approving a grant and accepting an offer from a contractor.

At the Thursday, July 24, Port meeting, Commissioners Kip Kelly, Ron Dunning and Amy Schwab approved two actions: awarding a $400,000 Economic Development Sales Tax Fund grant and selecting a contractor, Premier Excavation Inc., for the waterline extension project.

The Port also approved the waterline project's budget of $816,602 for the total expected cost, which includes $575,000 for the contractor.

Funding for the project partially comes from the Port's and Walla Walla County Board of Commissioners' Economic Development Sales Tax Fund account.

According to the Port's website, the sales tax fund account uses 0.9% of collected county sales tax to fund economic development infrastructure projects. Some projects the sales tax can support include roads, water facilities, storm sewer facilities, research testing, transportation infrastructure and telecommunication infrastructure.

Currently, the Port's sales tax fund account balance is about $4.8 million with an estimated $775,000 of that amount already allocated to other approved projects.

Once completed, the utility project will extend the Wallula Dodd Water System, which provides drinking water and fire suppression at the Port-owned Dodd Industrial Park, Wallula Gap Business Park and Stearns Kelly property.

During this project, the Port is also looking at designs and surveying the nearby rail lines and infrastructure for future work.

Other plans included in the project are grading, embankment compaction and gravel surfacing to create a stable foundation for the nearby railroad.

The Port's staff report stated that in 2019, the Wallula Dodd Water System was upgraded with a 6.2-million-gallon water reservoir connected to new shallow wells and the existing Port's Dodd Road deep basalt well. Also, the water system's mechanical and electrical functions were improved.

Pat Reay, the Port's executive director, said the newly approved project will first focus on the water system and would then start improving other utility systems.

"These (waterlines) are really isolated. Once we install this water (system), it's out of the way. Then the rail can come in," he said.

Directly impacted facilities in the area include the CP Plastics site. At a May Port meeting, Reay said CP Plastics is now in its permitting and construction phase. Once finalized, the CP Plastic site is expected to provide an estimated $1.07 million in revenue through a sale at Dodd Road Industrial Park.

As part of CP Plastic's purchase and sale agreement with the Port, the Port is required to extend water services out to the future Wallula facility. 

"This bid award will just get service to CP Plastic (and) meet our purchase and sale agreement requirements ... but long term is the next phase would then be a system benefit because by adding a loop line in here, you’ve got redundancy. So, dead end lines are not good on water systems," Reay said.

Other nearby sites are the Northwest Wine Services facility, Union Pacific Railroad Cold Connect facility and a Columbia REA substation.

Port of Walla Walla moves forward with Wallula utility project

The Port of Walla Walla approved a $400,000 grant and selected Premier Excavation Inc. to extend waterline infrastructure for the Wallula Dodd Water System, which serves industrial parks. The project includes $816,602 in funding, with $575,000 allocated to the contractor. The initiative aims to support future rail development and expand water services to sites like CP Plastics and Northwest Wine Services.