Skyrocketing lumber prices have forced the City of Cosmopolis to delay construction of its new municipal building.

Cosmopolis Mayor Kyle Pauley, who had hoped to put the $3 million project to house City Hall and the police department out to bid for construction starting this spring, made the announcement Monday.

Voters narrowly approved the bond measure to fund the building in 2019. Since then, the city has fought through COVID-19 pandemic-related staffing and access delays to get through the planning and design process for the 8,800 square foot facility, only to find lumber costs have risen such that major alterations to the building’s design would be needed if construction began this spring.

In his announcement, Pauley referenced recent figures by the National Association of Home Builders showing “lumber prices have skyrocketed more than 180% since last spring.” Pauley said, “Looking at the needs of the project, some increases have reached levels as high as 300% of pre-pandemic pricing.”

“With our available funding, this is cost-prohibitive,” said Pauley. “The current price of building materials would require drastic alterations to the building plans that would be a detriment to the final project if we were to begin construction as planned this spring.”

Pauley said after discussions with city staff and partners with Harbor Architects LLC, the decision was made to delay constructions until the materials costs level out. The city will continue to monitor the pricing and work on finishing the construction and bid documents in the meantime.

“This is, unfortunately, one of the numerous impacts that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has brought upon our small municipality,” said Pauley, “While I look forward to continuing the process as soon as possible, I am also watching the current restrictions and ramifications of this pandemic and know that there are no certainties until the economy moderates.”

That said, he said the city is tentatively looking at spring 2022 for a groundbreaking.