SHIP project to go out to bid in March

By Terry Murry on Friday, January 29th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

HERMISTON – The Hermiston Public Works Department will be busy this year. Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said part of that work involves the proposed South Hermiston Industrial Park.

“We’ll have about $7-8 million of public works projects taking place,” he said. “One of them is the SHIP LID. That will be about $3 million putting the asphalt and pipes in the ground.”

After suffering layoffs at major employers in recent years, the city decided it needed to find more space for smaller businesses rather than relying on just a few big companies. That’s when the idea for the project was born. The funds for the local improvement district come mainly from the Port of Umatilla. Meanwhile, the city has been awarded a $1.5 million dollar economic development grant from the federal government.

The first step will be putting pipes in the ground and paving it over.

“We hope to put that out to bid here in March so that we can meet the back-end paving window this fall,” Morgan said.