The Grays Harbor County Commissioners approved a supplemental budget Monday to accept a large state grant for a local flooding project, and also approved various parcels for sale to the public.

Flood wall

Following a hearing that saw no public comment, the commissioners approved a budget amendment to accept a $4 million grant for the Wishkah flood wall.

The flood wall, which is a project of the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority, will be built at Baretich Flats and is expected to cost some $4 million. The flood wall will take about 90 homes out of the flood plain, Commissioner and Flood Authority Chairwoman Vickie Raines said on Aug. 14.

The flood wall was once part of an overall flood authority project in the Wishkah which would have seen flood mitigation along the road and total as much as $18 million to complete, but the overall project now has been tabled after it was deemed not financially viable. The flood authority is planning, however, to install multiple gauges to give residents there advanced notice of an impending flood.

The flood wall has been years in the making, with a long property acquisition process as the commissioners negotiated to secure property necessary for the flood wall construction. The final property was acquired in May 2016.

The project could be complete by the end of September.

Property sales

The commissioners also have approved a tax title property sale.

Those are properties that have become county-owned after taxes go unpaid. The county then sells the properties to the public.

Following action earlier this year, the county is holding multiple property tax sales as the properties become available.

Tax title properties will be sold on Sept. 15.

“We’ve been working on that a long time. We now have the properties listed,” Commissioner Randy Ross said. “There are 40 properties in the first round of sale items. That’s one step forward.”

A list of available properties will be made available on the county website, www.co.grays-harbor.wa.us.