PORT HADLOCK — Angered Jefferson County Public Utility District leaders will run a new water line outside Naval Magazine Indian Island’s security fence close to state Highway 116 after Navy officials urged the PUD to find an alternative to placing the pipe inside the fence.
“It’s just going be a lot more inconvenient and a lot more expensive,” said PUD General Manager Jim Parker.
“If we go between the fence and road, a 3-foot-wide path, the bank drops off and is steep in places. It’d be very difficult to get up there and, secondly, we’re going to have to shut down the road to traffic,” he said.
“It’s always going to be close to the road.”
Parker said he will contact the Port Angeles office of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, who represents the 6th Congressional District, to find out if an easement agreement can be worked out.
The PUD has for three years planned to acquire the Naval Magazine easement of about 10,000 feet just inside the security fence at the south end of Indian Island.
The 3-foot-wide easement for a water line would replace a line that was so old and leaky it was shut off, Parker said.
The existing water line connects Port Hadlock to Indian Island, and Marrowstone Island’s new system runs north along Indian Island and underwater at Kilisut Harbor up to the north end of Marrowstone at Fort Flagler State Park.
The line dates back to before World War II, Parker said.
Consequently, he said, there is a sense of urgency about replacing the line.
The project hit a snag when the Navy’s real estate division asked PUD to pay up to $48,000 for an appraisal on the Navy strip inside the security fence.
PUD Commissioner Wayne King of Gardiner, said PUD already had invested $100,000 in the project by paying for a consultant firm for the project that installed a new water system at Marrowstone Island. That consultant looked at the Naval Magazine easement, King said.
King and Parker said that the easement should be at no cost, especially since the Navy would benefit from it.
That position left Navy officials unfazed, saying they supported PUD finding another route for the line.
‘Protect government’s interest’
“By Navy policy, we are obligated to protect the government’s interest,” Cmdr. Ralph Field, assistant operations officer, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, said in a prepared statement.
“Therefore, we are reluctant to grant easements when there are reasonable alternatives. We are glad to hear Jefferson County PUD has identified an alternate.”
King said PUD would likely pursue the easement along the state highway, but he was not happy about it.
Traffic would have to be directed by flaggers, which Parker said charge between $20 and $30 an hour, tacking on added costs to PUD.
The Naval Magazine easement would have completed the Marrowstone water project, which has attracted more than 200 new residential customer hookups since last year.
Parker and King voiced concerns that the Navy would make the PUD pay fair market value for the easement, perhaps in line with expensive Marrowstone Island prices.
“They don’t know a utility easement from real estate property,” King said. “We have easements all over and never paid for them.”
Referring to the Navy expecting the PUD to pay the additional expense, King said, “Only an idiot would approve that.”
PUD Commissioner Dana Roberts of Port Townsend has said that he too was surprised by the Navy’s position.
The Navy sells real estate interests at market value to protect the investment of the American taxpayers, maximize efficient use of resources and to assure buyers that they pay no more than the right is actually worth, a Navy spokeswoman recently said.
There is no confirmation or documentation of an easement covering the old pipeline, Navy officials said.
Naval Magazine Indian Island was established in the late 1930s.
At that time, an easement process was not used when non-Navy entities requested access to Navy property.
Today, a written easement is required for access on all federal property.
The appraisal process is anticipated to take about three months after the contract is awarded.
________
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
