Seattle will dish out $200K to investigate overspending on seawall project

The City of Seattle is hiring a private consultant to review its seawall replacement project that is now one year behind schedule and millions over budget.

The consultant will cost the city $200,000.

The consultant will investigate why the seawall along Elliott Bay will need an extra year and an additional $71 million dollars to get the job done. That’s in addition to the $339.2 million that the job was initially budgeted for.

Related: Cost of replacing Seattle’s seawall goes up

One reason for the delay and budget woe could be a decision made earlier in the project, according to KING 5 Reporter Chris Danniels.

“Because of a decision to create a temporary frozen wall to solidify the soil on the eastside of the project in the process to get rid of so-called grouting soils which have to be trucked offsite,” Daniels said. “That has caused the seawall project to balloon in costs, well above the $300 million voter-approved price tag.”

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is also organizing a review panel of peer agency experts that includes public works directors and chief engineers to review the project. That is in addition to the private consultant.

The mayor’s office is looking at a few financing streams to cover the extra $71 million. He said those plans will not impact other departments or taxpayers.

KING 5 reports that options include: Commercial parking taxes, which could form a revenue stream for future large capital projects, such as streetcars and bridge replacements; real estate excise tax; waterfront parking revenue; or waterway funds from revenue from waterway-use permits.