Kent schools, Boeing prepare to remove sandbags from properties

Sandbags soon will be coming down at businesses and schools all across Kent that sit near the Green River.

Boeing installed 8-foot high, green Hesco barriers around its Kent Space Center on West Valley Highway three years ago as extra protection against flooding because of damage from a 2009 storm to an abutment next to the Howard Hanson Dam.

The Kent School District put down giant sandbags covered in black plastic around two elementary schools and a middle school.

But since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed repairs at the dam last fall, Kent schools, Boeing and other businesses that installed sandbags plan to remove the bags by fall.

“Based on the recent reports from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers we feel confident that the threat once posed by the breach in the dam’s abutment has been resolved,” said Boeing spokeswoman Cindy Wall in an email.

Wall said the details are still being worked out as far as what Boeing will do with the Hesco barriers. She said the barriers will come down by early fall. She declined to disclose the cost of installing or removing the barriers.

The Kent Space Center houses a central regional communication center as well as one of Boeing’s key data centers. It is also home to numerous Boeing supported defense programs critical to national security.

The Kent School District awarded a $96,414 bid to SoundEarth Strategies Construction, LLC of Seattle to remove sandbags from around Neely-O’Brien Elementary, Kent Elementary and Mill Creek Middle School.

“Not knowing the eventual duration or cost of this project, we set aside adequate funds to cover the removal in 2009 and any unused dollars will go back into the general fund,” said Chris Loftis, Kent School District spokesman, in an email.

While students finished the school year Wednesday, the sandbags will be gone when they return in the fall.

“The schools will be glad the barriers are gone,” Loftis said. “While necessary and appreciated, they were a visual distraction and a student management challenge. Our schools are designed with specific lines of site so that campus traffic can be monitored. There are also the aesthetic qualities and a more open look and feel lends itself to a more pleasant school experience.”

SoundEarth will start Monday to remove sandbags from around Kent Elementary. The company plans to haul 1,500 tons of sand to one of its projects in Ballard for backfill, according to senior project manager Elsa Dowdy.

Loftis said the sandbags were worth installing, even though they were never tested by any flooding.

“Student safety is our number one responsibility and these barriers were in place to protect students’ lives and community property,” Loftis said. “They were a necessary precaution given the circumstances and we appreciate the work that was done and the sandbags will soon be a thing of the past.”

The city of Kent plans to remove giant sandbags by late summer along the Green River Trail. City officials rebid the sandbag-removal project and plan to open bids from contractors on June 25. City officials estimate the removal cost at $1.1 to $1.6 million.