Taylor Bay Beach Club to Replace Aging Sewer Treatment Plant

The combination of grants and a loan will complete funding for a new system totaling over $12 million.

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The Taylor Bay Beach Club Homeowners Association is celebrating. The modest Longbranch community of 127 homes secured the final funding in January to replace its aging sewer treatment plant: a $700,000 grant from the National Estuary Program Shellfish Strategic Initiative.

The United States Department of Agriculture had already notified the club in August it would receive a $9.183 million grant and a $2.309 million loan to cover the remaining costs for the project.

The latest grant will be used to repair the sewer collection pipes to eliminate groundwater infiltration affecting the wastewater treatment plant.

“Water infrastructure is something people don’t often think about until it stops working — but having up-to-date water treatment and sewage infrastructure is absolutely essential for communities and for public health,” said Sen. Patty Murray in a press release announcing the funding last summer. “Replacing the sewer treatment plant at Taylor Bay Beach Club in Pierce County will prevent harmful contaminants from leaking into Puget Sound.”

“There was such a sense of relief that this has all come together,” said Mitzi McCart, president of the Taylor Bay board of trustees. “The sewer committee put in so many years of effort to make this happen.”

McCart said that committee was formed nearly 10 years ago to explore the repair and replacement of the system, which was completed in 1971 and serves all homes at Taylor Bay. The current members are Alice Carey, Jeff Smith, Steve Stemhagen, Don Tjossem and Dennis Totten.

The community was notified in 2018 that outflow from the sewer treatment plant was out of compliance with standards of the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. Contamination resulted in closure of a nearby geoduck fishery managed by the state and Indian tribes.

What followed was a lengthy process of working with multiple agencies and consultants to assess the system, evaluate alternatives, design a new system, and find funding. The consulting engineering firm Gray and Osborne, Inc., was hired to manage the project.

Early last year, Taylor Bay received a $1 million grant from the Washington State Department of Health through the Environmental Protection Agency National Estuary Program Shellfish Strategic Initiative to continue necessary planning and permitting. (“The Taylor Bay Beach Club Plans a New Sewage Treatment Plant,” February 2024)

“The thing that saved us was the shellfish beds,” McCart said. “They had to be protected.”

The USDA grant, McCart said, is considered large for a community their size.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $12,760,898 with 98% of the funding coming from the USDA grant and loan and the Shellfish Strategic Initiative grant.

“It’s a huge undertaking for us,” said sewer committee member Jeff Smith. The community, half retirees and half young families, has spent nearly $500,000 to date, some of which will be reimbursed. The 40-year, low-interest USDA loan will be repaid through homeowner fees, which have been increased. “About 53% of our fees go to maintaining the sewer system,” Smith said.

“It is unusual for a community to receive a grant of this size through this program as the allocations to the state offices are extremely limited,” said Helen Price Johnson, the Washington state director of USDA Rural Development. “Taylor Bay’s project scored very well.”

The high score, she said, was due in part to the fact that it addressed health concerns, that the median home income of members was less than 80% of the state average, and that the user rates would remain affordable.

“They also benefited from good timing,” Johnson said. “Their application aligned with a period that the national office had adequate funds to award. Investing in small communities is the mission of Rural Development. We celebrate this milestone for the residents at Taylor Bay and look forward to the successful completion of this project.”

McCart said that the construction schedule is being updated due to some additional requests for information but work on the outfall pipe and replacement of sewer pipes will take place during the summer when it is dry. Construction of the plant itself should begin in the fall with completion expected in 2027.


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