Port recommends wetlands site for well

SCOTT WYLAND, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- The best site for creating a free-flowing, artesian well would be at the edge of wetlands west of Swantown Boatworks, Port of Olympia officials recommended at a Monday meeting.

Port commissioners took no formal action to designate the port property near Farmer's Market as the preferred site for drilling an artesian well, but none opposed the idea.

Representatives from the port, the city and Friends of Artesians have met to discuss where to create a well that would replace the makeshift well located in a Fourth Avenue parking lot downtown.

The well at the preferred site would be set up within a small park.

Friends of Artesians would pay the construction and permitting costs, plus it would pay the city of Olympia a lump sum of $50,000 to maintain the site.

"This would be one more amenity that would draw people into that area," port executive director Nick Handy said.

The group recently narrowed a list of proposed sites to three port properties before deciding that the land near the boatyard would be the prime choice, Handy said.

The three parties must now officially decree the site as the one to site the well, Handy said.

Added benefit

Putting the continuously flowing well near wetlands would have the added benefit of replenishing the surface water there, Handy said. That way, the well's runoff wouldn't go to waste, he said.

"I think this would certainly be a good piece of business for everybody," said Charles Roe, a local attorney representing the artesian group.

Roe said he was confident that the group could secure water rights from the state Department of Ecology by the end of the year.

The group's goal also is to do a test drilling at the proposed site by springtime, Roe said.

In other business:

Commissioner Steve Pottle refrained from voting on the port's renewing its contract with the Economic Development Council of Thurston County.

Pottle, an EDC board member, recused himself after Commissioner Paul Telford expressed concern about Pottle voting on an EDC contract worth $22,000.

Telford cited objections raised by Citizens of Responsible Government, a group he founded.,

After Pottle recused himself, Telford voted with Commissioner Bob Van Schoorl to approve the port's contract with EDC.

Van Schoorl said that if Pottle had to refrain from voting to avoid the appearance of conflicting interests, then all public officials who sit on boards within their jurisdictions might find themselves under similar scrutiny.

The commission also heard the first official report of the Cascade Pole cleanup since the project's first phase was completed.

So far, an estimated $17.7 million has been spent cleaning the site, of which the port has chipped in 12 percent or $2.12 million.

The port contracted the dredging work to be done for $3.3 million, but the costs are expected to exceed that due to problems that occurred with the containment curtain.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to main South Sound index