With work on the Thornton Street Overpass underway, and the expectation and hope that daily life in Spring 2020 will be starkly different than the coming months, the City is collecting mementos and contributions from the public to be placed in a quick release time capsule to be opened at the completion of the pre-loading process, which is anticipated to take up to 18 months.
“This is an unusual and turbulent time,” said Mayor Greg Hansen. “With a major project like Thornton beginning, we wanted to seize the opportunity to memorialize our experience today.” Items contributed to the time capsule will be shared with the public at the completion of the pre-loading process. ”With the pandemic, a traditional groundbreaking would be difficult to attend,” said Hansen. “This will allow the public an alternative way to engage with this exciting project.”
Donations can be letters to future Ferndale residents, what people miss or look forward to in the months to come, or items that help commemorate the COVID-19 experience. To contribute physical items, please email public-works@cityofferndale.org or call (360) 685-2377 to arrange for a drop-off at City hall. Digital items may be emailed to public-works@cityofferndale.org. All donations must be received by 5pm, Friday May 8th.
Initial work on the project will include utility improvements and earthen wall embankments leading up to the future overpass needed to clear BNSF’s tracks. A lengthy pre-load period is needed to stabilize and compress the soils beneath the embankments leading up to the new bridge, and these improvements will occur ahead of the planned bridge structure and road improvements. To accommodate the settlement period, the construction phase of the project will stretch across multiple construction seasons, and the City is anticipating a 3-year construction period with completion estimated in 2023.
For more information on the Thornton Street Overpass, go to www.cityofferndale.org/ThorntonOverpass or follow #ThorntonOverpass
City Extends All Permit Expiration Dates
To account for lost time due to the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, the City of Ferndale is extending all permits expiration dates to allow for projects to move forward.
Applicants with a permit that was in active status and had been issued prior to Friday April 24, 2020 will be reset to the maximum 180 days as allowed by the Ferndale Municipal Code.
“We understand the impacts that are being felt with our construction industry and we want to give people the time they need to complete their projects,” said Mayor Greg Hansen. “We can’t turn back the clock but this is the next best thing.”
For more information or questions about a specific project, please contact Community Development Director Haylie Miller at
HaylieMiller@cityofferndale.org or 360-685-2367.
The regularly scheduled Council Committee meetings on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 will be held remotely via Microsoft Teams, with staff and Councilmembers accessing the meeting from individual locations. This complies with Governor Jay Inslee’s Stay at Home Order, which states, in part, that people should refrain from all public gatherings, including civic activities.
These are still open public meetings as defined by the Open Public Meetings Act. The City will be using Microsoft Teams to livestream the meeting. Members of the public do not need to download anything to view the proceedings. To join the live events, click on the following links:
The Public Works & Utilities meeting begins at 8:00 a.m. Public Works & Utilities Committee Meeting
The Finance & Administration Committee meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. Finance & Administration Committee Meeting
The Planning & Land Use Committee meeting begins at 10:00 a.m. Planning & Land Use Committee Meeting
Notice Traffic Revisions and Possible Delays: Monday, April 27, 2020, 7am to 7pm
Rural Avenue, between Slater Road and Wynn Road
Drivers should expect delays as traffic is reduced to single lane traffic on Rural Avenue, between Slater Road and Wynn Road on Monday, April 27, 2020 between the hours of 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM. This work is to complete road improvements associated with a private development project. Flaggers will be onsite to direct traffic. Road will remain open during nonworking hours.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please contact Ferndale Public Works Department at (360) 384-4006.
Today, Governor Jay Inslee lifted most restrictions on residential and commercial construction, allowing low risk construction projects to resume with additional safety precautions.
Mayor Greg Hansen is grateful that the Governor has listened to our repeated requests to restart construction in a safe and responsible way and this is a good start. For full details of the safety requirements, please see the guidelines available here. For questions about individual projects, please see Community Development Director Haylie Miller at HaylieMiller@cityofferndale.org or 360-685-2367.
Transcript:
Hello Ferndale,
First, let me thank you and the thousands of other residents for all you’ve done to keep us safe and healthy this last month. Whether you are a grocery store clerk working at Haggens or Grocery Outlet, a Ferndale school teacher trying to keep your students engaged through a computer or just sheltering at home with your family, you are doing your part to protect our community. Thank you.
I wanted to take a few moments to talk to everyone in the City about what our future looks like. I’ve been in almost daily contact with the Governor’s office fighting to get Ferndale back to business in a safe and responsible way. I want to see our projects restarted and our businesses open but we have to do it right. The last thing anyone wants is for Ferndale to be ground zero for the next outbreak. A second wave would cause an even more brutal round of shut downs and we cannot afford that in either lives or dollars. That’s why I am so relieved to see most Ferndale residents doing what they can to stay home and stay healthy.
In another couple of weeks, we will see the restrictions from the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order begin to be lifted but it will not be like flipping a switch. We will still need to maintain social distancing for much of our day-to-day operations and we cannot allow large gatherings. Last week, the Old Settlers Association, the Chamber of Commerce and the City jointly agreed to suspend their large public events this summer in an effort to prevent another outbreak. Believe me, I was looking forward to Old Settlers Weekend, especially since this year would have been their 125 anniversary. Make no mistake, we will still celebrate our history – we will just have to do it without a big parade or festival in the park.
Even more troubling, this week we received news that the Intalco facility was closing. The smelter is part of the lifeblood of our community, and they have been putting food on the tables of Ferndale families for almost three generations. This closure will be a critical blow to our local economy in the midst of a difficult time. But we are Ferndale, we look after each other especially when things look the most grim. I know that I will do everything in my power to breathe life back into this facility and fight like hell for all of our Ferndale families that find themselves out of work.
These are difficult and troubling times but we are a resilient community. We’ve survived floods, economic disasters, tragedies and more. We will survive this – together.
Thank you