Chelan secures $248,900 state grant for stormwater plan, eyes future infrastructure projects

CHELAN – The state Department of Ecology (DOE) has awarded the city a quarter-million-dollar stormwater grant.

Public Works Director Jake Youngren made the announcement at the regular bi-monthly meeting of the city council on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

“We’re funded $248,900 for our stormwater comprehensive plan,” said Youngren. “That should fund most, if not all, of that effort. There will still be some administrative steps to take to have access to those funds to begin executing that plan.”

Public Works also applied for a grant for sewer infrastructure listed under the city’s comprehensive capital plan.

“Unfortunately. we were not successful in securing a grant for that,” said Youngren. “We were not ultimately qualified for the hardship threshold they defined. We were offered a low-interest load that we are now evaluating.”

Youngren recognized city engineer Travis Denham for his pivotal role in securing the stormwater grant and funding specialist Annalisa Noble with Ardurra, a professional services company, for her assistance with the sewer grant application.

Council member Bob Goedde asked if the stormwater plan targeted the whole city or, more specifically, the Chelan Hills area.

“This is a whole city comprehensive plan effort,” Youngren said.

Council member Terry Sanders congratulated Youngren and Denham for their grant work.

“That’s a big deal,” said Sanders. “Obviously it’s going to save us some money, which is awesome.”

“We’ve had pretty good luck with grant applications,” Youngren told the Mirror last week. “Last year we were awarded about $4.5 million. That’s pretty good for a small city.”

In other business, the council:

• Approved a Master Client Services Agreement with Noble’s new company, Tower Consulting, for assistance with grant and funding applications.
• Amended the Chelan Municipal Code (CMC) to promote safe access to city parks by implementing an administrative procedure allowing law enforcement to trespass persons who violate park rules.
• Approved an ordinance for a complete and thorough legal review of the CMC. Through a CivicPlus Professional Services Agreement, the city will be assigned an attorney to research the code to ensure conformity with state statutes and identify any inconsistencies and/or conflicts within the CMC. 
• Authorized the Mayor to finalize and execute the Population and Housing Need Projections and Allocations Letter to the Chelan County Commissioners. The letter concurs with the 20-year medium population projection for the city’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) for 2046 for consideration of adoption by the Board of Chelan County Commissioners. This step is pivotal in updating the city’s Comprehensive Plan, which is due by June 30th, 2026.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-89483 or michael@ward.media