A sewer system for Carlsborg could start operating as soon as April 2011, according to a draft time line that Clallam County commissioners received Monday.

According to Carol Creasey of the county Department of Community Development, construction could begin a year earlier.

Failing septic systems long have plagued the unincorporated village west of Sequim, and its designation as an urban growth area hangs in limbo until a sewer treatment plant and pipes are much closer to reality.

Until that time, the county can grant no commercial building permits to businesses that would increase the burden on septic systems, according to a ruling by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board.

Businesses can expand or remodel if they don’t produce more sewage, however.

Other key dates of the time line include:

_ Facilities planning (with the Clallam County Public Utility District as manager), April 2009.

_ Formation of a local utility district, August 2009.

_ Engineering, November 2009.

_ Site acquisition, January 2010.

_ Awarding bids, April 2010.

_ Start of construction, May 2010.

Federal economic stimulus funding could defray some of the cost of the sewer system, commissioners and public works officials said.

On Tuesday, county commissioners approved leases on two parcels on Towne Road that Clallam County will acquire to relocate dikes along the Dungeness River.

The leases – which pay no money to the property owners – will be in force no later than June 4, by which time the county hopes to have bought the parcels.

The leases give the owners a 90-day grace period in which to move off the properties.

One property is owned by County Commissioner Steve Tharinger, who with his wife, Yvonne Yakota, will receive $525,000 for their 4.25 acres at 2747 Towne Road.

Tharinger long has been an advocate of restoring salmon habitat – which relocation of the Dungeness dikes aims to accomplish – but was reluctant to relinquish his home and business.

The alternative, however, would have been to engineer a separate dike to protect Tharinger’s property at greater cost than what he will be paid.

The other property is owned by Jeffrey and Susan Howat at 2133 Towne Road, separated from the Tharingers’ property by a large tract owned by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Jim Casey may be reached at editor@sequimgazette.com.