Via a little creative financing by city staff, it appears the oft-delayed Wing Point Way road project may be on again.

A month ago, the City Council decided to retain a $866,000 federal grant for Winslow Way reconstruction funding, money that was originally granted for rebuilding, repaving and widening the Wing Point arterial.

The city had redirected the funding last year and then decided in early June that it was still needed for the reduced $5.8 million Winslow Way project.

That meant, according to city officials, the Wing Point project likely would be postponed again until either the city became solvent or voters approved a bond issue for the road. In other words, not any time soon.

On Wednesday, Chris Wierzbicki, the interim city engineer and deputy planning director, told the council that if it returned the federal grant to the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), there was a way that the Wing Point area’s residents could finally get the road improved after a nearly nine-year wait.

Wierzbicki said that he was told that the state Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) would be willing to increase its original grant from 28 to 43 percent of the total project cost, which would be enough funding to do without the $866,000 federal money that had been retained from the Wing Point project.

He estimated that the cost of fixing a failing culvert, repairing and repaving the surface, widening and installing non-motorized paths, would cost “$1.5 million to $2 million at the least.”

He projected that money from the storm-water fund would pay for the culvert and about $500,000 from the general fund and an estimated $200,000 in salary reimbursements from the Winslow Way project would be use to pay for a reduced pavement overlay project on Wing Point Way.

The council then agreed to fund whatever was needed to complete the project by 2012, if possible.

Wierzbicki received council approval to return the $866,000 and also to apply on July 12 for competitive, non-motorized grants – for bike lane projects at Wing Point Way, North Madison Avenue and Miller Road. If the city gets the state grant funding for Wing Point Way, it can be used only for non-motorized work.

“My concern is that we need to make a financial commitment to complete the whole project before applying for the grant,” Mayor Bob Scales said. After the grant was returned on a 5-2 vote by the council, Scales then authorized staff to apply for the PSRC grant, saying, “if the Wing Point Way grant is given, the City Council will commit to the road project.”

Councilors Kim Brackett and Bill Knobloch, who represents Wing Point on the council, wouldn’t support returning the $866,000 but did OK – with reservations – going for the non-motorized grant with the hope the road project would get done in a couple of years.

“As an elected official, I have a problem here with not honoring a commitment. We broke a promise when we took back that money in the first place,” Knobloch said. “The explanation about returning the money sounds reasonable on the surface, but after nine years … when are we going to get this project done? Now we have Wing Point back begging for money. If we don’t getm it, then what?”

Councilor Barry Peters praised Wierzbicki and other staff members for their ingenuity. He said that the new financing and the possibility of fixing Wing Point Way sooner than later “was a win-win, all around.”

The council also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Winslow Way project’s funding, which needs to be in place early this fall in order to put out bids so reconstruction of the main street can begin next spring.

The cost of the project is now set at $5,661,206, with about $3.9 million coming from state and federal grants. The city still doesn’t have NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) approval, which is required before the city will receive about $1.673 million from the federal goverment.

Several council members said they were nervous because of the delay in the NEPA approval, caused primarily, some thought, because of underground contamination at the corners of Winslow Way and North Madison and State Route 305. The hope was that it would be granted at the end of August.

“We have to start doing some of this work concurrently,” Wierzbicki said. “I understand your concern. I share it.”