Clallam County will receive $3.75 million to support the planning and design of seven trail projects aimed at completing the Olympic Discovery Trail.
At their Aug. 5 work session, the three county commissioners also approved a request to try to secure grant funding for certified energy audits of two county buildings.
The trail funding, in the form of a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant, comes from $16.130 million in federal funds that were distributed to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) for the Puget Sound to Pacific planning for the multi-use trail project.
DOT will distribute those funds to 12 jurisdictions, assisting 34 projects totaling about 100 trail miles from Bainbridge Island to La Push.
Steve Gray, county public works deputy director for utilities and waste, said “it’s a big project.”
Clallam County will receive seven grants through these funds; a local match is not required.
The funds will support planning and design efforts for seven different trail segments: Bogachiel river crossing, Bagley Creek bridge replacement, Forks city limit to Sappho trail, Sappho to Camp Creek Trailhead trail, Waterline Road trail, Gassett Road to Thompson/Onella Road trail and Freshwater Bay Road to Elwha River trail.
The funds also will hire a planner. Gray said a job offer already has been made, and he hopes to introduce the individual to the commissioners in September.
The other sub-recipients are Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks, Port Townsend, Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island, Port of Port Townsend, Jefferson and Kitsap counties, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and Quileute Tribe.
The grant agreement will be executed once all jurisdictions, DOT and the Federal Highway Administration have signed it.
The funding ends in 2032. Gray said he hopes “our part will be done well before that.”
Commissioner Mike French said the commissioners were to sign the agreement on Aug. 20.
The county also hopes to secure a grant in the amount of $237,500 for energy audits.
The funding would come from the Washington State Association of Counties, which received $4 million from the state to offer Energy Audit Grants, no match required, to qualifying counties.
These energy audits are the first step to complying with the Washington Clean Buildings Act, which requires all non-residential buildings more than 90,000 square feet to meet specific energy performance standards or have obtained an exemption by June 2027.
The county owns two buildings that will be affected by this act: the county headquarters/courthouse and the juvenile center.
Diane Harvey, a county climate action committee member, said conducting the energy audits will provide data as to what energy changes would be required to meet the standards, how much they will cost, how much they could save in energy costs and whether an exemption can be sought.
“We need to have enough information early on to at least make decisions,” Harvey said.
