In a surprising move Water District 54 told the Des Moines City Council that, with some concessions from the City, the District said they will put together a package to put a 12 inch water main along Marine View Drive.

By the next study session on July 1 staff from the Water District and the City will likely have plans for a project ready that will solve the water problem in Downtown Des Moines, Des Moines Mayor Bob Sheckler said.

In order to move the project forward, Water District Commissioner John Rayback said the District would delay plans to connect water lines from 8 Ave. west to 7 Ave. Instead the plan being proposed by the District would put a 12 inch water main on the west side of Marine View Drive, and tie in that water line with the water main on 7 Ave.

This all comes less than a month after the Water District sent a letter to the City saying they did not want to be responsible for paying for the water main down Marine View Drive, sparking comments from City officials of possibly taking the Water District over.

Eric Clarke, The Water District superintendent said earlier that in the proposed Interlocal Agreement (ILA) from the City it had the District paying for everything. The Water District was replying to the ILA when they wrote the letter to the City, which said they would pay for the tie ins at each intersection and the City should pay for the water main down Marine View Drive.

The City wants a 12 inch water main put down Marine View Drive to increase the fireflow, which King County Fire and Rescue has said does not meet the required 3,500 gallons per minute, for three hours to the entire downtown area for proper fire suppression.

Sheckler said inadequate fire in Downtown has not only kept developers from building new buildings downtown, but has also resulted in people selling their downtown property.

The policy of the District before has been growth pays for growth. Meaning the first developer to come in would pay for the necessary improvements and would be compensated for the work by new developers with late-comers fees.

Sheckler said the latest plan from the Water District says to him growth pays for growth is not going to occur downtown.

The original proposed plan called for a 12 inch water main down Marine View Drive and tie ins would connect the water lines running east and west at 220th, 222nd, 225th and 226th into the water main at Marine View Drive and west to connect to 7 ave. Currently the water lines running east to west at the intersections dead end on either side of Marine View Drive. That project was estimated to cost around $2 million.

Des Moines has secured $485,000 in federal grant money to upgrade the water system in the City. The Federal Grant money required a local match of $398,000.

The Water District said they have some estimate, but do not have an exact number for the latest proposed project. But they did say it would be much less expensive than the original project, and they feel they pay for it with the federal grant money from the City and the local matching funds.

Being able to use the federal grant money was one of the concessions asked for by the District at last nights meeting. Another one was the City waiving all of the permit fees for the project. The Des Moines City Staff and Council seemed more than comfortable with both.

With the new proposed project the Water District would pay the local match required for the local funds, Water District Commission President Alli Larkin said.

It basically came down to being able to do part of the project the District wanted was better than none of it, Larkin explained. Water District Commissioner David Gilkey said the latest plan is a compromise, but a compromise the District can live with.

Water District and City Staff are working on the details of the project and are expected to present a final plan to the City Council at the next City Study Session on July 1.