As work on residential developments with hundreds of homes have already broken ground, Clark County is now revisiting how much it will cost for infrastructure work it needs in order to have that development happen in the first place.
During a “council time” meeting July 12, the Clark County Council heard an update on a project package involving work near the Interstate 5 interchange with 179th Street. The projects have been a focus of county work given the potential — and current reality — of development among thousands of acres in the area.
In 2019, the Clark County Council lifted an “urban holding” designation on about 2,200 acres of land near the I-5 interchange with 179th Street. Around that time the council also approved a strategy to provide “reasonable funding” for a number of infrastructure projects in the area, Clark County Public Works Director Ken Lader said. Those projects would support development in land that could now be developed due to the lifting of the designation.
At the time, those projects were estimated to cost $66.5 million, Lader noted. Now the total is closer to $86 million, four years after the initial estimates.
“Things that have changed in the market after we’ve finalized the estimates, or as construction breaks ground and we award a contract, we might find unknowns … that can cause uncertainty with the pricing compared to our estimate,” Lader said.
The current estimate of the corridor projects is about a quarter more than the 2019 estimates, when some reimbursements for utility work are included.
Lader said the 2019 estimate was based on “0% design” or a scope at just the planning level of the project. During those designs, some projects, such as the intersection of 179th Street and Northeast 29th Avenue, saw a significant increase in costs, in that case from $8 million to $22 million.
That jump was due to a shift from a slightly-graded, signalized intersection to a multi-lane roundabout that addresses more at the natural grade of the landscape by raising the intersection, Lader said.
In one case the estimate decreased, with the intersection of 179th Street and Northeast 50th Avenue. Lader said the project was “rescoped” to just widen a turn lane. That interim adjustment fit in with traffic projections, he said.
Even with the significant increase in costs, the county appears to be able to make up the difference with what data Lader provided. A table showing revenues from a variety of sources matched the 2023 projected cost of the projects. Real estate excise taxes more than doubled compared to 2019 numbers, making up the largest amount of the revenue increase.
The timeline for projects has increased compared to 2019’s estimates. Lader explained the overall plan for several projects to use a single stormwater facility requires more work than initially planned, postponing the start date for some by a full year. He added there were Endangered Species Act issues based on the potential for more road infrastructure to generate more tire particulates, which affect salmon populations.
Projects are moving along, regardless of setbacks. One of the six projects, that along Northeast 10th Avenue to the southeast of the project area, is already complete, according to Lader’s presentation.
The other projects will begin construction starting next year, with three, including a “phase two” project not included in the initial list for work on 179th Street between 15th and 26th avenues, that won’t begin until 2028.
Lader said doing three projects all at once will provide its own challenge. Still, having a relatively short timeframe gave a feeling of success.
“When I first saw these corridor projects back when it was talked about as a package and my predecessors were discussing completing these in six years, I don’t know of anyone who had done projects like these that thought that was possible,” Lader said. “The fact that we can be sitting here today talking about getting very large portions of them started in 2028 is pretty significant.”
The infrastructure under discussion is needed. More than 1,200 single-family homes across four developments have already been approved, many of which are currently under construction, according to Lader’s presentation.
Councilor Sue Marshall opined that the 2019 decision to lift the urban holding designation was rushed. She did speak positively about outreach about developments in the 179th Street corridor, mentioning she went to a “well-attended” listening session about the projects.
“This is going to play out over a long period of time. It’s a big and very complex project,” Marshall said.
