Business Community

Peninsula Light eyes Bujacich Road for minor expansion, and maybe bigger things down the road

Asked to name the best-known institutions on Gig Harbor’s Bujacich Road, most residents would say Hemley’s Septic, the Washington Corrections Center for Women, and perhaps some vaguely-remembered industrial parks and warehouses.

Peninsula Light Company is a highly visible local company based in Purdy, four miles to the north. However, its newest facilities expansion, albeit a small one, will likely occur on Bujacich Road.

The utility hopes to construct a “material storage yard” on a portion of the nearly 17 acres it acquired there more than a decade ago, Penlight said in its request for a pre-application conference about the project with city officials.

The utility describes the storage yard as temporary. But it might foreshadow a greatly increased company presence on Bujacich Road — possibly even including a new Peninsula Light headquarters there.

Any improvement PenLight makes to its Bujacich Road land holdings will include clearing the invasive Scotch broom. Photo by Ted Kenney

Planning for a headquarters update

The utility is currently engaged in planning to address its headquarters needs. It says its 40-year-old HQ in Purdy is badly outdated.

In an update on this planning PenLight posted to its website last month, the utility noted that if it opts to replace its headquarters (rather than renovate the existing one), it would do so on its Bujacich Road property.

PenLight’s headquarters plans have sparked controversy over the past year, including two lawsuits brought by long-term board member Paul Alvestad against CEO Jafar Taghavi. The conflict eventually led to Alvestad’s ouster from the board of directors in March, for allegedly releasing confidential information and creating a “hostile environment for PenLight staff and fellow Board members.”

The utility says the existing HQ in Purdy “no longer meets modern safety, seismic, or operational standards — putting employees, members and power reliability at risk.”

Alvestad, in his lawsuits and public statements, has charged PenLight with rushing toward approving a new HQ that “is overpriced by millions” while giving scant attention to lower-cost alternatives such as upgrading its old digs.

The utility says its ongoing facilities evaluation has weighed renovating the existing HQ against building a new one and found the costs to be “relatively similar.”

“Following this broader evaluation, renovation of the current campus was identified as the most cost-effective and least disruptive option. The Board unanimously approved moving forward with preliminary design,” the company said in the recent web update. It emphasized that the board has not approved a final design.

Alvestad has called on PenLight to go further by unveiling any new headquarters proposal (including cost) to its 35,000 member-owners (ratepayers) before the board of directors approves it, and allowing member-owners to vote on whether to move forward with the plan.

The utility has declined to commit to taking this step.

Storage yard

PenLight’s proposed new yard on Bujacich Road would occupy land bordering the south side of Hemley’s Septic, according to its filing with the city. It would store utility poles, concrete vaults, transformers, plastic conduit and wire. The utility proposes adding an “open storage shed for a forklift and other equipment to be stored out of the weather.”

The property won’t require much improvement. It’s already flat. PenLight or contractors would need to clear blackberry vines and Scotch broom. Rather than paving the new yard, PenLight proposes to cover the ground with crushed rock.

PenLight’s plans for a portion of its property on Bujacich Road.

“The site would be unoccupied and only accessed when material was being delivered or removed,” the filing said. “The only utilities required would be power and we happen to know the power company (that’s humor). Perimeter lighting and security cameras would be installed to monitor the site.”

The new Bujacich Road facility is being considered as a “temporary satellite warehouse and storage yard to support upcoming projects, including accommodating materials and equipment associated with a necessary fuel tank replacement” at the company headquarters in Purdy, said Britni Wickens, PenLight director of communications.

“The intent is to provide additional operational space during maintenance efforts,” she said. The storage yard project “is in beginning stages and needs permitting so we do not have an ETA. It will be supplemental to Purdy, not a replacement.”