About 50 people showed up Tuesday for an update on several high-end projects throughout the Harbor at the Greater Grays Harbor Inc. (GGHI) event in Aberdeen.
The event, held at Rotary Log Pavilion, welcomed Brian Shay, city administrator for Hoquiam; Nick Bird, city engineer for Aberdeen; Brad Thomas, executive director for Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma; and Gary Nelson, executive director, and Kris Koski, port engineer, for the Port of Grays Harbor, in order to share updates to projects they’re working on. The speakers and the guests were treated to a catered lunch from Galway Bay Irish Pub.
Kyle Pauley, vice chair of the board of directors for GGHI, helped host the event.
Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project
Shay started with a presentation on the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection project, which includes the North Shore Levee (NSL,) North Shore Levee West Segment (NSLWS) and the Fry Creek Pump Project (FCPP.) When it’s finished, the project should remove $2.2 million in annual flood insurance premiums from Aberdeen and Hoquiam residents living in the floodplain. There are currently 5,100 properties, 1,354 businesses and 1,292 jobs affected, according to Shay’s slideshow. Between the NSL and the NSLWS, the project includes 7.9 combined miles of construction.
And as far as finance — from state, local and federal sources — Shay said they’ve gotten what they need.
As it stands today I feel we have secured the money we need,” Shay said. “We’re not actively pursuing money at this point.”
Shay explained further why the project — a partnership between Aberdeen and Hoquiam — is essential.
“The simple reason is we get a lot of flooding,” Shay said. “You probably saw the heavy rains we had earlier (Tuesday).”
And then he showed a picture from 2015 of an atmospheric river over Grays Harbor that dumped 11 inches of rain in about a 24-hour period.
“That flood event was really the time when we really came together as two communities and said ‘we’ve got to solve flooding in our community,’” Shay said.
Shay delved further into why the project is of clear need. Since 1964, there have been 17 federally declared disasters in Grays Harbor.
“Surprisingly, the event we had in 2015 did not reach the level of damage that it was a federal disaster,” Shay said. “But you can see it year-in and year-out we have catastrophic flooding in Aberdeen and Hoquiam.”
Most recently, in January of 2022, Grays Harbor County saw the combination of king tides, soil erosion, rain and snowmelt bring forth more flooding. Despite the record rainfall Hoquiam saw — 5.78 inches on Jan. 6, 2022 — which led to flooding throughout the county, that did not qualify as a federal disaster either.
Willie Nunn, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Region 10, which serves Washington state, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho, called the $50 million from a FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) award the project secured as “an important step towards community resilience and increased public safety,” back on Aug. 12, 2022. Nunn and others from FEMA were at Zelasko Park to announce that portion of funding for the levee, along with city representatives from Aberdeen and Hoquiam.
The “Summary of 2023-25 Work and Beyond” slide showed what needs to happen for the project to help residents. Between 2023 and 2024, final design, permitting, right of way for both NSL and NSLWS and the FCPS need to be completed. Then from 2025-26, the levee construction begins. Then in 2027, the project needs its FEMA Levee certification. Along with all of that, environmental permitting is the “principal driver relating to keeping the project on schedule,” according to the slideshow.
“Once the levee is built and certified, FEMA will change the flood map and people will no longer be required to pay for flood insurance,” Shay said.
U.S. 12 Highway-Rail Separation Project
Bird spoke about the Aberdeen U.S. 12 Highway-Rail Separation Project, which concerns residents traveling both ways across the Wishkah River. The train photos spoke for themselves. Bird even showed a photo he took from inside his car that showed the traffic backup outside Walmart and Five Star Dealerships in east Aberdeen. The backups happen on both the east and west sides of the rail line.
Bird said with the rail lines, the congestion they cause affects residents, visitors and businesses. And then there’s the problem it causes for first responders.
“At the end of the day, a commercial area like this, where we’re at right now, becomes isolated when there is rail traffic that goes through here. And it does impact significantly the emergency access,” Bird said.
Bird, a fan of the great UCLA college basketball coach John Wooden, said he’d be “remiss” not to quote Wooden and how the quote pertains to the need of this project.
“Not all change is progress, but there is no progress without change,” Bird said.
Bird mentioned how the East Aberdeen area continues to develop.
That’s where Bird’s slide showing the challenges comes in:
U.S. Highway 12 follows narrow a corridor in East Aberdeen and is a route for through traffic and local access
Railroad bisects the area, blocking access to a major commercial area — trains stop traffic on highway
Conflicts between different users in East Aberdeen: motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, trucks and trains
And here’s where the project should help alleviate those problems, according to the same slide:
Relieve congestion along U.S. Highway 12
Increase mobility and accessibility in East Aberdeen
Improve safety and emergency access for first responders
The project timeline was highlighted in Bird’s slideshow as well:
Continued preliminary design — should complete around the end of 2024’s second quarter
Environmental documentation — should start during 2023’s fourth quarter and then last through the end of 2024
Stakeholder coordination — it started during 2023’s third quarter and it should run through the end of 2024
Final design — should start during 2024’s second quarter and then it should last until about mid-2024
Right-Of-Way acquisition — should start at about the beginning of 2024’s third quarter and last until about mid-2025
Construction — should begin at about the start of 2025’s third quarter and last through the end of 2026
So far, the project has secured about $72.7 million in funds from the Connecting Washington funding package. The funding package was “fully phased-in on July 1, 2016,” according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. The project has also received $700,000 from Washington State Department of Transportation Rail, $300,000 from Grays Harbor County, $200,000 from the Port of Grays Harbor and $200,000 from the city of Aberdeen. All told, that amounts to a little more than $74 million.
Summit Pacific Medical Center
Brad Thomas, executive director for Summit Pacific Medical Center (SPMC), talked about the hospital’s expansion, which is slated to start in 2024, according to his slideshow.
In addition to a laundry list of critical access services — complete with a level II cardiac center, level III stroke center and level IV trauma care, SPMC provides Inpatient Behavioral Health Facility, four rural health clinics, specialty services and a wellness center complete with what Thomas said was “the best $10 lunch” you’ll get on the Harbor.
And then with a growing population anticipated between Olympia and Elma, the hospital needs more room. That’s where the expansion comes in.
The expansion includes 30,000 square feet and a 7,000 square feet renovation and it will include, according to SPMC’s slideshow:
Expanding the current facility by doubling the number of acute care beds from 10 to 20, while allowing it to “flex” up to its license of 25 beds
Renovation and expansion of the current emergency department, increasing from 10 to 16 treatment space. That will increase areas for triage and patient holding, provide designated mental health treatment rooms, increase trauma rooms and expand patient waiting
The helipad will shift over to the facility’s roof
The imaging department will expand to include 24/7 MRI services
An expanded lab will include a second chemistry analyzer
The remodeled and expanded hospital cafe will accommodate more patients and guests
Design changes will improve patient flow and throughput — which allows for the efficient flow of patients through the hospital, according to the National Library of Medicine. The changes will also enhance patient experience and safety.
The expansion will take place between the current emergency area and East Main Street. For visual mapping purposes, that’ll be across the street from several businesses, including the Coffee Coop and Rusty Tractor Restaurant.
And to make all of this happen, according to the slideshow, there is “no additional community tax or levy being pursued.” Instead, the hospital expansion is anticipated to be $55 million funded through S&P revenue bonds. There is also the Saving Lives Capital Campaign adding to it with $3 million.
With all SPMC’s services, it plays right into the hospital’s vision.
“Through Summit Care, we will build the healthiest community in the nation,” the vision states.
Port of Grays Harbor
And then there was the Port of Grays Harbor (PGH,) which is involved in a heavy amount of soy. Nelson explained the sheer size of the project.
“It involves a lot of infrastructure,” Nelson said. “ It’ll be the largest project the port has ever taken in its history, both the magnitude and value.”
Nelson also thanked AG Processing, Inc. (AGP) for its continued partnership through the past 20-plus years.
Nelson talked about the demand for the expansion, which includes a renewable fuel demand, increased soy processing, Southeast Asia’s demand for protein and AGP’s expansion of soymeal export facility.
According to U.S. soybean meal production numbers versus projected production numbers that Nelson shared, the production will increase by more than half between 2022 and 2026.
AGP, according to Nelson, is looking to expand its facility at the port.
It sounds as if AGP’s expansion is of extreme importance to Grays Harbor.
“AGP has, they’ve already invested well over $100 million in Terminal 2,” Nelson said. “And this one, the expansion at Terminal 4 will be probably $125-130 million, so they’re going to be over $200 million invested in our community. Why is that important? Well number one, they pay taxes … and the other piece of it is they’re not gonna pick up and go some place else. They’re very committed to the community and the Port of Grays Harbor, which we’re very thankful for.”
And then there’s an interesting fact about Aberdeen in relation to its soybean exporting — it’s the largest exporter on the West Coast.
Here’s what the PGH’s Terminal 4 expansion and development project includes:
Cargo yard relocation and expansion PGH — convert former pontoon casting basin site into cargo laydown area in support of Terminal 4A
Rail upgrades and site improvements PGH — providing new or realigned rail
• AG Processing Inc. (AGP) dry bulk ship loading facility — rail receiving building, conveyors and scale, ship loader at Terminal 4B
Dock, fender and stormwater upgrades (PGH) — Upgrade and modernize existing dock. Construct a new marine fender system and a stormwater collection and treatment system
The project means a great deal for several other important factors. The project impacts include:
80-plus long-term jobs
$123 million private investment
Doubles export cargo capacity on federal navigation channel
Serves growing demand for domestic renewable fuel stocks
Aids in global food security
Koski explained the importance of those jobs.
“These kind of jobs are those foundational jobs that are at the very root of the community,” Koski said.
Koski said the private investment is actually now about $130 million. He called it a “massive investment in the community.” Koski also called the doubling of export cargo capacity “critical.”
Nelson outlined the timeline for the project.
Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) Grant Awarded ($25.5 million) — fourth quarter of 2022
AGP Option — fourth quarter of 2022
Design — starting during the fourth quarter of 2022, goes through the first quarter of 2024
Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) — started during 2023’s second quarter, ran through 2023’s third quarter. The SEPA comment period was during 2023’s third quarter
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — began at the start of 2023 and runs through 2024’s first quarter
Environmental permitting — started in 2023’s first quarter and runs through 2024’s first quarter
Bidding — slated to happen during 2024’s second quarter
Construction — scheduled to begin during second or third quarter of 2024 and then run through part of 2025’s fourth quarter
AGP Operations Startup — Starts at second quarter of 2025, runs until the end of 2025’s third quarter
“I think you’ll see starting about 2024, and then 2025 and 2026 there’s going to be a lot of investment and projects actively under construction in our community, it’s going to be construction labor …” Koski said. “It’s going to be a very interesting few years.”
Pauley spoke a little about the point of the overall event and how it shows an exciting future for Grays Harbor County.
“A lot of these projects have been ongoing for so long,” Pauley said. “It’s great to see that they’ve been happening. There’s a lot of people who know about them. But hearing about them because there are a lot of people who might not know these projects are ongoing or don’t follow the news, so getting a chance to do all of the major updates, these are major, major projects that any one of them would be fantastic, amazing news for Grays Harbor. The fact that we have four of them going on at the same time, and that’s not the only great thing happening, but these are major infrastructure projects that are going to change Grays Harbor drastically for the future. And so having an opportunity to hear from all of them and see how they work together is just a great opportunity.”
Member of the Quarter
In other related GGHI news, La Spiaggia Ristorante, in Ocean Shores, won the organization’s member of the quarter. La Spiaggia, which Doug Cox and his wife Rhonda Wirkman own and run, is in the “heart” of Ocean Shores — 729 Point Brown Ave. NW. The couple opened the restaurant in July 2022 and it was their “lifelong dream,” according to GGHI.
“(They) have transformed the restaurant into a warm and comfortable space where Chef Doug puts his classically trained skills to use in their ‘scratch kitchen’ focusing on quality and flavorful ingredients,” states a GGHI news release. “The restaurant is equipped with a full bar serving cocktails, wine and beer selections with a kind and positive staff to create a memorable experience whether you’re on a date night or dining with the entire family.”
Through their first year and two months of owning the restaurant, Cox and Wirkman appreciate the Ocean Shores community.
“We greatly appreciate their support,” the release states. “We didn’t want to be a small fish in a big pond like we would have felt opening a new business somewhere like Seattle. We also love doing business next to the ocean.”
Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.
Summit Pacific Medical Center Summit Pacific Medical Center’s expansion slated to start in 2024.
Port of Grays Harbor The Port of Grays Harbor is undergoing its own expansion projects as it ramps up its shipping business.
Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Brian Shay, Hoquiam’s city administrator, updates the attendees on the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project at Greater Grays Harbor, Inc’s event on Tuesday at the Rotary Log Pavilion, in Aberdeen. It’s one of four massive projects that will affect the Harbor throughout the next few years. Brian Shay, Hoquiam’s city administrator, updates the attendees on the Aberdeen-Hoquiam Flood Protection Project at Greater Grays Harbor, Inc’s event on Tuesday at Rotary Log Pavilion, in Aberdeen. It’s one of four massive projects that will affect the Harbor throughout the next few years. (Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World)
Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Nick Bird, engineer for the city of Aberdeen, speaks about the U.S. 12 Highway-Rail Separation Project that should help clear up the congestion in East Aberdeen. He talked about three main objectives of the project: Relieve congestion along U.S. Highway 12, increase mobility and accessibility in East Aberdeen, and improve safety and emergency access for first responders.
Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Brad Thomas, executive director at Summit Pacific Medical Center (SPMC,) in Elma, updates a crowd of about 50 people on the expansion project at SPMC at a Greater Grays Harbor Inc. (GGHI) event Tuesday at the Rotary Log Pavilion. The project will add more services to make for a better, healthier community, which is part of SPMC’s vision and mission.
Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Gary Nelson, executive director for the Port of Grays Harbor (PGH,) talks about the expansion project at the port. Aberdeen is the soybean export leader on the West Coast.
About 50 people showed up on Tuesday to the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen to hear updates to four major infrastructure projects that are happening and will continue through the next several years on the Harbor. (Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World) Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World About 50 people showed up on Tuesday to the Rotary Log Pavilion, in Aberdeen to hear updates to four major infrastructure projects that are happening and will continue through the next several years on the Harbor.
