The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

OLYMPIA - Thanks to a small Dayton delegation making the case before the state's Department of Com- merce here last week, Blue Mountain Station will get new funds to hook up to Dayton city sewer and en- sure that its largest prospec- tive tenant can operate in the business park.

While construction of the first 6,900-square-foot build- ing began last week, Port of Columbia Manager Jennie Dickinson, future BMS tenant Reggie Mace, Dayton Chamber Director Brad Mc- Masters and Pacific Power's Bill Clemens traveled to the state capital to present their funding request to the Community Economic Revital- ization Board.

The result was $218,000 in new money to pay for the construction of a lift station (pump), sewer line, engineering and permits to tie Blue Mountain Station to the city's sewer line 1,000 feet away at the port's existing business park near Dayton Tractor & Machine off Highway 12.

Half the funds will come in the form of a grant and half by way of a low-interest loan at 2.5 percent per year, said Dickinson, who also noted the new sewer line can serve the park's future growth.

"It opens the door for the whole site to be connected easily," she said. "I'm abso- lutely thrilled."

Initially planned to be on its own septic system, Blue Mountain Station suddenly faced the loss of its biggest first-phase tenant, Mace Mead Works, because of health requirements that the waste from its mace and wine fermentation processes, which is considered toxic, be run through the city's sewer treatment plant instead.

Mace Mead Works is expected to take up 1,500 square feet in the first build- ing, making it three times larger than the next-largest tenant signed up for the project.

In his presentation before CERB officials, Mace reportedly projected the creation of four new jobs at the new facility when it opens, and eight in the following five years. He plans to pro- duce his Mortal Vitner and Mace Mead Works labels at the new BMS building, while keeping his tasting room on Main Street, Dickinson said.

In another BMS develop- ment, the project received a $15,000 grant from the Dayton/Columbia County Fund towards the building's commercial kitchen. With the start of construction, the two funding announcements made it "a banner week" for the Blue Mountain Station, Dickinson said.