Clark County reports $1.8M in draft grant offers, warns GMA compliance could block stormwater projects

Clark County Clean Water Division staff told the Clean Water Commission on Feb. 12 that four applications the division submitted to the Washington State Department of Ecology’s combined water-quality grant programs were recommended on Ecology’s draft offer list, together totaling roughly $1.8 million. Staff cautioned that stormwater facility offers are contingent on the county’s compliance with the Growth Management Act (GMA), and the county cannot sign funding agreements for those projects until compliance is resolved.

Devin, a Clean Water Division staff member, summarized the draft offers: two stormwater-facility retrofit projects on Northeast Highway 99 were recommended for funding (about $660,000 for the Northeast Hazel Plaza-to-Second Street retrofit and about $590,000 for a Lower Salmon Creek retrofit), a community-based public–private partnership (CBP3) program-development award of roughly $360,000, and a Cougar Creek enhancement phase 1 award of about $230,000. In total, the four draft recommendations sum to approximately $1.84 million. Staff said the final allocations depend on the state budget and legislative approval this spring.

Staff explained the GMA compliance constraint: Ecology can place projects on a draft offer list, but Clark County may not sign final grant agreements for stormwater-facility projects until the county is in compliance with the Growth Management Act. The county is engaged in litigation connected to an industrial/mining overlay; staff said resolution may depend on Supreme Court action and that projects would remain ineligible until the county returns to compliance. Staff advised the commission that, if the county is still noncompliant when final offer letters are issued, the county would have to rely on rate revenues or other local funds to implement those capital projects.

Staff also updated the commission on a separate $3.5 million Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan for the Heritage Farm wetland restoration project; staff said loan terms and scope negotiations are beginning and that, if negotiated successfully, construction on the wetland restoration could start this year.

Rate study and financial impacts Staff presented results from the recently completed rate study. The division’s annual revenue is expected to rise from roughly $8 million to about $14 million under the adopted fee structure — an increase of about $6 million (a more than 50% increase in annual revenue). Staff said Clark County roads will be the single largest internal payer, with an estimated additional fee burden of about $2 million annually. Single-family residential fees in the urban growth area (UGA) were cited at $85.59 per household and $63.74 outside the UGA. Multifamily rates were reduced per unit at the County Council’s direction to avoid disincentivizing density; nonresidential properties are assessed based on 3,500 square-foot impervious increments.

Staff said the county will place the fee on the annual property tax assessment (billed through the tax statement) and that property owners may use installment options. Staff also described a dispute process for property owners who believe their impervious area has been mischaracterized.

Hiring and program updates To support implementation, staff outlined roughly 10 recruitments planned for 2025, paid by the clean-water fee, including positions for grants/special-projects management, monitoring supervision, environmental-operations staff for private stormwater facilities, outreach and education staff, and asset-management support. Staff noted vacancies and near-term retirements created capacity risks and said new hires will be distributed across Clean Water, Roads and Parks where the division shares service agreements.

Tree canopy and outreach Staff reported a pilot effort to plant 1,000 trees under a Department of Natural Resources appropriation and noted a completed urban tree-canopy assessment for the urban growth area and introduction of a TreePlotter mapping tool for public use. Staff said outreach capacity is expanding and that the division expects to hire additional education/outreach staff this year.

Next steps Staff said final Ecology funding allocations will be set in the state budget in July; if Clark County is not in GMA compliance by then, staff will seek alternative local funding sources to implement capital projects. Staff asked the commission to be ready to support grant and RFP processes and to form a small adaptive-management work group to track rate-study implementation, performance indicators and barriers to delivery.