Feb 2, 2018 3 min read

Washington property owners can expect a new monthly fee later this year for storm drain repairs, on which the city is desperate to begin work.

During its Thursday meeting, council discussed issuing a $3 to $5 monthly fee per household within the city, including tax-exempt entities such as churches and nonprofits, according to Councilman Ken Westcott.

The fee will be collected for no longer than seven years, and the money will go toward much-needed repairs to the city’s streets and stormwater drains. The improvements, Westcott said, will impact “every street or neighborhood in the city.”

“If we’re going to ask taxpayers to share in the cost for this, we want them to be able to see the benefits,” Westcott said.

The public discussion began weeks after a 4-foot sinkhole developed in a backyard at the corner of Duncan Avenue and Fourth Street. The hole, which sits next to an in-ground swimming pool, developed overnight Jan. 15 and has grown to 4 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep, according to the property owner, Ken Dyson.

The city’s engineer, Sarah Boyce of Widmer Engineering, said the sinkhole was caused by a collapsing storm sewer conveyance tunnel that runs underneath Dyson’s pool.

Westcott said because of its age, the bottom of the 60-inch, brick storm drain is gone, causing the walls to collapse and create the sinkhole. He said the city faced a similar problem with the same storm sewer tunnel a few months ago when a hole developed on a vacant lot on the opposite side of Duncan Avenue from Dyson’s home.

“The city’s infrastructure is getting old,” Westcott said Thursday. “The Duncan Avenue storm drain is over 100 years old, and most of the city’s storm drains are over 100 years old.”

Westcott said the city has been planning storm drain improvements for two years and has raised $2 million for it by refinancing bonds. But that won’t be enough, he said, because the city plans to do $6 million to $7 million in infrastructure improvements.

“The city can’t bear the cost alone,” he said. “It has to get done because it’s going to get worse. Duncan Avenue is the tip of the iceberg.”

Council has not yet voted to implement the fee, because they are still working on a comprehensive plan for the project and a fee structure. That action is expected to come by summer, Westcott said.