Whatcom County details Austin Court stormwater upgrades; construction targeted for mid‑August

Lonnie Patterson, project manager for Whatcom County Public Works’ Stormwater Division, told Geneva neighborhood residents that the Austin Court Stormwater Improvements Project is about 90% through design and the county expects to go to bid in late spring, with construction targeted to start in mid‑August and finish by mid‑September.

Kathy Kramer, senior planner in the stormwater division, said the work responds to water‑quality requirements tied to Lake Whatcom. “It’s a drinking water source for over a 100,000 people within the county,” Kramer said, describing low dissolved oxygen and excess nutrients that the county’s TMDL (total maximum daily load) and municipal stormwater permit aim to address.

Design consultant Rhett Winter of Wilson Engineering reviewed the site plan and six work areas. The main tactics are to replace or regrade broken and undersized pipes, convert hard‑to‑maintain roadside ditches to underground pipe and catch basins where feasible, and install wedge curbs and localized asphalt replacement to direct runoff to an existing treatment vault at the east end of Fur Tree Way. “We’re pretty firm on our project limits and our proposals, but we’d like to get any impact or any feedback from you,” Patterson said.

Technical fixes described include filling or piping existing ditches, installing new catch basins and underground pipe (shown in plan symbology as purple lines and basin dots), repairing damaged culverts, and creating a small depression in one location to capture persistent pavement ponding. The team said they recorded several damaged or plugged pipes during televised inspections and will target those sections for replacement or rerouting.

Residents raised questions about property impacts. On a collapsed driveway culvert in area 4, staff said the culvert would be plugged at each end and the new county pipeline would be placed near the asphalt edge to avoid full driveway excavation where possible; some minor removal and replacement of concrete drive apron may be required. A resident worried about a large maple at 4807 Fur Tree Way; staff said they will measure distances in the field and suggested excavation would be at least six feet from the asphalt and is not expected to require root‑scale excavation, though some fill may be placed near the root zone.

Several neighbors described recurrent winter flooding on Whitney Street and sections of Fur Tree Way. Staff acknowledged the reported flows and told residents that the Whitney flows are noted but are not part of the current Austin Court scope; they invited residents to submit photos to the project file to help staff evaluate future work. “If you have photos, I’m more than happy to receive those just for our project files,” Patterson told attendees.

Construction logistics staff said one travel lane will be maintained, driveway access will be coordinated with affected households, mail service will be maintained though mailboxes may be temporarily relocated, and the county will likely replace rotten mailbox posts when reinstalling boxes. Mandy, the county communications specialist, reviewed optional Title VI sign‑in for nondiscrimination reporting, translation resources, and the project web page for documents and recordings.

Next steps: staff invited residents to submit photos and contact information, committed to follow up on mailbox options and the tree measurement at 4807, and said finalized plans will proceed to bidding. No formal county action or vote occurred at the meeting; the schedule remains subject to bid timing and contractor availability.