PORT TOWNSEND — The Board of Jefferson County Commissioners approved a grant application to be sent to the Economic Development Administration for possible funding for the Port Hadlock sewer project.

The commissioners unanimously approved the grant application during a special meeting Monday.

The federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) is part of the of the U.S. Department of Commerce and developed an infrastructure development grant program through its fiscal year 2019 Disaster Supplemental Notice of Funding Opportunity, according to county documents.

Jefferson County was declared part of a presidential disaster area in 2018 for debris cleanup, which makes the county as eligible for the grant, said Monte Reinders, county public works director.

The grant is focused on economic resiliency and recovery strategies, Reinders said.

“We decided to make a run at making a tie to the Port Hadlock sewer project to this program, since it is a good funding opportunity,” he said. “I mean, it’s far from a certainty that we would get this grant, but it was worth making this attempt.”

The portion of the sewer project to which the grant could be applied is the commercial wastewater sewage treatment facility, but not the residential hook-ups, and the cost that the EDA grant would be eligible to cover is about $16.4 million, county documents said.

The maximum amount the grant could fund is $10 million, and it requires a 20 percent non-federal funding match, documents said.

The county has committed more than $2.5 million for the project through various funding sources, and officials are still searching for other revenue sources, Reinders said.

The sewer project meets four of the five investment priorities of the EDA, including being located in an opportunity zone, contributing to recovery and resilience, supporting workforce development and improving critical infrastructure, county documents said.

The grant is competitive, but commissioners said they are hoping for the best outcome.

“We all know this project is extremely expensive and doesn’t make a lot of sense on paper until you think about the alternative, which is this area doesn’t develop,” said Kate Dean, District 1 commissioner. “Will Jefferson County ever have a place where it can put a more intensified development and build a more sustainable tax base for ourselves?

“This is the place where we need to be encouraging more density to go,” she said. ”This is just one of hundreds of thousands of steps to bring this closer to reality.”

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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached by email at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com or by phone at 360-385-2335, ext. 5.